Costa Rica Police Certificate Question

[smunie 5]

Anyone have experience they can share about getting police certificates in Costa Rica? The state department’s country-specific website indicates that police certificates for Costa Rica can only be obtained by “official request” of the consulate and to contact the consulate for more information. I would like to get this ahead of time, or at least know what to expect when the time comes if they won’t help until the time comes. I’ve tried emailing the consulate twice with no replies. I am also curious as to whether there is a single police certificate you can get for the entire country of Costa Rica, or if there are different jurisdictions. Since my wife has lived in a couple different towns since she was 16, it would be helpful to know if we are going to have to chase a couple different police certificates or just one.

[smunie 5]

Anyone have experience they can share about getting police certificates in Costa Rica? The state department's country-specific website indicates that police certificates for Costa Rica can only be obtained by "official request" of the consulate and to contact the consulate for more information. I would like to get this ahead of time, or at least know what to expect when the time comes if they won't help until the time comes. I've tried emailing the consulate twice with no replies. I am also curious as to whether there is a single police certificate you can get for the entire country of Costa Rica, or if there are different jurisdictions. Since my wife has lived in a couple different towns since she was 16, it would be helpful to know if we are going to have to chase a couple different police certificates or just one.

I did not get a response here for my questions, but I just wanted to let everyone know that the Costa Rican Consulate finally replied to my email and I wanted to share their input here, in case others may have the same questions I did. Here is their reply to my email...hope it helps someone...

"In order to obtain the Costa Rican police certificate, first, your wife will have come to our office any Monday, Tuesday or Thursday from 12:00p.m. to 1:30p.m.to get the request letter for the Costa Rican police certificate. Then she will have to take this letter to the Oficinas del Registro Judicial. (Address: Edificio Anexo A, Poder Judicial, Primer piso, Avenida 6, calle 19, costado norte del OIJ) and that office will issue the Costa Rican police certificate.

At the moment she comes to our office, she will need to submit her/his passport, cedula or cedula de residencia and the documents showing that the National Visa Center (NVC) requested the police record of Costa Rica. We do not recommend you to get the documents before requested by the NVC because the document has a very limited validity (it is just valid for 3 months). If you start getting the documents with anticipation, probably by the time of the interview they will be expired and then your wife will have to obtain a new police certificate.

Finally, the Costa Rican police record is just issued by the oficinas del Registro Judicial, which means that your wife does not have to obtain a police record from the different towns in which she has lived. "

[I & G 1]

Hi there. I did not go to the Embassy just show up at the Registro and request one. We took that document to the casa amarillo to be certified and mailed to NVC. Nvc has not said this is incorrect but we have only been in NVC for a week now. Let me know if you need any help or watch my posts for further info. Good luck. By the way the embassy didnt know what we were talking about when we asked for the request form.

[smunie 5]

Hi there. I did not go to the Embassy just show up at the Registro and request one. We took that document to the casa amarillo to be certified and mailed to NVC. Nvc has not said this is incorrect but we have only been in NVC for a week now. Let me know if you need any help or watch my posts for further info. Good luck. By the way the embassy didnt know what we were talking about when we asked for the request form.

Thank you so much for the input. This is interesting. Yes, please keep me posted, I am interested to see how it turns out. It is also good to see that your I-130 only took arouund 3 months to process...that is what I'm hoping for too!! Those 5 or 6 month timelines out there scare the heck out of me!

[I & G 1]

I expedited mine sorry to say the 5-6 month timelines are accurate. Are you filing for CR1 or K1?

[smunie 5]

I expedited mine sorry to say the 5-6 month timelines are accurate. Are you filing for CR1 or K1?

CR1

[I & G 1]

I suggest you get all the documents ready for NVC. All documents need to be original and certified at the Casa Amarillo you can obtain all the documents at the Registro then go to Casa Amarillo for certification. The PCC only takes a day so you can get that later. If there are any children involved let me know as this takes on a whole new perspective at the consulate and other documents are needed. Let me know if I can help.

[smunie 5]

I suggest you get all the documents ready for NVC. All documents need to be original and certified at the Casa Amarillo you can obtain all the documents at the Registro then go to Casa Amarillo for certification. The PCC only takes a day so you can get that later. If there are any children involved let me know as this takes on a whole new perspective at the consulate and other documents are needed. Let me know if I can help.

Thanks again for the information...also, did you get your police certificate translated? I've been wondering if that also needed translation. I was leaning towards erroring on the side of caution and getting it translated as well, but wondering about yoru experience...

[I & G 1]

Any document that is going to the NVC does not have to be translated if it is in english or the language of the country. So you do not need to translate any documents for NVC unless they are from a country other than CR. Make sure your wife takes all the documents to the Casa Amarillo for certification stamps.

[I & G 1]

One more thing. Make sure you get additional blank but signed documents from her with original signature like DS-230 and so forth just in case you need to make some changes you wont have to wait for her to resend them to you. Also very important get at least two originals of each document from the Registro I got three of each. You will need originals at the interview.

[AZB&CRG 0]

One more thing. Make sure you get additional blank but signed documents from her with original signature like DS-230 and so forth just in case you need to make some changes you wont have to wait for her to resend them to you. Also very important get at least two originals of each document from the Registro I got three of each. You will need originals at the interview.

Thanks for the useful info in this thread!

We are going the K1 route but will have to get the police certificates eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later).

[I & G 1]

Welcome AZB god luck to you. If I can help let me know.

[JACK HALEY 0]

I suggest you get all the documents ready for NVC. All documents need to be original and certified at the Casa Amarillo you can obtain all the documents at the Registro then go to Casa Amarillo for certification. The PCC only takes a day so you can get that later. If there are any children involved let me know as this takes on a whole new perspective at the consulate and other documents are needed. Let me know if I can help.

HI I AM NEW TO THIS FORUM. I AM TRYING TO GET AN IR VISA FOR MY WIFE AND HER DAUGHTER WHO IS MY STEP DAUGHTER. THE STEP DAUGHTER IS 15 SO I ASSUME SHE DOES NOT NEED A POLICE CERTIFICATE. CORRECT? DOES THE POLICE CERTIFICATE FOR MY WIFE NEED TO BE CERTIFIED BY THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF CR.I WAS ALSO WONDERING WHAT IS A LONG FORM BIRTH CERIFICATE. I HAVE BIRTH CERTICATES ISSUED BY REGISTRO CIVIL THAT REFERENCE VOLUME, PAGE, ENTRY, AND NUMBER OF THE OFFICIAL RECORD. I HEARD I MAY NEED A DIGITAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE QUITE A BIT OF EXPERIENCE WITH THIS PROCESS IN COSTA RICA SO I WOULD APPRECIATE ANY ADVISE YOU CAN GIVE ME. I JUST STARTED THIS PROCESS AND SUBMITTED I130 TO CHICAGO LOCK BOX ON 2/8/12. THANKS