Refugee and Asylum Status

To qualify for refugee status, you must demonstrate that you meet the criteria established by the 1951 Refugee Convention and Costa Rican law (Ley de Migración y Extranjería).

• Location: You must be physically present on Costa Rican soil or at a legal border entry point to request protection. You cannot apply for refugee status from abroad.
• The "Well-Founded Fear": You must prove that your fear of persecution is objective. This means providing evidence that the threat is real and that your home country’s government is either the persecutor or is unable/unwilling to protect you.
• Timely Filing: Under current regulations, you are expected to file your request within one month of entering the country. If you apply later, you must justify the delay with extraordinary circumstances.
• Country of Origin: While open to all nationalities, the majority of applicants currently come from Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Colombia. Costa Rica applies specific scrutiny to ensure the applicant did not already have firm resettlement or legal status in a safe third country before arriving.
• Exclusions: You do not qualify if there are serious reasons to believe you have committed a crime against peace, a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a serious non-political crime outside Costa Rica.