Are you interested in obtaining a residency or citizenship in Costa Rica? This article is aimed at all those interested in settling in Costa Rica and who have had voluntary name changes or last name changes for having married abroad. You will be able to find all the answers to questions that may arise in this particular topic within the process.

The Immigration Regulations detail a series of requirements to apply for residence and citizenship in Costa Rica.

Article 58 of the regulation mentioned above, includes within the mandatory requirements to apply for a residence or apply for citizenship, the marriage certificate for those cases that require it.

What is the relevance of marriage and birth certificates?

The Marriage Certificate is used to prove a name change, that is the main importance of the document. A person can have different name changes because of previous marriages. Regardless of the amount of name changes, we need to prove to the Immigration Department (DGME) all the name changes a person has had and the document necessary for that is the Marriage Certificate apostilled or legalized based on where it was issued. If someone has changed their name five times, we will need to file all those five Marriage Certificates along with the Divorce Certificates.

However, if a person voluntarily decided to change his or her name and or surname -not for reasons of marriage-, it is necessary to provide the document in which that change is verified, since the DGME needs to corroborate that the passport certified to be presented with the application, corresponds to the birth certificate that must also be provided.

When there is a change of name and or surname, both documents will display different information and this will cause an inconsistency in the information provided which could result in the DGME, rejecting the application.

A person’s identity is vital when applying for residency or citizenship, since the country is providing a legal immigration status to a citizen not born in Costa Rica, by taking it as its own or as a resident. This is why it is necessary for your identity to be confirmed.

If at the time of registering your marriage, a mistake was made and your last name was misspelled, this could also affect your application, because a letter could mean that you are a completely different person.

The fact that the identity of an individual cannot be verified and confirmed could be risky for the Costa Rican population. If the identity of a person is not accurately determined, this could pose a risk at the national level, since it is not known exactly if this person has committed a crime in the past or if he/she is a dangerous person for the country. This is a risk that the Costa Rican government is not going to take lightly.

Identity is key in the immigration process

An interesting detail is that in Central American countries, citizens do not tend to change their surnames for their partner’s. This practice is common in the United States, Canada and other countries around the world. In Costa Rica, if a person marries 8 times, during all these marriages, the person will keep their birth surname, so a name change must not be proven in order to marry again or to prove their identity to a government institution.

Changing your name voluntarily is also not a common or usual practice for Costa Ricans. Other countries have more freedom regarding these issues and the process is even simpler, therefore people take this as a simple practice and go ahead with name and or surname changes.

For example, if a client has been married three times and in all these times has changed his last name and also suppose he decided to change his name voluntarily from John to Michael, this person must provide along with his application a series of additional documents: three marriage certificates (duly apostilled or legalized), two divorce certificates (duly apostilled or legalized) and the voluntary name change document (duly apostilled or legalized as well). Since his Birth Certificate will show a name and surname different from those provided in his Passport or current Marriage Certificate. It should also be taken into account that any document presented in a language other than Spanish must be translated into it by an official translator.

It is much easier to provide the necessary documents to prove the name changes, than to be rejected by the DGME and cause a delay in the application, inconvenience, loss of time, money and a stressful time.

If you are in need of documents or further information regarding procurement, authentication or translation of name changes, marriage certificates, and divorce decrees, our sister company OLS Documents can provide assistance.

Our mission at Outlier Legal Services, is to make sure that the process is as pleasant and simple as possible for the client and to eventually obtain the approval they deserve and for which they hired us!