Costa Rica Apostille Service

Certify documents issued in Costa Rica for official use in the United States and abroad.

Certify documents issued in Costa Rica for international use
Authenticate Costa Rica documents including Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates, Certificaciones de Antecedentes Penales (Criminal Record Certificates), Costa Rican university degrees and school certificates, documents authenticated by a recognised Colegio Profesional (Professional Association), documents certified by a Costa Rican notary.

Costa Rica documents required for use abroad can be authenticated with an Apostille Stamp issued by the Ministry of External Relations and Worship. Documents required for submission to non-apostille countries require additional attestation by the embassy of the recipient country (UAE and Qatar embassies in San Jose, embassy of Vietnam in Panama City).

  • We provide expedited Costa Rica Apostille services. Apostilles are normally obtained in 2 - 5 business days
  • We can collect criminal record certificates from the Judicial Register of the Supreme Court in San Jose for clients applying for certificates from aboard through a Costa Rica embassy.
  • Isarey can also obtain certified copies of Costa Rica birth, marriage and death certificates for clients requiring authentication.

Right arrowFAQs - Costa Rica Apostille Services

Right arrowGet a Quotation to Apostille Costa Rica Documents

Right arrowCertify international documents for use in Costa Rica

Costa Rica Documents that can be authenticated with Apostille Stamps

  • Apostille Costa Rica birth, death and marriage certificates

    Birth, death and marriage certificates

    Costa Rica marriage certificates, death and birth certificates, must be stamped and signed by the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones.
    Isarey can obtain copies of Costa Rican certificates locally and certify them at the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship with an Apostille. We do not require any paper certificate to be sent to Costa Rica.

  • Criminal Record Certificates

    Costa Rica police certificates (Hoja de Delincuencia / Certificado de Antecedentes Penales) must be marked "Secretaría General de la Corte Suprema de Justicia for submission to the Ministry of External Relations and Worship for authentication by Apostille. Criminal record certificates are available online (with digital signature or to registered users) or from Costa Rican embassies abroad.
    If applying from aboard, we can collect your certificate from the Judicial Register of the Supreme Court for authentication. Please contact us before submitting the application to the embassy.

  • University Diplomas

    Degree certificates from Costa Rica universities can be authenticated with an Apostille when physically signed by a public official (public universities) or certified by the Viceministerio Académico del Ministerio de Educación pública or Consejo Nacional de Enseñanza Superior Universitaria Privada
    School certificates must be certified by the Dirección de Gestión y Evaluación de la Calidad del MEP.
    Diplomas required for the UAE or Qatar should be legalized by the Ministry of External Relations and Worship and then at the respective embassy in San Jose.

  • Notarized Documents

    Powers of Attorney, Affidavits, certified passport copies, contracts and other private documents certified by a notary in Costa Rica.

  • Incorporation Documents

    Certify Costa Rica corporate documents including certificates of incorporation, certificates of good standing, articles of association, board resolutions for use abroad.

Isarey provides document attestation services in Costa Rica to private, corporate and institutional clients worldwide. To find out about certifying Costa Rica documents for use in the United States and abroad, use our online quotation form or email us a scan or description of the documents you need to certify. We will get back to you directly with a quotation and details of how to proceed:

6 steps to certify document issued in Costa Rica

  1. Upload the documents you need attested or send them to us by email.
  2. Our experts will pre-check your documents to ensure that they are eligible for Apostille certification or consular legalization in the country where they are issued, and we’ll assist you locally in preparing them if required.
  3. We’ll send you a quotation with the total cost of the process (final price including all fees, certified translation when required and courier costs) and an estimation of how long the process will take to complete.
  4. We’ll arrange a secure courier to collect your original documents (where electronic versions are not sufficient).
  5. As soon as we receive your documents, we will confirm your order and proceed with the attestation process. Where appropriate, we will arrange certified copies for the attestation process so that we can return your originals directly.
  6. We return the attested documents to you by secure international courier.

Legalize Costa Rica Documents

Costa Rica documents can be legalized for cross-border use by means of Apostille Certification or Consular Legalization

Apostille Certification

An Apostille Stamp is a simplified procedure of international attestation. When affixed to documents, Apostilles are directly recognised by the authorities of 117 countries (Signatories of the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents Hague Apostille ConventionExternal link (opens in new tab)) as certifying the document’s validity, without requiring additional certification.

Since Costa Rica is a signatory to the convention, Isarey can assist by obtaining Apostille Certification for Costa Rica documents so that they are valid for official use in other signatory countries, including: US United StatesUnited States - ES SpainSpain - IT ItalyItaly - PT PortugalPortugal - GR GreeceGreece - CY CyprusCyprus - FR FranceFrance - GB United KingdomUnited Kingdom - SA Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia - DE GermanyGermany - CN ChinaChina

Consular Legalization
Consular Legalization is required when a document from Costa Rica is to be used in a non-signatory country. In this case, following authentication by authorities in Costa Rica, the document must be certified a second time in Costa Rica by the embassy representing the country where the document is to be used.

Countries which do not recognise Apostille certification and require consular legalization include: QA QatarQatar - KW KuwaitKuwait - AE United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates - TW TaiwanTaiwan - VN VietnamVietnam

Certified Translation

Where Costa Rica documents are to be used abroad and where the receiving country has a different official language, certified translation may also be required. Isarey takes care of any certified translations required as part of the document attestation process, ensuring that translations are carried out and certified in accordance with local regulations.

Note that a certified translation on its own only provides assurance that the translation itself is accurate and true; it does not confirm the authenticity of the original document. The original document must be legalized for a certified translation to carry equivalent legal weight.

Costa Rica Document Resources

External resources and news about Costa Rica documents, apostilles and certification procedures.

CR
Costa Rica Document Resources
Apostilles and Legalization
Public officials whose signatures can be authenticated with Apostilles
Public officials whose signatures can be authenticated with Apostilles
Right arrowwww.rree.go.cr
List of public officials in Costa Rica whose signatures are registered with the Ministry of External Relations and Worship for authentication with Apostille Stamps (in Spanish)
Birth, Death, Marriage Certificates
Obtain Costa Rica birth, death and marriage certificates
Obtain Costa Rica birth, death and marriage certificates
Right arrowwww.consulta.tse.go.cr
Apply online to obtain a digital copy of Costa Rican birth, death and marriage certificates. These can then be certified by the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones and authenticated with an Apostille stamp by the Ministry of External Relations and Worship. (in Spanish)
Criminal Record Certificates
Apply online for a Costa Rica Criminal Record Certificate
Right arrowpj.poder-judicial.go.cr
Costa Rican police background checks (Hoja de Delincuencia / Certificado de Antecedentes Penales) can be obtained online with a Costa Rican electronic signature or with a username and password that can be obtained from judicial offices. Applicants from outside Costa Rica, who do not have an electronic signature, should apply to their nearest Costa Rica embassies and consulates abroad Costa Rica embassyExternal link (opens in new tab).
Government Admin
Foreign embassies and consulates in Costa Rica
Foreign embassies and consulates in Costa Rica
Right arrowwww.rree.go.cr
List of foreign diplomatic missions to Costa Rica (in Spanish)
Document verification
Verify Costa Rica Apostilles
Verify Costa Rica Apostilles
Right arrowwww.rree.go.cr
Online verification of Apostilles issued by the Costa Rica Ministry of External Relations and Worship (in Spanish)

The above links are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; Isarey bears no responsibility for the accuracy, content or policies of external websites.

Get a Quotation for your Documents

We price each certification process individually, depending on the type and quantity of documents to be attested, the country of issue, the country of use and intended purpose, urgency, whether certified translations are required as part of the process and courier costs.

To receive a quote, you can upload your documents using our online quotation form or send us your documents by email. After reviewing your documents and requirements, we will get back to you with a quotation:

If you don’t have the documents available, just describe the documents you need to certify, and we will get back to you with an estimation of cost and delivery times.

Using our quotation form, your documents will be uploaded over a secure connection and immediately encrypted on our server. For added protection, you can upload password-protected files ( PDFExternal link (opens in new tab), Microsoft Office 365: Save a password protected document to prevent unauthorized people from opening it. Office DocumentsExternal link (opens in new tab), WinRAR Encryption Frequently asked question (FAQ) RAR foldersExternal link (opens in new tab)) and provide us with the passwords separately.

PERSONAL DATA: If your documents contain personal data belonging to people outside your household, please ensure that you are authorised to share this data before uploading your documents. If your documents contain sensitive personal data, such as biometric data, medical data or data on criminal convictions, please ensure that you indicate this when prompted, upon submitting your documents. For further information on our processing of personal data contained in uploaded documents, please see:
Privacy Policy (Customer Inquiries)

For further information on confidentiality in our handling of document content please see:
Confidentiality (Client Content)

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