Renewing Canadian Passports in Costa Rica

Click on images to enlarge.

Upon checking the expiry dates of our 10 year passports, I realized mine had expired in January of this year and Lance’s would expire in May. So they needed to be renewed. 

Fortunately it is easy to complete the renewal paperwork and pay the fees on line.

To begin, go to the Embassy of Canada to Costa Rica website. Click on  “passport services” which will take you to the page that explains how to pay online for all their passport services, how to complete the application and how to book an appointment.

Once you pay online (done with a credit card), print out the payment receipt. You will then complete the two page application. For us, it was the “adult abroad simplified renewal” application.

You will need to provide references - two persons who are not your relatives and who have known you for at least two years. All you need to provide is their name, address and telephone number.

Passport photos: these are very specific to Canada regarding size so read these requirements and make sure your photographer understands this. We used Nacho Fotografía here in Grecia. Excellent service and price.

Next up is making an appointment at the Embassy in San José. Another easy online task. Once done, you will receive an email confirmation.

You are ready to go. Apparently your old passport plus completed documents can be sent and picked up through your Correos (post office) but we opted to deliver in person. Traffic to and from San José is extremely heavy these days. One can be stuck in a long car lineup for ages and we didn’t want to miss our appointments. We chose to overnight near the Embassy in a hotel and we did the same thing when they were ready for pickup.

We were told the new passports would be ready in two to three weeks but they actually were available here in nine days. They are made somewhere in Canada - Ottawa probably.

Although we knew approximately where the Embassy was, we used Waze (free navigation app) to make sure we got there. Well! Do not ask Waze to take you to the Canadian Embassy! It took us to some place completely different that was not an embassy at all. The destination you want is “La Sabana Executive Business Centre”. 

Show the gate guard your appointment confirmation, get a parking ticket and have it stamped by the guard inside the embassy.  Park in front of building #5 and go to the third floor. The helpful guard there will show you the lockers for your purse, phone, etc., and you walk through a metal detector. The guard will also scan your body with a security wand. Security is very tight.

You will then give your paperwork to the secretary and she will call you when it’s time to enter either door #1 or door #2.

Your assisting officer will be sitting behind what I imagine is bullet proof glass. On both our visits to the embassy (dropping off old passports and picking up the new ones), our assisting officers were very helpful and cheerful.

The new passports are beautifully designed and appear to be almost impossible to counterfeit.

The cover.

Narwhales on the right.

One of the colourful pages.