Costa Rica to Nicaragua Border with Kids: Exit Permits and Documents

Crossing Peñas Blancas with kids from Costa Rica takes four things: Costa Rica's exit permit for minors if the child is Costa Rican or a resident, the US$8 exit tax per person, children included, Nicaragua's immigration form sent seven days ahead for each traveler, and passports valid for more than six months. If the child is Nicaraguan, there is one more rule since July 2026.

We are Monkeys Travels & Tours, a private operator based in Rivas. We cross Peñas Blancas with families on the Liberia airport transfer. The general step by step, with fees and times, is in our Peñas Blancas pillar guide; this guide covers only what changes when you travel with minors. Sources checked November 5, 2026.

Costa Rica's exit permit for minors

The rule is Executive Decree 36659-G, the regulation of Law 8764 for minors, published in La Gaceta 138 of July 18, 2011 and in force with 2023 amendments. What it says, article by article:

• Who needs it (article 49): Costa Rican minors, "even if they hold dual nationality", and foreign minors with permanent or temporary residence or special categories such as students or refugees.
• Who does not (article 50): foreign minors who entered Costa Rica as non-residents, for example as tourists, even if their authorized stay has expired; married minors aged 15 to 17; holders of diplomatic passports. Traveling with both parents is not on the list.
• Temporary (article 51): 30 calendar days from issue, for one or several exits.
• Permanent (articles 52 and 53): indefinite validity; both parents process it in person, or one parent alone when the birth certificate shows sole parental authority, when the other parent has died, or by court order.
• Temporary with one parent (article 54): with a notarized special power of attorney from the other parent, by court order, or with the other parent signing at the nearest Costa Rican consulate if abroad.
• Documents (article 55, amended 2023): the minor's passport; for Costa Rican children under 12 no proof of the parental link is needed, because Immigration checks it online with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal; from 12 to 17, the minor's identity card (TIM); two passport-size photos; identification of the people filing.
• At the border (article 71): the officer at the exit post checks in the Minors' Exit System whether the permit is still valid.

The procedure is free, according to Costa Rica's consulate in Colombia (February 2025), which clarifies that consulates issue only 30-day temporary permits and that the permanent one is signed before the Directorate General of Immigration in Costa Rica. A lawyer wrote in Delfino.cr (April 24, 2025) that service is by appointment only, through 1311 or the Immigration website. We could not open the Immigration website on November 5, 2026; confirm the current requirements there.

Our advice to Costa Rican families: if you visit Nicaragua more than once a year, get the permanent permit with both parents present and forget about the paperwork.

Children also pay Costa Rica's exit tax

It is US$8 per person: US$5 tax, US$2 scanning and US$1 SENASA, according to the Tico Times (August 10, 2026), which sums it up as "Everyone leaving on foot or by car pays it, every time." The regulation of Law 9154, Decree 39586, requires the receipt to carry the "name of the taxpayer, even when a minor", and its list of exemptions, diplomats, transit passengers under twelve hours and border-zone residents with permits, among others, does not include minors.

You pay at the Banco de Costa Rica kiosks at Peñas Blancas or online with Visa or Mastercard without being a customer, according to Delfino.cr (March 27, 2025); Immigration checks it online by passport number and the payment does not expire until the exit is recorded. For a family of four that is US$32 before you reach the Nicaraguan window.

What Nicaragua asks of each foreign child

La Prensa published on June 30, 2026, quoting Nicaragua's Immigration directorate, the requirements for foreigners: enter through an authorized post such as Peñas Blancas, a passport with an expiration date more than six months away, payment of US$10 for the tourism permit, and the immigration form sent seven days ahead to solicitudes@mint.gob.ni. According to the same article, the form "has no cost and applies to the entry and exit of foreign citizens through any of the country's border posts and to all nationalities". Send one for every member of the family, children included.

The Government of Canada, in its page updated November 2, 2026, adds that minors under 18 "may be subject to Nicaragua's exit requirements" and asks travelers to contact Nicaraguan authorities before traveling with minors. The UK says that children with single or dual Nicaraguan nationality "may need certain documents" to leave Nicaragua with one parent or a third party.

If your child is Nicaraguan: the July 2026 rule

La Prensa reported on July 8, 2026 that Nicaragua's Directorate General of Immigration changed the exit visa procedure for minors: it now requires both parents to process it, where before a signed power of attorney from the parent who could not attend was enough. We could not open the official procedure page on November 5, 2026 because the portal requires a browser verification.

What this means for a family living in Costa Rica with Nicaraguan children: the problem is not entering Nicaragua, it is leaving. Before buying tickets, ask the Nicaraguan consulate in Costa Rica how your child's exit visa is processed and what happens if one parent does not travel. Canada also notes that on January 16, 2026 Nicaragua eliminated the right to dual citizenship in most cases; ask how that affects you.

Real times with children

• A traveler who crossed on foot on April 13, 2026 reported about half an hour at the border within a trip of just over eight hours between San José and San Juan del Sur.
• Destinationless Travel, in April 2025, counted half a day between Liberia and San Juan del Sur: 1.5 hours to the border, the paperwork, an hour to Rivas and another to San Juan del Sur.
• The Tico Times reported on December 22, 2025 lines of 13 kilometers on both sides and waits of hours, with the worst days near December 25 and January 1.

With children, the advice is to cross midweek, early, with the form confirmed, the fees in small bills, water, snacks and a change of clothes within reach. There is little shade at the posts.

What Monkeys does with families

• The driver crosses with you and accompanies the paperwork at both windows; the same vehicle continues to San Juan del Sur, Rivas, Granada or wherever you are going.
• We ask for each traveler's Nicaraguan form confirmation before the pickup date and remind you of the exit permit if the children are Costa Rican.
• Child seat on request when booking.
• From US$45 per person in groups of 4 to 6 from Liberia; from US$65 from San José on the San José transfer. Immigration fees are not included.
• For the first day in Nicaragua, the private Playa Hermosa day from US$35 per person works well with children tired from the road. More ideas by age in Nicaragua with kids.