Costa Rica Visa Cost Calculator

Costa Rica prices its single-entry tourist entry at no consular charge, covering tourism, family visits and short unpaid business meetings. Multi-entry for Costa Rica suits anyone whose trip is really two trips — one border hop in the middle changes the logistics, not the fee. Work-adjacent travel — meetings, contract negotiation, site visits — falls under Costa Rica's business category, fee-exempt like the rest and evidenced with a host letter.

A short Costa Rica layover — typically 24–72 hours — legalises itself under transit exemptions for most passports, without an application behind it. Fee-exempt does not mean cost-free at the margins: budget for passport photos and, if you use one, a filing agent's service charge for Costa Rica.

Four inputs drive a Costa Rica application: a passport valid six months beyond your stay, one compliant photo, proof of accommodation, and evidence you can fund the trip. Even the simplest route wants the core kit in digital form: Costa Rica's online portal takes the same documents a consulate would, as scans instead of paper. There is no fee-payment step for Costa Rica: the authorisation is submitted and approved without a transaction, so nothing on your card statement marks the process.

Expect silence rather than updates: Costa Rica rarely confirms receipt mid-review, so screenshot every submission page as you go. File 4–6 weeks out for Costa Rica; express handling rescues late plans at +50%, which the calculator above prices for your group size.

The passport rules are absolute — 6 months' validity beyond your Costa Rica exit date and two clean pages for the visa itself. One photo on a white background, recent, taken to standard passport specification — Costa Rica enforces this more strictly than most. Show roughly $50–100 USD per day of stay in bank statements — for a 10-day Costa Rica trip that means $500–1,000 visible and recent.

Round the file out with your flight itinerary and Costa Rica lodging confirmations that match your dates exactly — mismatches draw queries. Business applicants add the Costa Rica host company's invitation; transit applicants add the confirmed onward ticket — those two categories fail on missing paperwork more than fee errors.

The standard Costa Rica decision typically lands within 5–15 business days, and seasonal backlogs push it to the top of that band. Express handling compresses the wait to 1–3 business days for Costa Rica — and because entry is fee-exempt, the upgrade buys speed only, never a surcharge.

Incomplete files, not bad histories, cause the bulk of Costa Rica rejections — one missing night of lodging is enough. Reapplication after a Costa Rica refusal is routine once the stated reason is addressed; decision letters name the defect explicitly. eVisa decisions for Costa Rica often arrive inside 72 hours, making it the de facto express lane at standard price where your nationality qualifies.