- Routes
- Citizen by descent (Art. 13)
- Dual citizenship
- Kept on every open route
The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.
On this page›
- 01Who qualifies
- 02Dates that matter
- 03Mothers’ lines
- 04Keeping your citizenship
- 05The routes and the law
- 06The documents
- 07What it takes
- 08Where the records live
- 09Law changes
- 10Other doors
- 11Sources
01Who qualifies
Who qualifies, generation by generation
POSSIBLE
Can you claim Costa Rican citizenship through a parent?
Citizen by descent
A child of a Costa Rican parent is Costa Rican by birth once registered at the consulate or Civil Registry, but you must register before turning 25.
What would settle itYour age: registration is open to you only until your 25th birthday, unless your parent registered you as a child.
What changes the answer
- UNLIKELY
If you were born before 2001The window to register as a Costa Rican by birth closes at 25; unless your parent registered you as a child, the route now is naturalisation, which needs residence in Costa Rica.
- LIKELY
If you were born in 2002 or laterCitizen by descent
- UNLIKELY
If the parent is your mother and you were born before 2001The window to register as a Costa Rican by birth closes at 25; unless your parent registered you as a child, the route now is naturalisation, which needs residence in Costa Rica.
- LIKELY
If the parent is your mother and you were born in 2002 or laterCitizen by descent
POSSIBLE
Can you claim Costa Rican citizenship through a grandparent?
Citizen by descent, generation by generation
Nationality passes from parent to child; each generation registers in turn, so your parent establishes their Costa Rican nationality first, then you. Registration must be filed before age 25 (Art. 13(2)); later, naturalisation applies.
What would settle itWhether your parent can be registered as a Costa Rican national first.
POSSIBLE
Can you claim Costa Rican citizenship through a great-grandparent?
Citizen by descent, generation by generation
Nationality passes from parent to child; each generation registers in turn, so your parent establishes their Costa Rican nationality first, then you. Registration must be filed before age 25 (Art. 13(2)); later, naturalisation applies.
What would settle itWhether your parent can be registered as a Costa Rican national first.
02Dates that matter
The dates that matter
No date named in Costa Rica’s rule decides who qualifies. The answers above turn on the family’s facts, not on when anyone was born or left.
03Mothers’ lines
How mothers’ lines were treated
In Costa Rica’s rule, the answer changes when the line runs through a woman:
- UNLIKELY
If the parent is your mother and you were born before 2001The window to register as a Costa Rican by birth closes at 25; unless your parent registered you as a child, the route now is naturalisation, which needs residence in Costa Rica.
- LIKELY
If the parent is your mother and you were born in 2002 or laterCitizen by descent
04Keeping your citizenship
Dual citizenship with your home country
You keep your citizenship.
On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.
05The routes
Every route, and the law behind it
Citizen by descent
Open through a parent
The law
What would settle an unsure case
- Your age: registration is open to you only until your 25th birthday, unless your parent registered you as a child.
- Whether your Costa Rican parent registered your birth with the Civil Registry while you were a minor; if so, you are already Costa Rican.
- POSSIBLE
Through a grandparent
The law
What would settle an unsure case
- Whether your parent can be registered as a Costa Rican national first.
06The documents
The documents, as the rule lists them
Citizen by descent
Through a parent
- Your parent’s Costa Rican birth certificate or identity document
- Your birth certificate, apostilled and translated
Citizen by descent, generation by generation
Through a grandparent or great-grandparent
- Your ancestor’s Costa Rican birth certificate
- Birth and marriage records for each generation, registered in turn
Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.
07What it takes
What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides
Citizen by descent
- Time
- A few weeks to a few months at the consulate or Civil Registry, and it must be filed before you turn 25.
- Cost
- About $150–350: registration fee, apostilles and certified translations.
- The hard part
- The age-25 deadline. Filed on time, bring your parent’s Costa Rican cédula or birth certificate and your own apostilled birth certificate; filed late, the route becomes naturalization instead.
- Who decides
- The Costa Rican consulate for your address, or the Registro Civil directly, before age 25.
- The first record
- Your parent’s Costa Rican birth certificate (certificación de nacimiento), from The Registro Civil, part of the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE). Request the certificación online through the TSE’s portal or at a Registro Civil office with the full name and approximate date; it issues in days to a few weeks. tse.go.cr ↗
How it’s filed
- Where
- The TSE's Sección de Inscripciones in San José (or a regional office), or a Costa Rican consulate, which forwards to the TSE. office list ↗
- How
- In person; you appear in person
- Fee
- No fee
- Decision
- 4–17 weeks
What goes in the file (5)›
- Your valid identity document and a photocopy (18+ declares for themselves)
- Your complete original birth certificate, apostilled
- Its full literal translation into Spanish by an official translator registered with the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry
- An email address and phone number for notifications
- If filed by someone else: your authorization authenticated by a lawyer or notary, or a special power of attorney in a public deed
What goes wrong (7)›
- Deadline: the member must apply personally before turning 25 (Constitution Art. 13(2)); after that, residence and naturalisation are the only route.
- Free ('Este servicio es gratuito'). TSE resolution time: 65 business days for a person over 10, from receipt at the Sección de Inscripciones; add consular forwarding time.
- If the foreign certificate shows the Costa Rican parent only by later acknowledgment, or not at all, the TSE requires a DNA test at an ECA-accredited lab, at the adult applicant's cost.
- A child of a Costa Rican by naturalization is registered only if the parent naturalized before the birth, and must then complete the corresponding naturalization procedure.
- Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles are confirmed above; Miami, New York and Houston posts are also confirmed by search to offer Registro Civil inscription, but their addresses and jurisdictions are unverified this pass.
- No appointment-booking system was found for any CR consular Registro Civil office; contact the post directly to arrange one (unconfirmed booking channel, 2026-09-25).
- From CA, GB, AU, NZ, ZA, BR, AR: same TSE rules through the Costa Rican embassy or consulate; apostille and official translation apply.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
Citizen by descent, generation by generation
- Time
- Several months to over a year: your parent’s Costa Rican nationality is registered first, then yours, and each step still runs against the age-25 filing deadline.
- Cost
- About $300–700 across both registrations, in fees, apostilles and translations.
- The hard part
- The age-25 deadline applies to your parent’s own registration too, so if they missed it, this route closes and only naturalization is left.
- Who decides
- The Costa Rican consulate for your address, or the Registro Civil, for each generation’s registration in turn.
- The first record
- Your grandparent’s Costa Rican birth certificate, from The Registro Civil, part of the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE). Request the certificación with the full name and approximate birth date and place. tse.go.cr ↗
How it’s filed
- Where
- The TSE's Sección de Inscripciones or a Costa Rican consulate, once per generation. office list ↗
- How
- In person; you appear in person
- Fee
- No fee
- Decision
- 2–8 months
What goes in the file (2)›
- Step 1, your parent (only if they are still under 25): their apostilled and officially translated birth certificate, their ID
- Step 2, you (under 25): your apostilled and officially translated birth certificate, your ID; the TSE then links you to your parent's new inscription
What goes wrong (1)›
- The age-25 deadline applies to each person's own inscription: a parent over 25 who was never inscribed cannot be, so this route needs a parent inscribed before 25 (or already a registered Costa Rican) and a member under 25.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.
08Where the records live
Where each record lives, and how to ask for it
birth1888–2026
The Registro Civil, Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE), one national registry.
Full name, cédula number and date of the event; older entries not yet in the database take about 10 business days.
- Fee
- 0 USD
- Takes
- 0–20 days
Good to know (2)›
- Certifications at a Registro Civil office are free apart from a ₡5 Archivo Nacional stamp; digital certifications are bought on the CDI platform and sent immediately (price unverified).
- tse.go.cr sits behind Radware bot protection for automated clients; the requirement PDFs download normally.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
Translations
- Into
- Spanish
- Who may translate
- A sworn translator in the country
- About
- $20–$60 a page
A birth certificate not in Spanish must be translated in full and literally by an official translator registered with Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Law 8142), so an English U.S. certificate needs one. Price range unverified.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
The passport
- Where
- The Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería in Costa Rica or a Costa Rican consulate, after the inscription gives the member a cédula number. In Costa Rica: $75 plus ₡250 (parks) and a bank commission. Unverified: the fee and delivery time at consulates abroad.
- Fee
- About $75
- Time
- 1–9 weeks
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
09Law changes
Recent and pending changes
The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for Costa Rica.
The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.
10Other doors
If descent doesn’t reach you
4 residence programs lead to Costa Rica without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.