North and Central America and Caribbean

We strongly recommend that you obtain comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling.  You should check for any exclusions, and that your policy covers you for the activities you want to undertake.  For more general information see Travel Insurance.

If things do go wrong when you are oversees then this is When Things Go Wrong.

Register with our LOCATE service to tell us when and where you are travelling abroad or where you live abroad so our consular and crisis staff can provide better assistance to you in an emergency.  More information about registering with LOCATE can be found here. 

Passports

From 9 November 2009 applications for British passports should be sent to the UK Passport Service for the Americas & Caribbean in the British Embassy in Washington.  The British Embassy in San José will continue to issue Emergency Passports for people who need to travel urgently.

Since many trips to Costa Rica are made via the United States, it is important to note that with effect from 26 October 2004, all passport holders who wish to enter the US under the Visa Waiver Programme (See Entry Requirements in the Travel Advice for the USA) must present an individual machine-readable passport.  Travellers without a machine-readable passport must obtain a non-immigrant visa from the nearest US Embassy prior to travel.  Should you need to replace your passport in Costa Rica, you should apply to the British Embassy.  For further details, in particular concerning children travelling on a parent's passport, please contact the US Embassy.