The move from 90 days to 180 was genuinely useful, and it is also the single most misunderstood rule in Costa Rican immigration. Here is what it does and does not give you.
The short version: US and Canadian citizens can be admitted for up to 180 days per entry. The officer decides the number and writes it on your stamp. It is not a visa you apply for, it is not automatic, and it is not a way to live here permanently.
What actually happens at the border
You arrive. You do not apply for anything in advance. The officer looks at your passport, may ask a couple of questions, stamps you in and writes a number of days.
That number is the only thing that matters. Not what a blog said, not what the person next to you got. Check your stamp before you leave the hall. People have discovered weeks later that they were given 90 days, or 30, and are now overstaying.
The rules and the current position are published by Costa Rica’s immigration authority, which is the source to trust over any article, this one included.
What they can ask for
Three things, in rough order of likelihood:
1. Proof of onward travel. This is the big one, and it is usually enforced by the airline before you even board rather than by immigration on arrival. A return or onward ticket out of the country. No ticket, no boarding pass, and the conversation happens in your departure airport rather than here.
2. Where you are staying. An address is enough.
3. Proof of funds. Rare, especially arriving by air, but they are entitled to ask.
What 180 days does give you
- Time to work out whether you actually want to live here. This is the real value of it. Half a year is long enough to see a green season, which is the season that actually tells you something.
- A legal basis to be here while a residency application is processing. Very common, and completely normal. See the residency options.
- Driving for the whole period. A 2024 reform tied your foreign licence to your authorised stay, so a 180 day stamp now means 180 days of legal driving. The detail is in driving on a foreign licence.
What it does not give you
- The right to work for a Costa Rican employer.
- Access to the Caja, the public health system. Tourists are not in it. Carry travel or expat medical cover for the whole time you are here.
- A local bank account, in most cases.
- Any entitlement to a new stamp when you leave and come back.
That last one deserves its own section.
The border run question
The pattern is familiar: stay your 180 days, cross into Nicaragua or Panama, come back, get a fresh stamp, repeat.
It often works. It is also entirely discretionary. There is no rule entitling you to a new stamp, and an officer who sees a passport full of back to back Costa Rican entries with nothing else in it can give you 30 days, or fewer, or ask questions you would rather not be asked at a land border.
People do this for a year or two and it is mostly fine. Then someone has a bad crossing, gets 30 days instead of 180, and suddenly has a genuine problem: a lease, a car, a life here, and a stamp running out in a month. The people who never have that problem are the ones who filed for residency early and treated the tourist stamp as a bridge rather than a plan.
Overstaying
Don’t. It carries fines and can affect future entries and a residency application.
If your stamp is running short and your residency is not through, talk to your lawyer before the date, not after it.
Who this rule is genuinely great for
Scouting a move. Six months lets you rent somewhere ordinary, live through a couple of seasons, and find out whether you like the place rather than the holiday. It is by far the most sensible way to decide.
Remote workers testing the water, though if that is you for longer than a few months, the digital nomad visa is built for exactly this and gets you a bank account and a year with an extension. See the digital nomad post.
Anyone mid application for residency.
Practical notes
- Passport validity. Keep comfortable validity beyond your intended stay.
- Insurance. You are not in the public system. The Caja covers residents, not visitors.
- Keep the stamp. Photograph it. If your passport goes missing, knowing your admitted date and duration matters.
- Departure taxes are usually built into airfare now, but check.
Where this fits
If you are here for a holiday, none of this will bother you. If you are here to decide whether to move, use the full six months and come in the wet half of the year.
And if you are actually moving, read the residency categories and the step by step guide, then get a lawyer. The tourist stamp is a bridge to that, not a substitute for it.
Not sure which category fits your income? That is what the call is for.
