DocRevisa

Document checklist

El Salvador → Costa Rica: Short-stay tourist

Whether you need a visa at all, according to official sources.

Checked by our automated verification on 20 Oct 2026: every source on this page resolves and the data is structurally complete. This does not confirm a person re-read the source text for accuracy.

You likely don't need a visa

You don't need a visa to visit Costa Rica as a tourist. Costa Rica's Immigration Directorate (DGME) places El Salvador in its no-visa group. Under a 2008 bilateral agreement, the stay you're given simply runs until your own passport's expiry date, rather than a fixed number of days, your passport needs to still be valid to be let in at all. This applies whether or not you need a visa: bring a valid passport, proof of at least USD $100 for each month (or part-month) of your stay, and a return or onward ticket (or, if arriving by boat, a navigation plan showing your port of destination).

Source: Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (via Procuraduría General de la República – SCIJ)

This is reference information, not immigration advice, and DocRevisa is not affiliated with Costa Rica or any government or embassy. We publish only what official sources publish, with a link and a date for every claim.

Every report is personal: a document check is built from one person's own answers and documents, so two people on this route can get different results. Run your own check rather than relying on a friend's or relative's; each person is responsible for their own application.