Costa Ricans requesting passports will now get a much updated version, the new “Biometric Bicentennial Passport,” which is much safer as it’s harder to forge or for someone else to use.
Some of its safety features include holograms, visible figures in special print, 3D drawings, and a secure polycarbonate sheet with personal information. Additionally, it’ll have an ID number that is different from the person’s regular ID card number.
The new type of passport was announced last year and a pilot plan for it was started on February 23 of this year. As of today, March 6, the passport database is being officially changed to store the data from the biometric passports. This is a big step in technological modernization and digitization.
The new passports will have a chip with biometric data such as all ten fingerprints. The old ones only required two fingerprints. Another update is that the person can indicate their perceived gender on the personal information part.
The passports will have a cost of $75 plus ₡250. They will have a validity of 10 years.
The artwork on them was all designed by Costa Ricans.
You can make an appointment to get a passport at:
https://www.migracion.go.cr/Paginas/Pasaportes-y-Permisos-de-Salida.aspx
Those who already have passports do not need to order a new one at this time, as the old ones will remain valid until their original expiry dates. That will be at some point within the next ten years.
Cases of emergency travel that must happen today should be attended to in the central offices of the DGME in La Uruca.
