Saturday 27 October 2012 | QNews Costa Rica | Source: Traffic Law Costa Rica
Costa Rica has a new traffic law that aims to correct the problems of the 2008 law and aims to reduce carnage on the country’s roads, there are a couple of points that are EXTREMELY important to foreigners living and/or visiting Costa Rica.
Foreigners living (called expats) and visitors alike can drive in Costa Rica for the duration of their “legal” stay with a license issued by their home country.
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North Americans (residents of the US and Canada, not including Mexico), Europeans and many other countries have a legal stay (visitor) of up to three months, all other countries, 30 days.
In the old days it was recommended that a foreigners overstaying his or her visitors status obtain a Costa Rican driver’s license, which simply meant going to the driver’s license office, filling out the forms, passing the required medical exam and paying the fees.
Many foreigners – other than short term visitors – couldn’t be bothered with the process. In effect it was never a problem. Until now.
The new law requires any foreigners in Costa Rica over 90 days to obtain a Costa Rican license, failing the fine is ¢94.000 and four (4) points – one third the way to a license suspension. Important here is that two more tickets for not having a Costa Rican license will mean a suspension even before the license is obtained.
