My friends been stranded in Costa Rica for just under 3 months now. Being a bum and surviving off of fruit pretty much. If your visa expires, would they send you back to your country, or let you stay, throw you in jail ? I've never been out of the country so i'm unsure. I'm about to buy him a ticket so he can get back before it expires. I just didn't want to spend $307 if they'de send him back on there own without getting in any legal trouble.

Wwhat a weird situation. he was STRANDED there? Keep us entertained with the backstory.

And what kind of visa allows one to stay anywhere for 3 months, other than a work visa?

Anyway, chances are that if he gets caught with an expired visa it's some sort of fine, court costs, maybe even incarceration costs, and deportation fee.

$300 is nothing to avoid headaches with travel docs.

some countries will not let you leave without a valid visa...

Have him go to the US embassy first, they might be able to help get him home without you spending money on him.

I AM A HOMOSEXUAL on the US Embassy. They'll normally help him get back to the states. If he's close to the border, he can go spend the weekend in an adjacent country (and get a tourist visa there) then go back and renew his visa when he comes back through the border. I've got a buddy who has lived in Argentina on tourist visas for about 9 months now, and that's how he does it.

How many of these "buddies" do you have? It's like your life is all about connections. :P

its called being social skull, you wouldnt know about it if youre from concreteville of canada..... i mean ottawa :P

+2 to the embassy idea though, they might suggest you buying him the ticket but if theyev got any options open that wouldnt cost you its a bonus

Ya he got stranded cuz he was dealing columbian coke to get the money to get back and ended up getting robbed for his money. I'll fill ya in on the story later on tonight. I'm leavin in a couple minutes to go buy the plane ticket, so I would just end up cutting it short and it wouldn't be as entertaining.


Ya I already talked to a consular at the US Embassy in San Jose. They said he had to apply for the help.

Success relies very heavily on connections. You'll learn this as you grow older. The more friends you have, the better off you'll be. Odds are, when you need it, you won't have any problem getting someone to help you out as long as you're willing to help others.

Embasy is really the best/only option unless he wants to stay, but if he does the cross the border for a day and come back stunt he has to pay for another Visa, if he goes to the Embasy they will find a way to get him back one way or another, we used to end up taking school kids back on Air Force hops when they ran out of money and went to the Embasy in Turkey, now adays the Military doesnt have the money we did back then for that kind of crap, but I'm sure they will sort something out, but he really does not want to try it after his visa is expired, make sure he at least starts the process before it's expired.

3.5 years Turkey (Ankara, 1st time)
3.5 years Turkey (Izmir, 2nd time)
3 months Germany(frankfurt, 1st time)
2 months Germany (k-town Kaiserslautern, 2nd time)
4 years England (Swindon, only time)
3, 3 to 4 month stays in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)
1, 6 month Stay in Qatar (Al Udeid)

in the last 20 years.

Man must of been a long time ago you went to Frankfurt, that base is and has been closed fo r good some of years.

I think Izmir is closed as well.

Frankfurt shrunk down mid 90s, when the flight ops moved, Izmir is still alive and Kicking, they shut down Bayrackli and moved back downtown. Civilian cloths workcenter the way it was ment to be. Besides they still support Sarinya, they can't close Izmir. It was and still is, a very cool location.

So the reason my friend went there in the first place was because he had a girl he really liked that wanted to go. He also wanted to prove to himself that if he were to be on his own in a place he knew nothing about that he could survive and provide for himself. Mainly because of how his father treated him(tough love.) But the closer it got to the day he was leaving the less money he had for the trip. When he left he only had a one way ticket and $500 to start off with. They had just planned on a month maybe a month and a half before he thought they would have enough money to get back. They started out by just camping on local beaches and using the money just for food and other things mandatory for survival. But his money ran out rather quickly. The locals kind of took advantage of his not being fromiliar with the area or the language. So they charged him up the ass for everything. So within 3 weeks he was flat broke with nowhere to go. At first he didn't really mind it because it was paradise(it's apparently not to bad living in a warm environment with beautiful scenery with the girl you're falling for.) But within another 2 weeks her money ran out as well. Somehow he made a couple friends who sold a lot of Coke, so they helped him out by letting him sell it and giving him the extra money. But one night while sleeping on the beach he got robbed by a few locals and they took him for pretty much everything. So since he was back to having nothing he has been surviving off fruit and water for just under a month. Last week he met up with a tourist group traveling through rain forests and ended up sticking with them because they provided food and other things he couldn't live much longer without. Now me and a friend came up with enough money to pay for a ticket back to Portland Oregon, but it's not easy to get a hold of someone with no way to contact them other than a myspace. So we've told him we were going to pay for a ticket back. On the 7th, but were still waiting on a reply. He's definately gonna have some stories to tell when he get's back. I mean he dealth with that major earthquake not to long ago that had central america evacuating low lands because of approaching Tsunamies and also the earthquake yesterday. He's definately a crazy mother F*CKER. Must be that Native Canadian in his blood(Meaning native as in indian and he's originaly from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.) But I love the guy like a brother so i'm excited he will be back in a matter of days! Hope he's ready, first day back we're takin him out for some REAL food and then were on our way to the mountain to go snowboarding. It's gonna be a big change coming from a place were the ocean water feels like the average hot tub to a mountain covered in fresh snow that's only like 40 degrees LOL. I tried to keep it the short version, but some parts you just cant leave out.

lol It's funny he used to say he was glad he wasn't an Illegal Alien anymore so he didn't have to worry about being deported ever again. Pasts can always come back to haunt you.

Dirk I hope the story is more entertaining for you than it was living it for him. I'm unsure what kind of Visa it is. But he planned on trying to get a temp job while he was there so it could be a work visa, if that's how they work.

I also forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago the girls family paid for her ticket back to the states. So she's long gone and he's alone now. Also during the robbery they took his wallet with his visa in it. But he found it a few hundred feet down the beach with everything but his money.

you know if you wouldve told me earlier he was from edmonton i wouldve told you to leave his scrawny ass there...... oh and crazy native canadians dont go to foriegn lands to become homelss, they get drunk and beat the shit out of everyone ;p

lol Well ya that's were he grew up then moved to the US to become a citizen. Well now he's scronny from not eating, but he'll get back to his hugeness in no time once he starts eating. He must be a unique Canadian then cuz he's never been violent. Loves playing hockey though haha.

Wall of text crits for over 9000 ><....Anyways LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL noob really you'd keep your wallet away from you when sleeping out in the open really? idiot and if he didnt and he had it on him...fail for not defending yourself. But anyway atleast hes home now right? or on his way home....but also LOL his girls parents paid for her to come back but not him lawl

Ya he told the girl to take advantage of her parents offer and that he'd be fine. But i'm not sure how the robbery went. Wheter he was like pick pocketed or held at gunpoint or whatever it might have been. I dunno where i'de hide a wallet on a beach there. In a coconut or somethin lol. Either way the whole idea to go to Costa Rica with a one way ticket and $500 was stupid, cuz it's hard enough to get a job in the US, let alone a foreign country. So i'm not sure what he could have been thinkin.

Well then thats good that he told her to do it but i still lol at the robbery and now i got the coconut song in my head damn u!!!! "put it in a coconut" about the only part i can remember currently ><