Originally Posted by
SkyTeam777
My passport will be 5 months and 29 days from expiration when I enter Costa Rica for three days. I have proof of onward travel and am expecting my new passport back in the mail while I am away. Any idea how this may play out? I would hope the agents would see this for what it is...constant travel makes applying for a new passport difficult, and this is as close as I have ever come to not having one. Fingers crossed they will just point it out and not ban me from entering!
You don't say what your nationality is. I'll assume US since you appear to have a US location in your profile. According to Timatic, Costa Rica only requires that US citizens have a passport that's "valid upon arrival." That is, you could arrive on the final day of validity and be admitted (although you'd have to renew your passport while in Costa Rica before leaving in order to have a valid travel document).
But there's a curious thing in your question. You say "I ... am expecting my new passport back in the mail while I am away." Passport renewals require that you return your old passport with the renewal application. So, how are you going to travel on your existing passport if you're expecting the renewal in the mail while you're gone? If you decided to keep your existing passport during the "renewal" by reporting your existing one lost or stolen, then it's no longer a valid passport. Costa Rican authorities may automatically check the Interpol database of cancelled passport numbers so they might detect that it's invalid, and the CBP computers when you return to the US will certainly know that you reported the passport as lost or stolen.