IRCA CASABIERTA FOR LGBTIQ+ MIGRANT PEOPLE
Your safe place,
more alive than ever.
Free, confidential, and specialized support for LGBTIQ+ migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in Costa Rica.
Before moving on, we want you to know something important
It is free
All our services are completely free for LGBTIQ+ migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.
It is confidential
What you share with us stays here. We don’t share information with government institutions without your permission.
There’s no migration risk
Contacting us has no immigration consequences. We are not a government entity.
You do not need documents to begin
You can contact us without any documents. The first step is to listen to you.
LGBTQIA+ Migration and Refuge for Central America, IRCA CASABIERTA.
We were born from the belief that every LGBTIQ+ person who is forced to migrate deserves protection, dignity, and a community that welcomes them unconditionally.
Since 2013, we have been supporting migrants, asylum seekers, and LGBTIQ+ refugees in Costa Rica with psychosocial support, legal advice, job integration, and community. Everything is free, confidential, and based on a human rights approach.
A Path to Autonomy
The Development Trilogy is IRCA CASABIERTA's own working method: it brings together three pillars to support each person toward an autonomous, dignified, and fulfilling life in Costa Rica.
Health
Psychosocial support, mental health, sexual health, and access to the Costa Rican health system.
"IRCA CASABIERTA’s rooms are for breathing, for crying, for starting again."
Education
Training in rights, skills workshops, and guidance for access to formal education in Costa Rica.
"Your achievements are not a file, they are an opportunity.”
Since 2013: standing,
by your side, transforming lifes
These numbers have names, stories, and their own future.
Success stories
There was a time when each of these people didn't know what was going to happen.
Today they know it and decided to tell it.
"I came in homeless, I left with my own keys."
I ran away from my family in El Salvador for being a lesbian. I arrived in Costa Rica without a roof over my head, without connections, without papers. IRCA CASABIERTA welcomed me and arranged a shelter, started my process of migration regularization, and accompanied me to every appointment.
Today I work formally, pay my own rent, and have access to social security. I built real independence, not dependence.
- Social Work
"Four years later, I have a life I never imagined possible."
I arrived at IRCA CASABIERTA with a physical disability, an HIV diagnosis, and not knowing what was going to happen. Today I had surgery that changed my mobility, developed craft skills, participated in entrepreneurial fairs, and got a university scholarship.
The Trilogy for development wasn't a list of services, it was the path to rebuild my life.
- CID
"The next day I went alone and they helped me."
An EBAIS denied me care, so I went to IRCA CASABIERTA and they guided me about my rights. The next time I went alone, without anyone with me, and they attended to me.
I wrote excitedly to tell them: 'thank you for teaching me that I have rights and that I can defend them.' That's what the difference feels like between receiving help and achieving autonomy.
- Social Oversight
How can we accompany you?
Social Work is the entry door. From there, by your side, we map out the path. All services are free.
Social work
Social oversight
Support for public and private institutions so that their rights are respected.
Legal advisory
Refuge, immigration regularization, rights. Step by step and with guidance throughout the whole process.
Our Partnerships
