The diversity in Costa Rica is so enchanting that it ticks every wedding venue checklist. You will have various options, whether you want to get married under a tropical rainforest, by a beautiful beach, beside a river, or in a picturesque garden. Besides the beauty, Costa Rica also offers newlyweds tons of honeymoon activities, ranging from ziplining to river rafting to riding horses by the beach. If you are after a wedding destination that has it all, here is how to get married in Costa Rica as a U.S. citizen:
How to Get Married in Costa Rica As a U.S. Citizen?
Tourists have long flocked to Costa Rica searching for sloths, cloud forests, adrenaline-inducing outdoor activities, and perfect weather. And more recently, more people have headed here to tie the knot. Below is the process for getting married in Costa Rica:
1) Choose a wedding ceremony: People getting married in Costa Rica can have civil, Catholic, or other religious weddings. Each option requires a different officiant and dictates where you can hold your wedding. Moreover, your choice affects your document requirements and preliminary processes. As such, this is one of the most crucial decisions you will make.
2) Find an officiant: Once you have decided on a wedding option, you must find a celebrant with legal authority to marry couples. If you choose a civil wedding, you will need a lawyer or a judge. People getting married in Catholic wedding ceremonies need a priest, while other religions can have any celebrant but must have a lawyer to legalize the ceremony. Talk to your officiant early in the process and determine what preparations you should make.
3) Hire a wedding planner: The wedding preparations often require immediacy, especially for foreign weddings, as the legal paperwork has timelines. Thus, you need to hire someone to step in on your behalf in these legal processes while juggling other processes, e.g., sourcing vendors. Costa Rica has many qualified planners, so this step should be easy.
4) Select a wedding venue: Before applying for a marriage license, you must decide where to hold the wedding, as this information will go on the application form. When choosing an option, ensure it aligns with your wedding ceremony requirements. For example, civil weddings often take place in the Civil Registry or any other venue approved by your officiant. You should thus get approval.
5) Find witnesses: Costa Rica marriage laws require at least two witnesses for each wedding who are unrelated to the couple. You can have your friends stand in or ask your resort to provide you with witnesses with valid IDs.
6) Prepare your documents: Usually, couples need valid passports and sworn statements regarding their single status. But you may need more documentation if you have been married.
- Translate your documents: While the U.S. uses and accepts English documents, Costa Rica uses Spanish as its official language. You must, therefore, have your official documents translated before presenting them to Costa Rican authorities.
- Apostille your documents: Any official documents issued in the U.S., e.g., a divorce decree, are only acceptable in Costa Rica if they have apostilles, as these verify their signatures, stamps, and seals. You can get an apostille from the Secretary of State in the state that issued your document.
Travel Visa Pro offers passport, apostille, and translation services and can help you prepare all your documents in just a few days.
7) Apply for a marriage license: At least a month before you get married, you should notify the Civil Registry in Costa Rica about your wedding. You will need to fill out a form where you will include your personal details such as age and address. During this process, you will present accompanying documents, e.g., your passport and sworn statement of single status.
8) Get a marriage license: There are no waiting periods for couples who meet all the marriage requirements and present the necessary documents. Thus, you can get married days after getting your license.
9) Hold the wedding: The ceremony should end with solemnization by a registered officiant. In civil and religious weddings (other than Catholic), this should be done by a lawyer or judge. But in Catholic weddings, the priest has the legal authority to marry you. Afterward, you and your witnesses should sign the marriage license.
10) Register the wedding: Your officiant should register your marriage in the Civil Registry, after which you can get your marriage certificate in a few months.
If you get married in Costa Rica, is it legal in the U.S? The short answer is yes. Once you have registered your marriage in Costa Rica, you will get a marriage certificate, which you can use to prove your marital status in the U.S. But for it to hold water, you must proceed as follows:
- Get the certificate translated into English by a certified translation service and verify this with the Ministry of Foreign Relations,
- Present the translated document to a Notary Public for notarization and
- Submit the certificate to the Embassy’s Consular Section, where it will get certified and signed, proving its validity.
While your marriage certificate will still be valid even without these steps, using it in the U.S. will be hard if you have not had it certified.
What are the Different Types of Marriage in Costa Rica?
The marriage requirements in Costa Rica depend on your choice of marriage. So, what options can you consider?
1. Civil Ceremonies
These weddings take place in the Civil Registry or any other approved venue as seen fit by the lawyer or judge marrying the couple. Since these ceremonies take place in Spanish, you should hire a lawyer who can provide a lawyer’s protocol in English to show that you have willingly exchanged vows. These ceremonies are often short and feature standard vows. Once the ceremony ends, the lawyer or judge signs the marriage license alongside you and your witnesses. They also file the license with the Civil Registry.
2. Catholic Ceremonies
The Catholic Church holds many churches in Costa Rica, as many citizens follow this faith. The legal requirements are the same as those of a civil marriage in Costa Rica. However, the preliminaries differ. If you want a Catholic wedding, you should confer with a priest who will walk you through the church’s requirements, which include the following:
- Get on the waitlist for a wedding date – some churches have waitlists that extend months,
- Attend premarital classes and take a final exam, which you should pass,
- Present certifications of the sacraments you have completed,
- Demonstrate your faith,
- Get approval from your local parish,
- Attend an interview with the priest overseeing the ceremony.
These processes can last months. Thus, if you are set on a Catholic Church wedding, you should start planning almost a year ahead.
3. Other Religion Ceremonies
Besides the Catholic Church, other churches can also celebrate marriages. However, only Catholic priests have the mandate to legalize weddings. So, while your minister may lead the religious ceremony, a lawyer or judge must be in charge of the legalization part, including the signing of papers. You should thus confer with your officiant and the judge or lawyer who will deal with the paperwork.
4. Symbolic Weddings
While all the ceremonies above require couples to apply for marriage licenses, these do not. As the name suggests, they are symbolic. As such, you can choose what to do at the wedding, including where and when to have it, who can officiate it, and what vows to read. These are common for couples who are already married and want to renew their vows.
Is a marriage in Costa Rica recognized in the United States? Civil, Catholic, and other religious marriages officiated by licensed officiants and registered in the Civil Registry are valid in the U.S. However, symbolic weddings are not, as they are not legally binding.
Marriage Requirements in Costa Rica for U.S. Citizens
One of the best things about getting married in Costa Rica for foreigners is the simplicity of the process. You only need to meet the following criteria to get a marriage license:
- Age: You can only get married if you are at least 18 years old.
- Single Status: Costa Rica does not allow polygamy. Anyone applying for a marriage license must prove they are free to marry.
- Divorcees and Widows: Women whose previous marriages ended due to divorce or death must wait 300 days from the date of the divorce or death before getting married. This law often bars women from getting married when pregnant for their previous spouses. You can waive this requirement by taking a pregnancy test administered by Medicatura Forense de la Corte Suprema de Justicia in San Joaquin de Flores.
- Presence: Costa Rica allows people to marry through a proxy if they have power of attorney rights granted in a notarized public deed. The other partner must attend the marriage for it to be valid. While this is possible, it has several limitations you should discuss with your attorney.
- Consent: Marriages are only legal if you and your partner are fit to enter a legal contract. Moreover, there should be no evidence of coercion. Where such evidence becomes available, the marriage will be void or voidable.
- Witnesses: You must have two witnesses aged at least 18 who can legally enter a contract. These witnesses should not be family members and must be present during the wedding.
- Relationships: You cannot marry anyone you are related to by consanguinity or affinity, including relations by adoption.
- Residency: People who live outside Costa Rica can get married in the country if they meet all the marriage requirements.
- Translation: Documents not in Spanish should be translated into Spanish by a certified translation service. Also, if a ceremony takes place in Spanish, you should have a translator to help you follow the process.
- Apostille: U.S.-issued documents are unacceptable in Costa Rica if they don’t have an apostille verifying their stamps, seals, and signatures.
Anyone entering a marriage in Costa Rica through the Catholic Church will need additional requirements, e.g., attending pre-marital classes. Check with your priest before applying for a marriage license.
What Documents Do I Need to Get Married in Costa Rica?
In most cases, a U.S. citizen getting married in Costa Rica only needs a valid passport and sworn statement to get married. However, the requirements change based on who you are marrying, whether you have been married, and the type of marriage you choose. So, what do you need to get married in Costa Rica?
- A valid passport: You will need your passport as proof of ID. It should be in good condition and valid for departure from Costa Rica.
- A sworn status of single status: You must declare you are free to marry and understand the prison terms of providing false testimony.
- A death certificate: People whose previous spouses have died must present death certificates to prove this.
- A divorce decree: If your previous marriage ended in divorce, present this document as proof of single status.
- A birth certificate: You only need this if you plan to establish residency in Costa Rica. If so, your attorney will walk you through the other document requirements. But you should have a birth certificate ready for the marriage application.
- An apostille: Anyone presenting additional documentation (e.g., a divorce decree) issued outside Costa Rica should accompany the document with an apostille.
If you are marrying a Costa Rican citizen, they should present their national identity card and a certificate of single status from the Civil Registry.
How Old Do You Have to Be to Get Married in Costa Rica?
Can you get married at 16? How old do you have to be to get married in Costa Rica? The legal age for marriage in Costa Rica is 18, and anyone younger than this does not qualify to consent to such a union.
How Much Does It Cost to Get Married in Costa Rica?
Many people choose Costa Rica for destination weddings because of its reasonable prices. You might thus wonder, how much does it cost to get married in Costa Rica? Simple ceremonies with up to 20 guests cost anything from $5,000 to $10,000. You can tweak the costs by changing your venue, guest list, caterers, etc., to arrive at a budget that suits you.
How to Find a Wedding Planner in Costa Rica?
While Costa Rica weddings have few legal formalities, planning the perfect wedding requires expertise, which you can source from a good wedding planner. Here are factors to consider when selecting who to work with:
- Do they have experience with foreigners’ weddings?
- Do you like their style? You can find out by viewing their previous work.
- Do they have a good reputation? Working with planners recommended to you is always a good choice.
- What approach do they use? Some planners follow your lead, while others work with you side-by-side. Choose what you prefer.
- How busy are they? You want a planner who can dedicate enough time to your event.
Once you find planners you think are a good fit, you can review their pricing and terms and pick the best one.
