Costa Rica – A Country of Immigration and Transit (2024)

Costa Rica as a migration receiving country

Many people visiting Costa Rica are looking for sun, beach, or nature. But besides being a destination for tourists and lifestyle migrants in search for “the good life” or “pura vida”, in recent decades the country has become a destination of migrants seeking better economic opportunities or security, fleeing poverty, unstable political regimes and situations in which their lives are threatened – for example, because of their sexual preferences or criminal gangs.

Costa Rica has a population of just over five million inhabitants, its official language is Spanish, it is politically stable, among the countries with very high human development, and classified as upper middle-income country. Foreigners make up nine to ten percent of the total population, with most of them (66 percent in 2021) coming from neighboring Nicaragua (see Table 1). Other countries also contribute to immigration flows, e.g., Venezuela and Colombia as well as the United States. Though immigration from the United States differs from other flows because most migrants from the USA have the economic resources to come to Costa Rica as lifestyle migrants: Many of them seek to spend their retirement life in Costa Rica’s coastal areas where the weather is good and they can enjoy a relaxed evening of life.

Costa Rica has a high political standing, as evidenced by its commitment to human rights, for example. During the eighties, armed conflicts in Costa Rica’s neighborhood arose in the context of the struggle against communism, especially in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. As a consequence, large numbers of people sought refuge in Costa Rica. In the following decades, Nicaraguans kept coming to Costa Rica in search for jobs and political stability. Most of the Nicaraguan migrants in Costa Rica work in agriculture, construction and domestic work.

In recent years, Costa Rica has experienced a sharp rise in asylum applications. According to Costa Rica’s Directorate General for Migrants and Aliens (Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería, DGME), there were 86,788 asylum seekers in 2022. From January to August 2023, DGME registered 26,723 asylum applicants. Most asylum applications are submitted by Nicaraguans leaving their country of origin in a context of a deteriorating human rights situation.

These developments put Costa Rica’s asylum system under immense pressure. At the end of November 2022, President Rodrigo Chaves Robles therefore modified the country’s policy to apply for international protection. Whereas it was previously possible to apply for asylum by phone or via a website, those seeking protection must now appear in person at the authorities within 30 days after entering the country to file an asylum application. While their application is processed, they may not leave Costa Rica. It now also takes longer to be granted a work permit. As most of the asylum seekers, according to the DGME do not qualify for refugee status, the Government decided to reactivate for Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans a special temporary protection permit (Categoría Especial Temporal) that had already existed before 2016. It entered into force on 1st March 2023 and allows those who withdraw their application for international protection, register with Social Security and do not have a criminal record to stay and work in Costa Rica for the period of two years. In addition, in June 2023, Costa Rica and the USA reached an agreement to open legal pathways to some of the Nicaraguan and Venezuelan asylum seekers in order to take pressure off Costa Rica’s asylum system.

Costa Rica as a country of transit

Since approximately 2010, Costa Rica has increasingly become a country of transit for intra- and extracontinental migrants on their way to the United States. People from the Congo, Somalia, Eritrea, Bangladesh and other Asian, African and Caribbean countries (e.g., Cuba and Haiti) enter Costa Rica through the City Paso Canoas which is both Costa Rican as well as Panamanian because the border between both countries runs through the city. At this point of their journey, they have already travelled through the Darién Gap, a 90-mile stretch of dense jungle in Columbia and Panama. They then transit through Costa Rica and exit the country on their north-bound journey through the La Cruz canton bordering Nicaragua. The flows are mixed: economic migrants travel on the same routes as asylum seekers and victims of human trafficking. It is estimated that around 9,600 migrants enter Costa Rica irregularly every month.

Transit migration has increased mainly for two reasons:

1. The constant strengthening of European migration and border control policy, which discourages and complicates migration to Europe and pushes people who want to migrate or are forced to flee to look for other possible destinations and mobility options.

2. The notion of the "American dream" – the prospect of advancing socially and economically – seems to remain a strong driver for migration through the Americas in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic and an ongoing economic crisis. This includes immigration policies (such as Temporary Protected Status) that offer benefits for certain nationalities as well as the prospect of remittances as an important source of income for many households in the migrants’ countries of origin. Data provided by the U.S.-based think tank Inter-American Dialogue demonstrate the significance of remittances sent back by migrants to their countries of origin in Latin America: For example, remittances equal about 20 percent of the GDP in Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

But migrants also chose to transit through Latin America due to the region’s “relatively porous borders, open immigration policies, and limited state capacity to enforce these policies compared with Europe and North America.” Migration policies in Latin American countries generally revolve around the diaspora, including the non-return of their nationals by the U.S. instead of creating political and economic conditions that promote remaining in the country. With regard to international migrations, there are few integration policy efforts since most countries in Central America and South America are emigration countries and therefore do not have a strong focus on managing immigration and transit flows.

However, migration decisions are complex as migration involves high costs and risks. Many migrants and their families must accept high debts to be able to undertake the journey towards their destination. The journeys are not straightforward and unidirectional, instead they are often long, complicated and perilous; it might take many months or even years to travel through the continent to reach Mexico, the United States, and Canada. There are migrants who decide not to continue their journey to the north and end up staying in one of the countries along the way; others return to where they came from, again others never reach their destination as they lose their lives due to the dangers they are faced with , e.g., violence, dehydration, harsh physical and psychological conditions during the journey. Criminal gangs and armed groups along the way as well as lack of access to assistance, protection and legal advice increase the migrants’ vulnerability.

Entry points of intra- and extracontinental migrants

Brazil and Ecuador are main entry points to South America either by plane or by boat. For example, until the end of 2015 Ecuador did not request a visa for Cubans. As a result, it became an important entry point for Cubans heading towards the United States. Similarly, Brazil granted humanitarian visa and residence permits to approximately 98,000 Haitians after the terrible earthquakes in 2010. About a third of these Haitians are reported to have later left Brazil due to the economic recession. For many African migrants Brazil with its large community of African descent, its economic attractiveness and relatively lax visa policy is an important entry point. Others fly to Ecuador which also has a comparatively liberal visa regime, although visa restrictions have increased in recent years.

The economic crisis as well as deepening political conflicts in many countries in South America and Central America have contributed to an increase in the number of migrants travelling overland toward the north of the continent in search of better opportunities. However, their journeys are difficult to research, and proper information has been difficult to obtain, because these migrants are not seeking to be noticed. Therefore, data is scarce, incomplete and partly contradictory.

Since 2012 data has been collected in Costa Rica about the journey of extracontinental migrants, first on the basis of migrants detected and detained, later based on the number of people who have been issued a temporary Permit of Entry and Transit for Humanitarian Assistance in Costa Rica (see Table 2).

According to the DGME, from 2013 to 2017, there were 10,646 migrants from the Republic of the Congo passing through Costa Rica, 4,688 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and 1,305 from Eritrea. However, it must be emphasized that some migrants have not presented any documents to verify their identity and others have been in possession of false ones. Therefore, these data need to be treated with caution. Many migrants do not comply with the request to come to the immigration office for security checks at the southern border and go into hiding.

The Cuban migration crisis 2015

Irregular migration from the Caribbean, Asia and Africa through Costa Rica became highly visible in 2015 with the so-called Cuban migration crisis. In the context of a détente in relations between Cuba and the USA, many Cubans feared that the U.S. would give up its preferential treatment of Cuban migrants who, according to the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, a policy dating back to Cold War times, could comparatively easily obtain a residence permit in the USA. However, from 1995 there was a special requirement, whereby only migrants able to reach the USA ‘dry foot’ and were not intercepted at sea (‘wet foot’) could benefit from these measures. This made migration on the land routes through South America and Central America more attractive.

The possible end of the preferential immigration policy mobilized Cubans to undertake the journey to the U.S.. As a result, there were rising numbers of irregular migrants from Cuba passing through Costa Rica, where they were offered a temporary migratory status for their passage through the territory (Permiso de Ingreso y Tránsito, PIT). They were also provided with food and medical care, and were granted security and freedom of movement. Most importantly, families were given the opportunity to stay together. The journeys of Cubans were facilitated by smugglers: At the end of 2015, Costa Rica dismantled a network of smugglers operating at its northern border, spanning from Miami to Ecuador and Guatemala. In November 2015, 8,000 Cubans stranded in Costa Rica when Nicaragua closed its borders, thereby preventing migrants to continue their journey – a move that caused diplomatic conflict in the region and forced the Costa Rican government to set up shelters for these migrants. Finally, in an exceptional humanitarian air lift organized by the government of Costa Rica with the support of international organizations such as the International Organization of Migration (IOM), 38 flights to Mexico and El Salvador were arranged for the Cuban migrants which enabled them to continue their journey towards the USA.

In January 2017, on the last day of the Obama administration, preferential treatment of Cubans was ended. However, irregular migration of Cubans through Costa Rica continued.

The COVID-19-pandemic: closed borders, closed reception centers

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Costa Rica made efforts to protect the human rights of migrants transiting through its territory while at the same time fighting human smuggling (coyotaje) and trafficking. Migrants had to undergo a security check at the southern border and were then transferred to a Temporary Care Center for Migrants (Centro de Atención Temporal para Personas Migrantes, CATEM) at the country’s northern border where they could receive assistance such as accommodation, food and medical services. Since late 2015 extracontinental transit migrants were equipped with a Permit of Entry and Transit for Humanitarian Assistance (Permiso de Ingreso y Permanencia Transitoria para Atención Humanitaria, PIT), valid for 25 days, that legalized and therefore eased their passage through Costa Rica. This was a measure introduced to uphold the mobility of these migrants so that their stay in Costa Rica would not become permanent. It also allowed the Costa Rican state to maintain a certain degree of control over these flows.

After the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Costa Rica in March 2020, this approach to assist transit migrants came to a halt. The Government of then president Carlos Alvarado ordered to close the country’s borders, leaving several hundred transit migrants trapped on Costa Rican territory as well as in the Darien jungle on the Panamanian side of the border. Reception centers in Costa Rica were closed and relief efforts to assist migrants suspended. PITs were no longer issued to transit migrants. Some migrants continued their journey north, yet in a more hidden way than before as their transit has taken place under irregular conditions ever since which has increased their vulnerability. As of October 2023, Costa Rica had not resumed its pre-pandemic humane treatment of transit migrants; for example, migrants at the border with Panama still did not receive the humanitarian assistance they had been receiving prior to the pandemic. However, transit through Costa Rica continues. According to data provided by the General Directorate of Migration (Dirección General de Migración, DGME), 204,070 people passed through Costa Rica in the first eight months of 2023.

Current Developments

In March 2022, Costa Rica announced closer cooperation with the United States with regard to strengthening border policing and immigration control. Some weeks earlier, Costa Rica (just like Panama and Mexico) had already hardened visa requirements for Cubans and Venezuelans, making their transit migration more difficult. Nevertheless, in 2022 Costa Rica experienced a significant increase in the number of Venezuelan transit migrants after the Biden administration, in March 2021, had announced to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to hundreds of thousands of exiled Venezuelans already present in the U.S.. This temporary residency program was extended for another 18 months in the summer of 2022. In October 2022, reacting to increasing numbers of transit migrants, especially from Venezuela, the Costa Rican Government decided to facilitate transit by asking private bus companies to increase the number of buses that shuttle transit migrants from Costa Rica’s southern to the country’s northern border.

The increase in the number of migrants transiting through Costa Rica can possibly also be attributed to the end of Title 42 in May 2023. Since March 2020, this policy had allowed the USA to immediately deport undocumented migrants on the grounds of protecting public health without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum. The end of this policy increased the hopes of entering the USA. This puts pressure on Latin American transit countries which have, in the course of 2023, experienced an increase in the number of migrants crossing through their territories. In September 2023, President Rodrigo Chaves ordered a state of emergency thus reacting to a surge in migrants passing through Panama’s border into Costa Rica on their way to the United States.

Outlook

It seems that Costa Rica is slowly drawn into the USA’s efforts to externalize migration control. In this context of increasing pressure to cooperate with the USA, it remains to be seen if Costa Rica will uphold its approach to safeguard the human rights of transit migrants. As of October 2023, the government had not re-established the support structures, such as permits that allow for legal transit and assistance, that had existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.