Your Foreign Licence Lasts Exactly as Long as Your Stay
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Russia on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Russia to Costa Rica · Driving and licence exchange
Costa Rica rewrote this rule in December 2024. A foreign licence is now valid for driving in Costa Rica for a period identical to the stay you have been authorised, whatever that stay is - so a first-group visitor stamped in for 180 days may drive for 180 days, and a remote worker on a one-year stay may drive for the year. The old three-month waiting period before a resident could convert a foreign licence is gone: anyone with an approved migration status, or who has merely filed an application for one, may convert as soon as they like. The conversion skips the basic road-safety course and the practical driving test. And a licence shown on a phone must be accepted where the issuing country issues it that way.
At a glance
- How long a foreign licence is valid for
- A period identical to your authorised legal stay
- Minimum uninterrupted stay before converting
- None
Removed when article 91 of Ley 9078 was replaced by the sole article of Ley 10591 in December 2024
- Who may convert
- Anyone with an approved migration status, or with an application pending
- Tests waived on conversion
- The basic road-safety course and the practical driving test
- Digital licence
- Must be accepted where the issuing country issues it in that form
- Remote workers
- Home licence expressly valid for driving in Costa Rica
Requirements
- To drive on a foreign licence: a valid licence and a valid authorised stay - the licence covers the same vehicles it covers at home, for as long as the stay runs
- To convert: a foreign licence that is still valid
- Compliance with the Costa Rican requirements for the class and type of licence sought, except the basic road-safety course and the practical driving test
- Proof of legal stay in the country, or that an application for it is pending
In detail
What changed and why it matters
Before December 2024 the position was awkward: a foreign licence was treated as good for a fixed early period, and a resident had to complete an uninterrupted stretch of residence in the country before converting. The replacement text ties validity to the migration stamp and removes the waiting period outright. For a resident, the practical effect is that conversion can begin as soon as the residency file is filed - the law accepts a pending application as proof.
Validity now moves with your status
Because the licence is valid for a period identical to the authorised stay, a visitor's driving entitlement ends the day the stamp does. For a first-group national given 180 days that is generous. For a second-group national given thirty it is not. Someone whose residency has expired and not been renewed is in the awkward position of having no authorised stay and therefore no driving entitlement on the foreign licence either.
What the conversion still asks for
The exceptions are specific: the basic road-safety course and the practical driving test. Everything else the traffic law requires for the class of licence remains, including the medical examination. For professional licences the law adds its own layer - previous experience can be credited from the equivalent foreign licence, but a course designed and approved for the vehicle type still has to be taken.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Russia
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Los conductores acreditados con licencia de conducir en el extranjero, que se encuentren en el país en cualquiera de las subcategorías de estancia previstas por la Ley 8764, Ley General de Migración y Extranjería, de 19 de agosto de 2009, o en tránsito, quedan autorizados para conducir el mismo vehículo que les permite dicha licencia por un plazo idéntico al autorizado para su permanencia legal en el territorio nacional.»Our translation - not official
Drivers holding a driving licence issued abroad, who are in the country under any of the stay subcategories provided for by Law 8764, the General Law of Migration and Foreign Nationals, of 19 August 2009, or in transit, are authorised to drive the same vehicle their licence permits for a period identical to that authorised for their legal stay in the national territory.
The rule now tracks the migration stamp rather than a fixed number of days. It also fixes what the vehicle categories are: the same ones the home licence permits, not a Costa Rican equivalent.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state printing house, which publishes La Gaceta and its Alcances. A Costa Rican instrument is law from the day it appears here, and for this project it turned out to be the only route to Costa Rican primary text that the fetcher can actually store.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Every issue is the text as enacted on that date, and nothing in it says it has since been superseded - the same trap as citing a decree's original text when a consolidated one exists, in another form. An issue also never changes, so re-reading one is pointless; what changes is that a later issue carries an amendment. And an issue is a whole-day compilation of hundreds of unrelated acts, so a citation to the issue alone identifies nothing: it must name the act and the article.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«No se podrá exigir la presentación de la licencia en formato físico, cuando tal persona la muestre en formato digital porque así la emite su país de origen o residencia.»Our translation - not official
Presentation of the licence in physical form may not be required where the person shows it in digital form because that is how their country of origin or residence issues it.
This was the headline of the reform domestically, because it also abolished the fine Costa Rican drivers faced for leaving a physical licence at home.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state printing house, which publishes La Gaceta and its Alcances. A Costa Rican instrument is law from the day it appears here, and for this project it turned out to be the only route to Costa Rican primary text that the fetcher can actually store.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Every issue is the text as enacted on that date, and nothing in it says it has since been superseded - the same trap as citing a decree's original text when a consolidated one exists, in another form. An issue also never changes, so re-reading one is pointless; what changes is that a later issue carries an amendment. And an issue is a whole-day compilation of hundreds of unrelated acts, so a citation to the issue alone identifies nothing: it must name the act and the article.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«podrán conducir siempre que obtengan la licencia de conducir costarricense, sin requerir un período ininterrumpido mínimo de estadía en el país, previo cumplimiento de los siguientes requisitos:»Our translation - not official
they may drive provided they obtain the Costa Rican driving licence, without requiring a minimum uninterrupted period of stay in the country, prior compliance with the following requirements:
The words sin requerir un período ininterrumpido mínimo de estadía are the repeal of the old three-month rule, written into the replacement text rather than left to be inferred.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state printing house, which publishes La Gaceta and its Alcances. A Costa Rican instrument is law from the day it appears here, and for this project it turned out to be the only route to Costa Rican primary text that the fetcher can actually store.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Every issue is the text as enacted on that date, and nothing in it says it has since been superseded - the same trap as citing a decree's original text when a consolidated one exists, in another form. An issue also never changes, so re-reading one is pointless; what changes is that a later issue carries an amendment. And an issue is a whole-day compilation of hundreds of unrelated acts, so a citation to the issue alone identifies nothing: it must name the act and the article.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Cumplir lo dispuesto en esta ley para la clase y el tipo de licencia que se pretende homologar, excepto la obligación de atender el curso básico de educación vial y de realizar el examen práctico de manejo.»Our translation - not official
To comply with the provisions of this law for the class and type of licence being converted, except for the obligation to attend the basic road-safety course and to take the practical driving test.
The theory test and the medical examination are not in the list of exceptions, so they remain. The third subitem requires proof of legal stay or of a pending application.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state printing house, which publishes La Gaceta and its Alcances. A Costa Rican instrument is law from the day it appears here, and for this project it turned out to be the only route to Costa Rican primary text that the fetcher can actually store.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Every issue is the text as enacted on that date, and nothing in it says it has since been superseded - the same trap as citing a decree's original text when a consolidated one exists, in another form. An issue also never changes, so re-reading one is pointless; what changes is that a later issue carries an amendment. And an issue is a whole-day compilation of hundreds of unrelated acts, so a citation to the issue alone identifies nothing: it must name the act and the article.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«La licencia de conducir otorgada en el país de origen de la persona beneficiaria y que se encuentre vigente será válida para los efectos de conducir en Costa Rica.»Our translation - not official
The driving licence granted in the beneficiary's country of origin, and which is valid, shall be valid for the purposes of driving in Costa Rica.
Written for remote workers three years before the traffic law was changed to say the same thing for everyone in a stay subcategory. The two now agree, which is worth recording as a result in its own right.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state printing house, which publishes La Gaceta and its Alcances. A Costa Rican instrument is law from the day it appears here, and for this project it turned out to be the only route to Costa Rican primary text that the fetcher can actually store.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Every issue is the text as enacted on that date, and nothing in it says it has since been superseded - the same trap as citing a decree's original text when a consolidated one exists, in another form. An issue also never changes, so re-reading one is pointless; what changes is that a later issue carries an amendment. And an issue is a whole-day compilation of hundreds of unrelated acts, so a citation to the issue alone identifies nothing: it must name the act and the article.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
This record is built on article 91 of Ley 9078 as it reads after Ley 10591, quoted from the gazette in which Ley 10591 was published, and on article 19 of Ley 10008. We did not read the road safety council's published procedure for conversion, so nothing here describes the appointment, the fee or the documents the counter asks for.
The amending act is cited as what put the text there. The operative rule is article 91 of Ley 9078; Ley 10591 has a single article and its own numbering means something different.
A person whose migration status is being renewed or whose change of category is pending is expressly covered by the last paragraph of article 91, so a gap while the directorate decides does not by itself remove the driving entitlement.
- issuesLey N° 10591, Alcance N° 194 a La Gaceta de 2 de diciembre de 2024
Imprenta Nacional (Costa Rica)
About this source
The state printing house, which publishes La Gaceta and its Alcances. A Costa Rican instrument is law from the day it appears here, and for this project it turned out to be the only route to Costa Rican primary text that the fetcher can actually store.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Every issue is the text as enacted on that date, and nothing in it says it has since been superseded - the same trap as citing a decree's original text when a consolidated one exists, in another form. An issue also never changes, so re-reading one is pointless; what changes is that a later issue carries an amendment. And an issue is a whole-day compilation of hundreds of unrelated acts, so a citation to the issue alone identifies nothing: it must name the act and the article.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- issuesLey N° 10008, Ley para atraer trabajadores y prestadores remotos de servicios de carácter internacional, La Gaceta N° 168 de 1 de setiembre de 2021
Imprenta Nacional (Costa Rica)
About this source
The state printing house, which publishes La Gaceta and its Alcances. A Costa Rican instrument is law from the day it appears here, and for this project it turned out to be the only route to Costa Rican primary text that the fetcher can actually store.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Every issue is the text as enacted on that date, and nothing in it says it has since been superseded - the same trap as citing a decree's original text when a consolidated one exists, in another form. An issue also never changes, so re-reading one is pointless; what changes is that a later issue carries an amendment. And an issue is a whole-day compilation of hundreds of unrelated acts, so a citation to the issue alone identifies nothing: it must name the act and the article.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source