Costa Rica Police Background Check for Residency
All residency applicants are required to present themselves to the Ministry of Public Security for fingerprinting and a criminal background check. The procedure is available weekdays in the morning at the Criminal Records Office of the Fuerza Publica in San Jose, which is in the old police academy building just across the street from the Central Commerical del Sur.
Nearly any bus from downtown San Jose to Desampardos will pass this way, and you can catch the bus downtown in El Parque de Garantias Sociales, which is just behind the caja building.
When you arrive at the police station you will first check in with the officer guarding the entrance gate.
The service is free and you will need to bring three passport sized headshot photographs and your passport. The questions are basic, dealing with place of birth, current residence, and level of education. You should bring a person to interpret for you if you do not speak Spanish.
At the conclusion of the process you will receive a receipt or “comprobante” that identifies your file in the police archives. This receipt must be included as part of your Residency Application.
Do not confuse this background check with the Police Clearance letter that you must obtain from your home state in the United states. While you may ask the Costa Rican police to also fingerprint you for this separate background check you will need to mail the card to the appropriate agency in the United States.
The Costa Rican police will run your name through the Interpol database in order to determine if you are currently registered as an international fugitive from justice. You may not be caught if you are simply wanted on an outstanding warrant in the United States, however if your crime is serious and authorities have reason to believe that you have fled the country then your name could be in the Interpol system.
If you live in Costa Rica, then I recommended that you do this step very early in the process as it is relatively simple and costs little more than taxi or bus fare. Doing so may possibly cut down on the time immigration takes to process your application, which is usually more than a year.
Address for Fingerprint Office in San Jose
Sede central de la Escuela Nacional de Policía
Barrio Naciones Unidas, Frente al Centro Comercial del Sur
Télefonos : (506) 2227-1383 (506) 2227-1040 (506) 2227-9157
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Filed Under: Expat Living
This is really a good idea. Background checking on people who want to reside on this place makes the people and the place safe and secure.
The residency law seems to do more to weed out potentially undesirable people than protect the Costa Rican people.
Also, the system used by the Costa Ricans, Interpol is not regularly used by United States law enforcement at the state level until they have some evidence to believe that a suspect is outside the country. So, Americans wanted for really heinous crimes can actually pass the background investigation in Costa Rica.