Every residency or naturalization process in Costa Rica starts with the filing of a request. When all of these processes are at their final stage, the Immigration Department (DGME) or the Board of Elections (TSE) through the Naturalization Department, issues a decision through an administrative resolution. Both types of requests (naturalization or residency) can be either approved or denied.

Immigration process

The Immigration Department is the one who decides about applications for residency and other immigration categories. When the DGME denies the residency application, the applicant (or his/her attorney) can request to revoke that resolution by filing a motion to revoke, under section 221 of the  Immigration Law.

Types of motions to dispute the final resolution

1) Motion to revoke

This motion must be filed with the DGME within three business days from receiving the notice. Section 226 of the law mentioned above, states that it is required to state the intent to revoke the resolution. Once the motion to revoke is filed, DGME has three months to review the motion. It is recommended to hire legal assistance for processing the motion to revoke.

2) Motion to appeal

The motion to appeal must be filed within three business days from the date of the notice. The motion to appeal must be included in the motion to revoke. It must be clearly stated in the document of intention to appeal. If the motion to revoke is rejected, then the file is transfer to the Board of Immigration Appeals (Tribunal Administrativo Migratorio TAM). According to section 228 of the Immigration Law, the TAM has three months to review the appeal.

Naturalization Process

The Civil Registry through the Office of Options and Naturalization is in charge of issuing the resolution of rejection or approval of the naturalization process. Section 93 of the Naturalization Regulations mandates the Public Administration to justify its decision, so that the reasons for which the application was denied are fully known.

It is important to take into account that in the matter of naturalization, two approval resolutions are required for the completion of the process, since in the first instance the resolution is issued by the Office of Options and Naturalization and this must also be ratified by the TSE. However, prior to the final resolution, the Attorney General’s Office has the right to file an appeal or state what it considers important before the final decision to grant a naturalization is made.

1) Motion to revoke

In this situation, and as in the immigration process, you are facing the first scenario to dispute the decision of the Civil Registry; which will be to express your disagreement before the Civil Registry itself, the same that decided to deny the resolution.

The General Law of Public Administration supports the applicant, since it gives it the possibility to dispute the decision of the Civil Registry, which must be given within the next three working days following the notification of the final resolution.

This motion requires that the petition for the review is included in the document. In the event of signing the file, it must be made before a public officer, or the signature must be authenticated before a legal professional authorized for such purpose.

2) Motion to appeal

The Regulation on the Procedures, Requirements and Criteria of Resolution in Matters of Naturalization, gives you a second option to be able to demonstrate your disagreement on what the Civil Registry decided; either at the moment of resolving the application, or after the appeal of revocation. This appeal will be reviewed by the Supreme Tribunal of Elections.

The TSE will analyze the whole file and will decide if the Civil Registry was correct in its decision. If the TSE determines that the rejection of the request does not proceed, it can order the Civil Registry to resolve it correctly, or the Supreme Tribunal of Elections itself can resolve it directly, and thus grant the naturalization.

3) Motion for Review

Before a decision is made by the TSE, there is the possibility of filing a motion for review. For example: 1) When there is a misinterpretation of the documents that were included in the file. 2) When documents that were not incorporated into the file due to impossibility, appear and they have an essential value for the final decision; or they have not been taken into account to resolve it. 3) When some documents or testimonies are declared false by a jurisdictional resolution and the applicant for naturalization did not know it. 4) When the decision of the Court has been made fraudulently.

It is important to emphasize that Outlier Legal Services has a lot of experience in dealing with this type of process. We understand the step by step of each one of them, and we assure a constant follow up of all the cases.

*Edited on November 2, 2022*