Costa Rica draws more British visitors than any other Central American country, and most of that traffic goes exactly where you’d expect: national parks, rainforest, volcanoes, surf breaks. It’s also where the OIJ, the country’s judicial investigation police, takes an unusually active role, even in cases that look entirely accidental.
Routine, not suspicion
Deaths at Corcovado, Arenal volcano, or Monteverde get an OIJ investigation as standard, whatever the apparent cause. That surprises some families, who assume police involvement signals something wrong. In Costa Rica it’s simply how the system works for these locations, and it means the body stays where it is until the OIJ has finished its on-site assessment. Post-mortems, where they’re needed, happen at INCIENSA or OIJ forensic facilities in San Jose, and results usually take 7 to 14 days.
Where the death is registered
Every death gets registered at the Registro Civil, specifically the RCEC, the Registro Civil del Estado Civil, in the canton where it occurred. The resulting Certificado de Defuncion is the official document. For a hospital death in San Jose, this step is straightforward. It’s the OIJ referral for unnatural deaths, wherever in the country they happen, that adds real time to a case.
Contacting the Embassy
The British Embassy in San Jose, at Edificio Centro Colon on Paseo Colon, should be notified the day the death occurs. It can be reached on +506 2258 2025. For the first, urgent call, use the FCDO Emergency Travel Line on 020 7008 5000, available at any hour.
The permit that closes the case
Once the OIJ, where involved, has released the body and documentation is complete, the Ministerio de Salud issues the export permit. This step draws on the Certificado de Defuncion, any OIJ release, an embalming certificate, and confirmation the body is free of contagious disease. Three to seven days is typical once everything else is in hand.
Getting home
No direct flights connect Costa Rica and the UK. Most cases route through Miami with American Airlines or United, or via Panama City with Copa. For a death in the Guanacaste region, Liberia Airport can be a shorter starting point than San Jose, depending on where the family and the case are based.
Read what affects a repatriation timeline for how investigation-driven delays like the OIJ’s compare elsewhere, or see repatriation from Costa Rica to the UK for the full process.
Contact Repatriate Service on +44 7703 577246 at any hour, or use the enquiry form below.