Visit to the Costa Rica Embassy in Washington D.C.
I have to admit that I was pretty worried about my trip to the Costa Rican Embassy in Washington D.C. I had read some discouraging things on the Internet, and had been calling for two days with no answer.
I also know from personal experience that Costa Ricans take the Christmas holiday seriously and the thought of actually finding a government employee at work on December 24 in Costa Rica would be outright laughable. My only hope would be that these Costa Ricans at the U.S. Embassy, being so far away from their families wouldn’t have anything better to do than come to work on Christmas Eve.
The embassy is located at 2114 “S” Street, NW in Washington D.C. This area is locally known as “embassy row”, and the nearest Metrorail station is the Dupoint Circle Station, which is on the Red Line.
Residency Documents
While the documents you bring to the embassy will vary based on the type of residency you are seeking all applicants are required to present a birth certificate and Police Clearance Letter, which must also be certified by the appropriate Secretary of State prior to presentation at the embassy. In my case I was seeking Permanent Residency based on my family relation or marriage to a Costa Rican citizen, which meant that I only needed these two documents.
If you hire an attorney or specialist to handle your Residency Application or are presently living in the United States, then you may be able to leave the documentation at the embassy. Alternatively if you live in Costa Rica and plan to present your residency application personally to immigration, then authentication at the embassy is the first step in a process that ends at the Ministry of Exterior Relations in Costa Rica.
Inside the Costa Rican Embassy
The entrance for counselor services is a side door that you will notice has a doorbell and intercom. I arrived at this entrance at 9am and patiently waited for the 10am opening time that had been posted on the embassy website. At exactly 10am arrived two very bundled up Latina women.
I pleasantly greeted them and explained what I needed in Spanish, and was relieved to see that they were friendly and told me, “Pase adelante y lo sacamos de una vez” or “come in and we will do it at once”.
Once inside I noticed that the phone was ringing, and one of the ladies, the one with the private office did answer it. The other lady was obviously a secretary, however she never answered the outside phone line and didn’t seem to speak a word of English. The counsel officer did speak some halting English, and could carry a conversation, but it was evident that an ability to speak Spanish would be preferable in any complex situation with the embassy.
My documents were reviewed and certified by the counsel officer, and I got a look at the system she used to check the document. Apparently there is a computer in the embassy that has images of vital records and police reports for each state complete with the names and signatures of each official authorized to sign each type of document. In total it took about 30 minutes for her to authenticate the documents, although she was also busy answering phone calls at the same time.
Toward the end of my wait I noticed that a man came in after me, and he was an obvious Washington D.C. resident, messenger type with a black bag. I wished everyone a Merry Christmas in Spanish, thanked them, but stood in the hallway long enough to find out the deal was with the messenger. Apparently he had a bag of documents from people who had paid a professional service to process their documents.
The important thing about the messenger is that the embassy workers became so busy that they stopped answering the phone, and you could imagine anyone who arrived after him could have a long wait.
Payment for Authentication Services
I didn’t actually pay for the authentication service at the time that I received the documents (December 2008). The fee is $40 per document, however I later paid this in Costa Rica at the Banco de Costa Rica just before taking my document package to the Ministry of Exterior Relations.
The embassy website has since changed and now indicates that you must bring a Money Order payable to “Consulate of Costa Rica”. It’s probably more convenient to pay in Costa Rica, however this is a detail you have to work out with the embassy.
Getting There
I recommend the D.C. Metro Rail because it is cheap, efficient, clean, and the best way to get through the city on a busy day. If you happen to go on Christmas Eve like I did, then you could certainly drive as the city is almost a ghost town. Otherwise, expect to pay a lot of money and waste a lot of time looking for parking.
The walk from the Dupont Metro station to the embassy requires about 20 minutes, and while the nation’s capital is pedestrian friendly you will need to bundle up with gloves, wool hat and a heavy coat if you make this trip during the winter.
You could actually fly into either Baltimore Washington International (BWI) or Reagan National (DCA) airports and reach the embassy by way of public rail transportation and never need to hail a taxi or ride a bus as both airports have rail systems that connect to the Washington D.C. metro rail system.
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Filed Under: Expat Living
