Legal Personhood Certification (Registro Nacional)

The legal personhood certification is a document issued by the Registro Nacional that demonstrates that a company exists legally and identifies those authorized to represent it (the legal representative). It is constantly requested as a requirement in other procedures: opening a bank account, registering with Hacienda as a legal entity, registering as an employer with the CCSS, processing a property transfer, among others.

Prerequisite: the company must be constituted and registered in the Registro Mercantil (see company constitution record) before it can request this certification.

How to obtain it:

• Online, via RNPDigital, with a digital signature.
• On authorized digital certification platforms.
• In person at the Registro Nacional offices.

Approximate cost (2026): a digital literal certification ranges between ₡3,500 and ₡5,600. Some certification platforms charge between ₡2,932.50 and ₡3,290 plus a bank commission of USD 6 plus VAT. Exact amounts may vary by issuance channel — confirm at registronacional.go.cr or rnpdigital.com at the time of the procedure.

Validity: legal personhood certifications typically have a short validity (normally 1 to 3 months) for the purposes of other procedures, as they certify the status of the company "as of the date of issuance". Many institutions require the certification to be less than one month old.

Note: do not confuse it with the "literal property certification" (which concerns a property, see property transfer record) — they are different documents even though both are issued by the Registro Nacional.