Some 1,300 Nicaraguan citizens stood in lines stretching around the block this week at the Nicaraguan Embassy in San José, waiting for documents that will enable them to legalize their immigration status in Costa Rica. The lines began forming last week.
Undocumented Nicaraguans in Costa Rica are taking advantage of an extension offered by Costa Rica’s Immigration Administration to obtain residency status by November.
Many of them sleep outside embassy facilities in Barrio La California, hoping to access the building early in the morning.
Embassy staff was forced to extend office hours and use parking spaces to attend to the high number of visitors who arrive each day to request for birth certificates and criminal records.
Nicaraguan officials said they are working until 8 or 9 p.m. to be able to assist as many people as they can.
