www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I have a current 90 day visa stamp on my passport valid for another month plus. Will I need to wait in the long immigration line or just go straight to security checkpoint?

Also thank you all for the useful information here.

Wait in line. There is no way around it.

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Any opinion or observation in the post above is purely presented for entertainment purposes and does not promote "sexual tourism" or "human trafficking". The laws of Costa Rica apply to all activities in Costa Rica. No warranty is expressed or implied. Void where prohibited by law. Your experience, observations or perspective may be different.

In exile in pu*sy prison

Thanks for the reply.

Last trip I noticed there was what appeared to be two lines for tourists. The maze to the far right filled up quickly, but the middle line was empty until another plane arrived. At the far left was for CR residents.

Is there a strategy for making it through faster? I felt dumb for not rushing to the middle section.

The middle section, that appeared empty, would probably have lead to a "dead end" at the end of the ropes.

I've seen that empty section suddenly opened and filled when an officer changes the rope configuration to add capacity to the "tourist" section.

I've also heard (but never tried) that if you get into the residents' line "by mistake", they will not make a fuss when you get to the window witch at the end of your shorter wait line - - even though you are not a resident..

I was once directed (by mistake I am sure) to the resident line by an official trying to corral multiple planeloads of passengers. Once I got to the window I explained that I was directed to this line, and I was just processed and sent on my way.

With the number of CR entry stamps in my passport, there is no way I could feign ignorance about which line is which.

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bypassin' kinky, and usin' the whole chicken!!!

Once you exit the country your visa stamp is expired. We had this issue with my fiance's cousin from nicaragua. She came down on a bus and we flew to the Dominican Republic. When we returned they would not let her into Costa Rica and she was going to be returned to the Dominican. Even though she had a visa stamp saying she was allowed into Costa Rica that was good for another 3 weeks, and had proof that she was due to catch the bus to Nicaragua in 3 hours right out front of the airport they would not give her another visa. They would only give her a transit visa that had to be used with a flight out of the country within 24 hours, she could not leave the airport. I had to buy her a $397.00 flight to Managua from Costa Rica. I do assume that once she was delivered upstairs to the gate area she could have exited the airport from there but I would not want to be the one to get caught doing that. Had I not been with her they would have made the airline send her back to the DR on the next flight where she would have been screwed as she would have not had enough money to get a flight out of the DR. If I did not know how to speak Spanish I might not have been able to figure out an alternative to having her denied entry and having the airline fly her back to the DR. Major lessons learned on a few different points. We take things for granted as Americans and our ability to go just about anywhere with just a passport. It is not so easy for those that live in Nicaragua or Costa Rica or any other counrty that require visas for entry into foreign countries.