Vaccination against the yellow fever is declared mandatory for people traveling from geographical areas considered of risk, prior to their arrival to Costa Rica. This will be verified through a “The International Certificate of Vaccination against the Yellow Fever”, which is valid for 10 days after the vaccination date, before the corresponding authorities of ports and airports.

The following are the declared Geographical areas of risk:

AFRICA SUB SAHARAN
Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Saw Lioness and Sudan.

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SOUTH AMERICA
Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.

CARIBBEAN
French Guyana.

All the people that reside in Costa Rica, that are going to travel to the countries of risk and that intend to return to Costa Rica, should be vaccinated at least 10 days before their departure. This requirement will be verified by the person of the airline responsible for the review of the clearance papers. It is important to mention that the Costa Rican citizens cannot be denied the entry to the country by constitutional mandate, for which the absence of the vaccine will not be an impediment.
All the people that are going to travel to the countries of risk that cannot be vaccinated against yellow fever by an absolute or relative medical counter-indication should present an official medical issued by the Medical association of Costa Rica with the legal stamps and respective seal. These people should present the certificate before the Department of Health prior to their exit of the country.
In the case of foreign non-residents with counter-indication for the vaccination against yellow fever coming from countries considered of risk, must present the respective medical certification endorsed by the country´s Health authority, prior to entering to Costa Rica.
Other people exempt of the requirement of vaccination against yellow fever, are the people that in their trip towards Costa Rica, have been in traffic by countries in risk, in airports, ports and borderlines of the countries considered of risk.
People that having been in the countries of risk have remained for space of at least 6 days, in a country that is not of risk before entering in the national territory and have not developed any symptom of Yellow Fever are also exempt of the requirement of the vaccination.
People coming from risk countries, must present their current and endorsed International Certificate of Vaccination against the Yellow Fever. Not doing so, will prevent them from entering the country.
The international certificate of yellow fever will be valid ten days after applied the vaccine, and will have a validity of 10 years.