Costa Rica requires those who want to retire here as residents to submit a police report demonstrating that the applicant does not have a police record. The country does not want any undesirable elements living here.Foreigners applying for residency have to get this document from the last place they resided in their home country.

In Spanish this document is called la hoja delectiva or la hoja de delincuencia. It shows that the applicant doesn’t have antecedentes penales or a police record. If you have an hoja de delicuencia manchada (blemished) you have some problems.

Costa Ricans and residents with permission to work (residencia libre de condiciones) may be also required to get a police report for: applying for a job, renewing residency, obtaining a gun permit or purchasing a weapon and even for becoming a member of a professional organization the like local equivalent of the AMA called the Colegio de Médicos. In the first quarter of 2010 alone over 320,000 police reports were issued. To get a police report you can go to the building just west of the courthouse in San José. By the way, this document is free of charge in Costa Rica.