QCOSTARICA – The Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (DGME) – Costa Rica’s immigration service – is alerting people arriving and leaving the country this Saturday, April 10, 2021, to possible delays in its procedures.
The DGME says the delays are due to the Judiciary’s disconnecting the International Police (Interpol) consulting link for maintenance.
The intermittent disconnection will be from 10 am to 11 pm.
The same will be on Saturday, April 17.
“The disconnection could generate delays in the immigration control processes, by virtue of the fact that institutional protocols have to be activated in order to prevent the entry into our country of people with risky criminal profiles or with international arrest warrants.
“Likewise, the verification of travel documents reported as stolen at the international level must be carried out, identifying people with arrest warrants in other countries, as well as the possible location of missing persons or with some police interest,” said the DGME in a statement.
The statement says the immigration police will try to resolve the situation through consultations through the channels established by Interpol Costa Rica officials.
However, these manual consultations will delay the control processes in the different air terminals, and in the maritime and land control posts, due to the increase in consultation times for each person.
“Although it is a problem in the Judiciary, the DGME will work to cover the positions available for control, not only at International airports but at all immigration control posts, to maintain order in entry and exit of people to the country.
“It is important that all nationals and foreigners who intend to leave the country during those days take the appropriate provisions, such as showing up with the recommended time for the departure process (3 hours before), with complete documentation,” said Raquel Vargas, General Director of Migration.
“Although it is not a situation of immigration systems, the institution will approach the process in a responsible manner,” she added.
The last time this happened, 2019, also on a Saturday, and at the height of the peak tourist season, entry and exit from the country was delayed at times up to 4 hours.
During the first days of April, 38,834 people left and 45,448 entered the country through the different immigration control posts, the immigration service reports.
