Q COSTA RICA — For decades, Costa Rica has been a destination country for refugees. However, recent figures reveal a growing trend: an increasing number of Costa Ricans are seeking international protection abroad.
In 2025, 1,820 asylum applications were filed by Costa Rican citizens abroad, a significantly higher number than a decade earlier.
The contrast is striking. In 2015, there were 213 applications, while in 2024, the number reached 2,381, the highest figure for the period.
This means that, compared to those two years, applications have increased more than elevenfold. Furthermore, since 2022, the number of applications has remained above 1,000 annually.
The United States receives three out of every four applications
The main destination for Costa Ricans who resort to this mechanism is the United States. Of the 1,820 applications recorded during 2025, a total of 1,348 were filed in the United States, representing approximately 74% of the total.
Simply put, nearly three out of every four Costa Ricans who sought asylum that year did so in the United States.
The remaining cases were distributed among different countries.
However, there is a significant limitation to understanding what is behind this increase: asylum processes are confidential, and there is no detailed public information that allows us to know the particular circumstances alleged by each applicant.
Why are Costa Ricans seeking asylum?
The figure raises an inevitable question, but the available data does not allow us to answer it with a single explanation.
Costa Rica has been experiencing a complex security situation for several years, marked by homicides, disputes between criminal organizations, drug trafficking, and the expansion of organized crime.
Threats, violence, or specific situations of insecurity may be among the reasons given by some applicants. However, it cannot be stated that the overall increase in applications is a direct consequence of crime, because the aggregated data does not reveal individual reasons.
Nor does applying for asylum automatically mean that the person has been recognized as a refugee.
This point is crucial for correctly interpreting the figures.
Applying for asylum does not mean obtaining it
An application for international protection initiates a procedure in which the authorities of the receiving country must determine whether the person meets the established requirements to receive that status.
Therefore, 1,820 applications do not equate to 1,820 Costa Ricans recognized as refugees. An application can be accepted, rejected, abandoned, or remain pending while the authorities analyze the case.
Refugee status, moreover, is governed by specific criteria for international protection. Simply wanting to emigrate, seeking better job opportunities, or believing that another country offers better living conditions is not enough.
Another element that arises in this phenomenon is the possibility that some people resort to the asylum or refugee system as part of a strategy to remain in another territory while their immigration status is being resolved.
This possibility may exist in individual cases, but overall statistics do not allow us to determine how many Costa Rican applicants are acting for this reason.
Presenting it as the explanation for all cases would be incorrect, just as it would be inaccurate to assert that all applicants fled Costa Rica due to violence, political persecution, or organized crime.