If you need to renew a foreign passport while a Costa Rica residency application is pending, treat the passport renewal and the DGME case as two separate processes. Your passport-issuing country handles the passport; DGME handles the Costa Rican immigration file. Tell your adviser about the renewal before an appointment or document deadline is missed.
Contact the authority that issued your passport
Use your country’s official passport or consular service. Canadian applicants can start with the Embassy of Canada in San José, which lists passport services and appointment information. U.S. applicants should use the U.S. Embassy’s passport service.
Check the correct procedure for an adult renewal, a child, a lost or damaged passport, or an urgent travel document. Do not assume there is one fee, photograph size, processing time or document checklist for every nationality. DGME does not renew another country’s passport.
Preserve the connection with your residency application
Make a secure record of the passport number used in your application, the identity page, relevant entry evidence and the DGME file number. When the new passport arrives, compare the name, birth details and other identity information carefully.
Ask DGME or your authorized representative how to submit the updated identity information for your particular pending case. Confirm the accepted copy or certification, the submission channel and how to obtain proof that the update was received. Keep that confirmation with your application records.
Should you discard the old passport?
Do not discard it simply because a replacement has arrived. Follow the issuing authority’s instructions about surrender or cancellation. If it is returned to you, keep it securely while it is relevant to your immigration history, existing visas or a request to connect the old and new passport numbers.
A cancelled or expired passport is not a substitute for a valid travel document. Ask the relevant authority whether both documents are needed for a particular journey or appointment. Keep copies as supporting records, rather than assuming copies replace originals.
Plan for appointments and travel
- Tell your adviser if the issuing authority will hold your original passport.
- Check any upcoming DGME request or appointment against the expected renewal timing.
- If urgent travel is necessary, ask the issuing authority about available options and DGME about your immigration record.
- Confirm carrier, transit-country and re-entry requirements before committing to travel.
A new passport does not itself extend a tourist stay, renew a DIMEX card or approve residency. Check those matters separately using the DGME entry requirements and your case documents.
Keep costs separate
Ask for the passport authority’s current fee and payment instructions. Any courier, translation, certification or immigration-related cost should be identified separately. Do not send passport-renewal money to a bank account copied from a general residency article.
Get help with the immigration paperwork
Contact CRIE with your nationality, DGME file number, passport expiry date and any pending appointment or official request. Share sensitive identity documents through an agreed private channel.
Reviewed September 7, 2026. Official starting points: DGME Regularización, DGME Visas, and the Canadian Embassy’s passport-services directory. Case-update steps must be confirmed for the individual file.