“… but officer, I think you are mistaken…”
Roadside Traffic Court Strategy
Recently, I’ve received reports from clients who were stopped by Costa Rican transit police or had friends and neighbors stopped. The transit police claimed that their foreign driver’s licenses were no longer valid because the visa stamps in their passports were issued over 90 days previous. (180-day visa stamps).
In other words, the police officers were still applying the 90-day rules from before May 7, 2024.
When the drivers explained that the new law was in effect, the officers dismissed their claims and even tried to show them a website that the law still stated 90 days. As in, “You see right here on this COSEVI website – still 90 days.”
The officers were wrong.
Following these complaints, I visited the main COSEVI offices again in La Uruca and spoke with the same manager I had met with in May 2024. She confirmed that the new law, which extends the validity of foreign driver’s licenses to 180 days for tourists (and even longer for those awaiting residency approval), has been in effect since May 7, 2024.
We then consulted with COSEVI’s legal department, who confirmed the same. However, they also explained that the internal information systems had not been fully updated, and officers in rural areas might not yet be aware of the new law.
But the law is indeed in place.
If you are a tourist with a valid 180-day visa stamp on your passport, your foreign driver’s license will remain valid for those 180 days.
What to do if stopped by rural police and told your license is no longer valid due to the passport visa stamp being over 90 days old:
- Click on this link: License Validity Update
- Read through the document to the bottom. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find two buttons: one for the English document and one for the Spanish document.
- Click on and download the Spanish document, and keep it on your cell phone for quick reference.
- This will help you demonstrate to the officer that they might not be up-to-date with the latest legal changes.
Please remember to always be polite and respectful.
