I have received a request to write about my experiences with the procurement of my volunteer visa. If you have no interest in visas and how you would go about obtaining a volunteer visa in Costa Rica, I suggest you stop reading this blog post now, as it’s probably going to be one of my least entertaining stories :)
Step 1: Get Official Documents
There are two documents you need to obtain in the States before you head to CR to get your volunteer visa. The first is a birth certificate and the second is a police clearance letter, which essentially states that you are not a felon/wanted person. While all the documents are easy to come by, they take some time to obtain. To get a certified copy of your birth certificate, you just go to your state records department website and download/fill out a form. Of course, you have to get the form notarized before you mail it back to the state. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of notary, let me explain. A notary is basically a person that is pre-approved by the state to verify that you are who you say you are. Verification is a very important theme with document procurement. When all is said and done, it takes approximate three weeks to get your birth certificate (if it’s digital) even though the website says it only takes two weeks.
Since I needed a police clearance letter that vouched for my clean police record for the past 3+ years, I had to get letters in both San Francisco and Pleasanton, my most recent cities of residence. I was dreading this step because I was afraid of the red tape I’d have to jump through, especially in SF, but it was actually a very painless process (sort of). I stopped by the SFPD on my way to work one morning, located the correct department, and wa-la, I had received a letter from the city of SF saying that I have no criminal record. Hooray! Unfortunately, I had not fully read the directions on my visa instruction sheet, and found out later that the clearance letter needed to be notarized (but of course).
It was only when I went to the Pleasanton Police Department to request my clearance letter from them that I was reminded of this fact when they offered to notarize their letter for $10 (the standard rate to get stuff notarized). I explained to them that I knew a notary and that having them notarize the document wouldn’t be necessary. Au contraire. The notary wasn’t going to confirm that I was the subject of the letter, but rather that the person signing the letter to say I didn’t have a record was the one being notarized (can ‘one’ be notarized?). A-ha. You see? All these levels of verification can get a little confusing. Long story long, to get my Pleasanton police letter, I filled out a form, showed my ID, paid some money and a week or so later, was able to pick up my notarized letter. THEN, I had to go back to San Francisco to get a new clearance letter that I could get notarized. Fortunately, I called in advance, and the officer was willing to come down to the notary across the street (at one of the handy local bail bonds shops) to get his signature verified. Do you see why I’m so impressed with the SFPD?!?! Whoda thunk they’d make it so easy on both my trips to see them?!?! I explained to the officer how impressed I was with the lack of bureaucracy and he was very surprised by my compliment. Apparently not all their departments/services run so smoothly ;) Also, I had to pay for the clearance letter in Ptown, where both my letters in SF were given to me for free! Thanks SFPD!
Step 2: Get Documents Notarized By Secretary Of State In Which They Were Issued
In all, it took a solid month to collect my two police clearance letters and certified birth certificate, all of which, as you will remember, were notarized (verified) in one way or another. But of course, this isn’t enough for good ol’ Costa Rica. The next step is to take all your documents to the Secretary of State’s Notary to have that office also confirm that the docs and people that verified them in the first place, are in fact legitimate. In essence, I needed to verify the verifications. Since I luckily live so close to Sacramento, I just drove up there one morning, paid a bunch of money, and about 15 minutes later (in addition to the 1.5 hr. drive there and back), my documents were again verified. For those of you who don’t know, getting your documents notarized by the State Secretary means they print out a letter saying the original notary is legit, staple the letter to the document in an askew fashion, and put a stamped seal on the docs so it’s partially on the letter and partially on the document. So the lesson is: Don’t remove the staple!!
Step 3: Get Documents Consularized
Finally, step three is to find your local Costa Rican consulate (LA for me), collect all your doubly verified documents, type up a little letter explaining why you’re sending said documents to the consulate (to get them, you guessed it, verified), and ship them down to LA. Don’t forget to include your pre-addressed, pre-paid envelope so your documents can be returned and your money order or cashier’s check for the requisite fees. This was a pretty easy process in the end, and I was able to get my documents returned to me in about a week. (With yet another askew letter and seal affixed to each document).
Step 4: Copies and Pictures
This was the easy stuff. While I was waiting to acquire the appropriate documents, I had to make three copies of my passport (every page, front and back, cover included) and get 7 pictures for a visa. The pictures were kind of a pain. I was told to just go to a drug store to get the pictures made, but since I needed Costa Rican visa pictures of a specific dimension (1.25”x1.75”) as opposed to the standard US passport photo picture (2”x2”), I actually ended up going the online route. I had my mom take my close-up in front of a white background and used epassportphoto.com (or something like that), to upload and format my picture. Then I was able to pick up the photos at my local Walgreens. It only cost my about $7 and I ended up with extra photos (which I accidentally requested). Once I figured out that it’s easiest to go online for the photos, it was a breeze.
Visas By The Numbers
How much does a visa cost, you ask? Well, it aint cheap. I was told it would all end up being around $500, but I’m not sure if that includes the “before CR” stuff I just explained in great detail. By the way, the purpose of getting the volunteer visa is so I don’t have to make a border run every 90 days while I’m in Costa Rica. You see, when you enter CR from the US, you are automatically granted a 90 day travel visa. So, if I didn’t want to get my volunteer visa, I would just need to leave Costa Rica for 72 hours in September and either go to Nicaragua or Panama. Upon re-entering CR after the three day trip, I would get another 90 day visa, which would tide me over to the end of my volunteer requirement in mid-December. However, my plan is to stay on and do some traveling when my time is up, so I’d have to do another border run in December if I didn’t have a visa. So I figure two border runs, in addition to the detrimental effects of leaving my students for a bit (a day?), would equal out to about $500 anyway (maybe – at this point, I’m sort of hoping it would have cost $500 either way!). Regardless, I’ve already gone down the volunteer visa route, so I’m sticking with it. At any rate, here’s the cost breakdown (excluding gasoline, stamps, etc.):
Visa Pictures - $7
Certified Birth Certificate: $16
Police Clearance Letter (Notarized) - San Francisco: $10
Police Clearance Letter (Notarized) - Pleasanton: $20
Secretary of State Notarization (3 Docs x $29): $87
Consularization with Costa Rican Embassy (3 Docs x $40): $120
Well, that’s where I’m at with the visas. I got all my documents triple-verified just before I left for Costa Rica, so the next step is to do all the “in country” stuff. From what I can gather, this means hiring a lawyer (to process/file paperwork?), get a translator (all the docs have to be in Spanish/English), get fingerprinted, etc. All in all, it will take a few months to actually get the visa. Ei-yi-yi. This is what happens when you “play by the rules” and go the legal route I suppose.
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