www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I want to find out the latest info on whether one should carry the original passport while in CR or just a copy. I will be in San Jose if that makes a difference.

I know this has been discussed, but the recommendation seems to change periodically.

The latest?

Thanks!!

You can get you passport laminated to card size to carry around. I wouldn't suggest carrying the original around..I've done it but not recomended..


Cujo

_________________
"Pain is the fuel that fans the flames of my pyre. A battle plan is only as good as the general carrying it out on the field. This is my war son, and I have the biggest bombs and the smallest conscience"...

Photocopy is ok. Do not let any crooked cop scare you into paying him an extortion because you don't have your original. If you have a clear copy of the bio page and entry stamp, tell him to go phuck himself.

Don't forget the credit card sized Passport Card... cannot be used for international travel by air, but I would assume it has some use carrying it in your wallet.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/ppt_ca ... _3926.html

Above all the best advice is to carry a color copy of your photo page along with a color copy of your entry stamp. These copies along with your U.S. driver's license will work with Transito police should you be stopped while driving as well as with any Fuerza Publica officer or Immigration officer. Should anything serious arise they will take you to your hotel and request your official passport.

Your entry stamp works with your Diver's License only for 90 days, beyond that point you are no longer legally able to drive in CR. You would need a Tica DL at that point. You are eligible for a CR DL inside your 90 entry date stamp if you sign a few papers, take a stupid 10k Colones medical exam and take your photo for the license.

I would not suggest you do that in CR any more then I would suggest you do it a major U.S. city. Any cop can find something to hassle you about if you piss him off. Always good policy to be firm but polite when refusing to pay any bribe. They can, under the agreement, take you back to your hotel and examine your original passport or tell you to show up at the police station within 24 hours with your original passport.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

I think what Orange was saying was to not fall victim to a clear case of extortion.. The day the police aren't lazy enuf to go back to ur hotel to confirm papers is the same day ppl will leave Jessica alone..


Cujo

_________________
"Pain is the fuel that fans the flames of my pyre. A battle plan is only as good as the general carrying it out on the field. This is my war son, and I have the biggest bombs and the smallest conscience"...

Thanks, guys. Great info. I'm leaving in two weeks, so probably don't have time for ordering the card so will just have the hotel make copies of the appropriate pages when I arrive.

I'm a little puzzled about the card suggestion because it wouldn't have the entry stamp on it. Also, I would think most hotels ( mine is the Dunn Inn) wouldn't have a color copier necessarily.

A good color copy helps... get one done in the US and try to get it stamped at imigation at SJO.... all they can do is say no,so then have your hotel make a copy of the stamp on your color copy
There is the place kinda across from the Pesidente that will turn that into a card sized copy for a buck or two
You will need your Pasport to change money at a bank and to get a sim card
never had a problem showing San Jose's finest a copy

Tell him to "go phuck himself" and you might be unpleasantly surprised how energetic he gets.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

When you have your passport info page copied and shrunk to credit card size the also photo copy your entry stamp info and make that the back side of the laminated card. It beats carrying around a folded up copy of your information and only costs about 600 colones. I would suspect that all major hotels have either a color copier or more likely a color printer that can make copies.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

To cover yourself you should always have your original passport within walking distance, in case they want to see it. The further you are away from it may determine how much trouble you can get in. If you go to Playa Jaco and tell the cop you left your original in the safe in SJ they may put you in jail, this has happened.

It is not smart putting the copy of your entry stamp in the back of the picture and laminate it. That way you have to do it every trip. Do the picture once then every time you come just get a black & white copy of your entry stamp.

The chances are very slim that if you look a gringo, stay sober, don't use drugs, smile and be polite, stay out of trouble, that you will never be stopped. If you are driving it is a different. If you are behind the wheel you are a suspect and will be stopped. Driving in CR is not what I do

_________________
DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO

Here's my experience. I have made a whole lot of trips to SJO. Only once did I make a copy of my passport and carried it. I have never lost my passport, been mugged, stopped by the cops, assaulted in Parque M by deranged homos dressed as women or found in a drunken stupor on a park bench butt nekked at 2 am.

I carry my original passport every where. I have never had a problem.

The real question is... is it safe to walk from the Del Rey to the Pres at night? LOL!

Berk.....

_________________
FRUITCAKE... and you thought it was something you eat! Not on CRT!

LOL, not very good advice in a foreign country... especially one that still practices a version of Napoleonic law where you are presumed guilty and have to prove your innocence.

Instead, I would suggest you be polite to Mr. Policeman (always) and you most likely will not have any issues. But, as is the case with every sovereign country, an official of that country has every right to demand to see the original passport if they so desire. Just tell them it's back in you hotel safe.

I carry a color photocopy of my passport's picture and data pages and I get the hotel to photocopy the entry stamp after I arrive. Never had an issue.

This is what I was told by the Transit police as he was writing me a 494000 colonie ticket for NOT having my passport in the car with me..
Yes, I did have a copy, but he explained that the copy must be notarized by your attorney...
We are looking into the new laws...

Have Fun!!

_________________
Spawn 'till you die

Just tell the cop you saw it on CRT.

_________________
DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO