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I’ve been asked about when we are leaving for Costa Rica.
Our plan is to go down once at the end of June for about a week and wrap up our residency process. We’ll then be back in the States to settle on our house on July 17th and plan on being in Costa Rica by the end of July.
Speaking of residency, I never realized how much paperwork is required to live in another country. Costa Rica is a country that functions on paperwork and process. Good thing I like both! Haha…the frustrating part can be when you don’t understand the process, which I’ve found, is most likely because it’s not even clearly defined in Costa Rica. Depending on whom you talk to and what you read, you can get very different answers. So far, Mike and I have taken most “talk” with a grain of salt and simply went right to the source to ask the questions. This has saved us a lot of headaches and stress. Now getting in touch with the source is an entirely different subject. THAT can be challenging.
First, we needed to get original copies of our birth certificates, our marriage
certificate and police reports. Depending on which state the documents originated in, determined which state department and ultimately, which consulate they needed to be sent to. Mike and I got lucky that we were married in PA, I was born in PA and we live in PA so our police reports were also from PA. This meant dealing with only one state department for most of our documents. Mike’s birth certificate had to be sent to a different state department but this wasn’t bad at all. I feel bad for the folks who were born in one state, married in another and now reside somewhere else. Those folks are dealing with multiple state departments. Basically the state department is “authenticating” that the documents you are submitting are originals and that they did in fact originate within their state.
On a side note - all you people from PA - did you know that you can get anyone’s police report from the web by simply paying a fee and having their social security number? I was a bit shocked at how easy it was to obtain my police report and Mike’s for that matter with a few clicks of the
mouse and a credit card - but I digress….
Once all the paperwork comes back from the state departments, you then have to get your paperwork to the appropriate consulate. Here is where it gets fun. The consulate is actually “authenticating” the authenticated documents. They are stating that the documents have been authenticated by the appropriate state department. Sound confusing? Because it is. Once again, it depends on where the documents originated from that determines which consulate you need to go to. The one saving grace with this little gem is that Washington, DC handles all states so you can technically swing by good ole’ DC and it’s a one stop shop. Lucky for us, Mike’s mom lives very close by so we decided to make a trip out of it and hand deliver our documents to the consulate in DC. After ordering all the original documents, then waiting for them to be returned from the state department (and praying nothing would get lost in transit), I seriously did not want the documents out of my sight. Hand delivering them seemed like a good idea… note the word “seemed”…
Upon arriving at the Costa Rican Consulate in DC,
Roadside View
View of the roadside driving to Nosara. a part of me wished I had a camera. This was really the start of a new life for Mike and I and a part of me wanted to somehow document it. Then I thought it may not be a good idea for me to be taking pictures of government building considering all the embassies around in the area so I decided to burn the image in my mind instead. No sense in drawing unnecessary attention to yourself.
The folks at the Costa Rican Consulate were very nice but I have to say, I expected the establishment to be a bit…, well, I just expected that it wouldn’t look like a travel agency. It was a very small office in the basement of this marvelous old building. Pictures on the wall depicted the typical things you see in Costa Rica travel brochures with the tag line all over them of Pura Vida. Pura Vida is a saying in CR that means Pure Life. I just didn’t think it looked like a consulate but being that this was my first time in a consulate, what do I know? We were the only Americans in the waiting room but within 5 minutes we were being helped. The gentleman helping us explained that it takes 3 days to authenticate the documents and that we’d have to come back on Thursday and pick them up. As I started to get a little nervous about the documents being out of our possession, I tried to remind myself that if we’re meant to do this, the documents will arrive back at our house safely via mail which the gentleman behind the counter stated would be no problem. Mike and I hurried off to the post office a few blocks away to buy a self addressed stamped envelope and quickly headed back to the consulate hoping to make it in time before they closed. We left the consulate empty handed; placing our potential future in hands of the Costa Ricans, hoping all would go well…. Our documents arrived on schedule, at our house, completely authenticated only a week later. Many people have had issues with getting their paperwork authenticated. I feel fortunate that we’ve been lucky so far.
Our next step is to take all this paperwork with us on our trip in June. We are working with a wonderful agency down there that helps expats get residency. They basically walk you through the process once you’re in country and get your documents expedited through the appropriate Costa Rican agencies. We have only a few steps left to take. If all our documents are in order, this should go smoothly as well.
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Rob R
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I am losing a coffee buddy
If this works for you I may be down to open up a bait shop next door. Send coffee soon!!