Costa Rica has reactivated a special migration category that will allow thousands of Cuban migrants — along with nationals of Nicaragua, Venezuela and Colombia — to live and work legally in the country, even if their asylum claims were rejected or remain unresolved.
The measure, formalized in resolution DG-0064-05-2026 and published in the official gazette La Gaceta on May 29, takes effect Sept. 1, 2026. It revives the “complementary special temporary category,” a mechanism that lapsed in 2024 and that immigration authorities had ruled out reactivating as recently as last year.
Under the resolution, the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration (DGME) will grant beneficiaries unrestricted authorization to work in any paid activity, whether self-employed or for an employer. For many Cubans who have spent years in legal limbo while awaiting a refugee decision, the work permit is the central benefit, removing a barrier that has long kept them out of formal employment.
To qualify, applicants must have filed a refugee request between June 1, 2014, and May 7, 2026, and must have remained in Costa Rica continuously since applying. Their case must be pending, declared manifestly unfounded, or denied with finality. Applicants who already hold another approved immigration status, or who qualify for an ordinary residency category, are excluded.
The category will be granted for two-year terms and can be renewed for identical periods. Beneficiaries will not need special permits to leave and re-enter the country, though they must meet the same travel requirements applied to other special categories. The DGME will run criminal and police background checks against national and international databases before approving any application, and may require biometric reviews.
Applicants must also document their ties to Costa Rica, presenting school enrollment records for their children, medical records from the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), or other paperwork issued by public institutions. Maintaining active CCSS affiliation is mandatory both to complete the process and to keep the category afterward.
The fees spelled out in the resolution total at least $105 per person — $25 for the application, $20 for the initial two-year term, and two separate $30 charges for issuing the migration document. Those figures do not include the cost of certifications, apostilles, translations, criminal-record checks or travel to complete the procedure, and each family member must pay individually. Applications will be accepted by appointment at the DGME’s offices in La Uruca, San José, during a one-year window running from Sept. 1, 2026, to Sept. 1, 2027.
The reactivation responds to mounting pressure on Costa Rica’s asylum system. The DGME acknowledged a sharp rise in refugee claims since 2014 and conceded that many applicants do not meet the legal threshold for refugee status, leaving a large migrant population in irregular, vulnerable conditions. UN refugee agency UNHCR reported in May 2025 that Costa Rica was hosting more than 194,000 Nicaraguan asylum seekers and that the country shelters more than half of the world’s displaced Nicaraguan population.
For Cubans specifically, Costa Rica has shifted from a transit corridor to a destination. The International Organization for Migration recorded 1,541 Cubans entering from Nicaragua between September 2025 and February 2026 — 28% of all migrants arriving in that period — and found that 94% of Cubans surveyed in the country in January 2026 named Costa Rica as their intended destination, citing better economic and labor conditions, political stability and protection.
In its resolution, the DGME cited Inter-American Court of Human Rights criteria on complementary protection for people who fall outside the traditional refugee definition but could face risks to their life, liberty or safety if returned home
