Identity verification in Costa Rica
Costa Rica is two compliance stories happening inside the same small country. On one side is a quietly modern onshore financial system supervised by SUGEF, policed by the Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera inside the Instituto Costarricense sobre Drogas, and run on top of Ley 8204 — a statute that since 2001 has been Central America's most detailed AML/CFT framework and that, through Acuerdo SUGEF
Documents supported
(Government IDs from 220+ countries)
Average verification time
Countries covered
(Government-issued IDs validated)
Market overview
Costa Rica has a population of roughly 5.2 million, the highest GDP per capita in Central America, and one of the most banked populations in Latin America. The onshore financial system is anchored by two state-owned commercial banks — Banco Nacional de Costa Rica (BNCR) and Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) — alongside the state-development Banco Popular y de Desarrollo Comunal and a private sector led by BAC Credomatic, Scotiabank de Costa Rica, Davivienda Costa Rica, Banco Promerica, and Banco Lafise. All of them run daily AML/CFT operations under SUGEF supervision. Three structural facts define the Costa Rican identity-verification market and make it different from any other jurisdiction in the region:
Supported documents
Didit templates cover national IDs, passports, residence permits and regional documents — plus 14,000+ documents globally for cross-border flows.
Regulators
Grupo de Acción Financiera de Latinoamérica
Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones
regulated
Manages cédula de identidad and civil registry. Provides electronic identity verification services (consulta de cédula) via web services for authorized institutions.
Ministerio de Hacienda
regulated
Tax authority. Online taxpayer consultation available.
BCCR (Banco Central de Costa Rica)
regulated
National digital signature and identity system managed by Central Bank. PKI-based digital certificates for identity validation.
Government & regulated databases
Compliance framework
AML framework
Supervised by GAFILAT
The backbone AML/CFT statute is Ley N° 7786 "Ley sobre estupefacientes, sustancias psicotrópicas, drogas de uso no autorizado, actividades conexas, legitimación de capitales y financiamiento al terrorismo", enacted in 1998 and comprehensively reformed by Ley N° 8204 on 26 December 2001. Ley 8204 is the statute every Costa Rican compliance officer quotes: it created the Instituto Costarricense sobre Drogas (ICD), it built the Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera (UIF) inside the ICD, it set the obli
Data protection
Supervised by National DPA
1. Spanish-first product. The console, hosted verification flow, API error messages, and the end-user mobile experience are all native Spanish — no translation gap for Costa Rican customers. 2. Native cédula and DIMEX coverage. Didit's 14,000+ document library includes the Costa Rican cédula de iden
Use cases
Neobanks, EMIs, payment institutions, lenders, brokerages.
For a Costa Rican bank, financiera, mutual, or financial cooperative under Article 14 of Ley 7786, onboarding a natural-person resident today looks like:
Exchanges, custodians, wallets, on/off-ramps.
SUGEVAL-supervised puestos de bolsa, SUGESE-supervised insurers, and SUPEN-supervised pension operators all run the same CDD backbone under Acuerdo SUGEF 12-21 (the AML regulation is cross-sectoral), plus sector-specific prudential rules. For securities clients there is additional investor-suitabili
Sports betting, online casinos, age-gated platforms.
For APNFDs inscribed under Articles 15 and 15 bis of Ley 7786 — real-estate agents, lawyers and notaries acting outside the court system, accountants, dealers in precious metals and stones, casinos, car dealers above threshold — the governing regulation is Acuerdo SUGEF 13-19. Inscription in the SUG
Gig platforms, delivery, creator economy, e-commerce.
Costa Rica is one of the oldest offshore iGaming jurisdictions in the world. The operational reality is shaped by four facts:
Biometric liveness
Ley N° 8968 of 2011, "Ley de Protección de la Persona frente al tratamiento de sus datos personales", is Costa Rica's comprehensive data protection statute. It established PRODHAB, the Agencia de Protección de Datos de los Habitantes, as an organ with technical and functional autonomy attached to the Ministerio de Justicia y Paz. The points that matter for an identity-verification workflow:
CERTIFICATIONS
Our platform meets the highest international standards for information security, data privacy, and biometric accuracy.
Full EU data protection compliance
Information security management
PAD (liveness + face match)
TRUSTED WORLDWIDE
Join thousands of companies that trust Didit for their verification needs
Didit’s NFC + active biometrics technology blocks the most advanced fraud scenarios, offering a level of security equivalent to or superior to in-person verification.
Spanish Financial Sandbox
CNMV, SEPBLAC & Spanish Treasury — Conclusions Report
Didit is an exceptionally valuable partner, delivering a stable and highly adaptable solution”.
Vuk Adžić
Head of the E-Business Department at Crnogorski Telekom
Didit offered us a robust technology with a simple implementation and adaptability to different markets”.
Fernando Pinto
CEO & CoFounder at TucanPay
Thanks to Didit we have been able to reduce manual processes and improve data extraction accuracy”.
Diana Garcia
Trust & Safety Executive at Shiply
Didit’s integration slashed verification times and costs, freeing resources for other projects”.
Guillem Medina
COO at GBTC Finance
Didit removed KYC costs, enabling faster scaling with high verification standards and less fraud.”
Paul Martin
VP Marketing & Growth at Bondex
Didit’s secure, user-friendly verification boosts customer trust and optimizes our process.”
Cristofer Montenegro
Executive assistant to the CEO at Adelantos
Didit ensures a precise, secure digital onboarding without slowing negotiations or client time.”
Ernesto Betancourth
Gerente de riesgos at CrediDemo
FAQ
Yes. Costa Rica permits remote KYC onboarding under its national AML framework, including document verification, biometric liveness and video identification where required by regulation.
Didit verifies all major national IDs, passports and residence permits issued in Costa Rica, plus 14,000+ document types globally for cross-border flows.
Didit charges $0.30 per verification with 500 free checks per month. No contracts, no minimums. Competitors typically charge $1.00–$2.50+ per verification.
Yes. Didit screens against 1,000+ global watchlists including PEP databases, sanctions lists (EU, UN, OFAC, OFSI), and adverse media — covering all AML obligations in Costa Rica.
Most regulated sectors in Costa Rica require or strongly recommend biometric liveness detection for remote onboarding. Didit provides ISO 30107-3 PAD Level 2 certified liveness.
Yes. Didit supports document verification, liveness, AML screening and ongoing monitoring aligned with Costa Rica’s crypto regulatory framework, including EU Travel Rule compliance where applicable.
Yes. Didit provides document-based age verification and identity confirmation suitable for Costa Rica’s iGaming regulatory requirements.
500 free verifications per month. No contracts, no minimums. $0.30 per verification after the free tier.
