It was *ABOUT* time!!!!!! --UPDATED--

I never wrote the gory details of what it's like to go through the process of requesting an entry visa for an Indian citizen who wants to visit Costa Rica.

Let me tell you the (very) short version:

• Indian passport holders need a so-called 'restricted visa' to go to Costa Rica.
• This means having to write an application letter, filling out a form, submitting proof of economic viability and giving all these papers to the Honorary Costa Rican Consul in Delhi.
• Then you patiently wait for the Consulate's office to send the application to the Immigration offices in Costa Rica (after they are done with their 'internal proceedings', whatever that means).
• Then you will most likely receive a rejection from the Immigration offices in Costa Rica.
• So the next step is to have someone in Costa Rica submit another application.
• Second time around, if the application is accepted, with luck, the applicant would not have to pay a significant amount of money as a deposit (which would be returned after the visitor went back to India).
• The concerned authorities between Costa Rica and India communicate through fax. They take a LONG time to reply to each other's messages (which have to be translated).
• The visas that are granted by the Immigration offices in Costa Rica always come back with restrictions, such as: 'Must get passport stamped withing 30 days after the visa was granted', 'May only visit Costa Rica for one month'.

Remember...this is the SHORT version. I will spare you with the agonizing details, but I will tell you that I went through this hell twice: for MasalaDad when he came to Costa Rica in 2003 (for our wedding) and for Fabi who also has an Indian passport.

After Fabi's visa got rejected...it took 6 months (!) for the application to go through. Since the visa was valid for only one month, it already got expired and I had to go to the Immigration offices again and get it renewed.

Dealing with all these bureaucratic procedures wears me out and I have come to hate them in a way I have never hated anything in my life!

That's why you might understand the reason of my excitement this morning when I read today's newspaper:

The front page of the newspaper announces that, as of July 14th, 2006, indian citizens DO NOT REQUIRE a visa to come to Costa Rica (and may stay for up to 30 days)! Let me repeat that: Indian citizens DO NOT REQUIRE a visa to come to Costa Rica!

The last time I felt THIS excited was when I learned that I had been accepted as a student at the Technische Fakultät. It's the same type of excitement that makes me wildly jump up and down with joy!

So....now you know....if you're an indian citizen you now fit in the category of "Have passport, will travel"....as long as your destination is Nepal or Costa Rica...you don't need any other formal document.

When are you coming to Costa Rica?!?!

UPDATE: (Aug. 2008)

I visited Costa Rica one year later and learned that SADLY, it was all temporary. Apparently Indians need a visa to go visit Costa Rica again. I don't know if a 'restricted visa' still applies. If so...well...I will have to be prepared for the next time MasalaDad wants to visit CR. It's a good thing that Fabi now owns a Costa Rican passport.