Temporary residence:

There are five general categories of acquiring a temporary residence in Costa Rica, which have been listed below.

1. Temporary Residency for a Retiree
2. Temporary residency for students, researchers, teachers, and internships
3. Temporary Residency for Executives, Managers, Representatives, and Technical Personnel and their dependents
4. Temporary Residency for Rentiers
5. Temporary Residency for Spouse

Let us have a look at the requirements for obtaining a Temporary Residency for people belonging to each of these categories individually.

1. Temporary Residency for Retiree:

People can apply for this type of residency at the Immigration Office of Costa Rica. Given below are the requirements for applying to this type of temporary residency in Costa Rica.

1. Lifetime Pension is offered by a capable authority, which indicates that the person will be receiving an amount of more than $1,000 per month in the form of pension.

This certification should be properly legalized and authenticated or apostilled if it has been issued abroad.

1. The dependents of the foreigner can also be included so they can reside in Costa Rica, who can either be spouses or children (under the age of 25 years or having any disabilities).

Under these circumstances, a spouse must provide a marriage certificate and children with disabilities should provide a medical certificate.

2.        Temporary residency for students, researchers, teachers, and internships:

People can apply for this type of residency at the Immigration Office of Costa Rica. Given below are the requirements for applying to this type of temporary residency in Costa Rica.

1. Students should provide a letter of acceptance that has been obtained from the educational institution, which should be properly signed by either a legal representative or the director of the educational institution.

Students should also provide certification regarding their economic status, which has been obtained from an authorized accountant, and it should describe the details stating the source of funds.

If the source of funds for the student is a scholarship, then certification describing the amount, timeframe, and expenses should be provided by the institution.

Students under the age of 18 years, who intend to stay without their parents in Costa Rica should provide Special Power of Attorney by parents or legal guardians, which is properly legalized or authenticated to apostille.

1. A properly legalized job offer letter should be provided by teachers and researchers.

1. People who belong to the category of volunteers or interns should provide a letter from the respective program, which is signed by the legal representative.

This letter should consist of the details related to the volunteer/internship project, financing details, and the information related to the person’s stay in Costa Rica.

3.        Temporary Residency for Executives, Managers, Representatives, and Technical Personnel and their dependents

People can apply for this type of residency at the Immigration Office of Costa Rica. Given below are the requirements for applying to this type of temporary residency in Costa Rica.

1. A properly legalized and annotated certified document describing the bond from the person’s country of origin should be provided if the spouse of children of that person intends to stay.

1. Employees should provide a copy of the work contract concerning the fundamentals in articles 23 and 24 of the labor code.

This should describe the monthly salary and this salary should be raised 25% regarding the legal minimum salary of that particular position.

1. Executives and managers should provide certification that has been signed by the legal representative of the contracted company.
   
   

This certification should ensure that the person will work for that company and should also consist of details regarding the person’s position, the period they spend in the country, and the monthly salary.

1. The respective insurance company should provide certification stating that the company is up to date concerning the coverage fees of work risks or proof that the pay is up to date and is appropriately certified or in correspondence with the original.

• Legal representatives of the company or society should present certification, which has been provided within one month between the date of issuance and the date when the person applies for temporary residence.

• A certified copy from the company stating the constitutional protocol or the original document along with a copy that can be handled by a public official.

• Proof ensuring that the company or society has been paying all the necessary taxes until now.

• Certification of income issued by an authorized Public Accountant along with a balance sheet.

1. The person who is working with the company (registered with the General Management) should meet with criteria mentioned in the corporate regulations.

4. Temporary Residency for Rentiers:

1. Document ensuring that the person has been receiving a stable and permanent monthly rental income of at least USD 2,500 or the amount equivalent to it in colones.

This certificate should have been issued at least 3 months before the application.

If the income is received from abroad, the document determining this information should be apostilled.

1. The dependents of the foreigner can also be included so they can reside in Costa Rica, who can either be spouses or children (under the age of 25 years or having any disabilities).

Under these circumstances, a spouse must provide a marriage certificate and children with disabilities should provide a medical certificate.

All the documents should be legalized and apostilled properly while applying from abroad.

5. Temporary Residency for Spouse:

People can apply for this type of residency at the Immigration Office of Costa Rica. Given below are the requirements for applying to this type of temporary residency in Costa Rica.

1. Marriage certificate, concerning the Costa Rican national, which has been issued by the Costa Rican Civil Registry.

If the marriage didn’t take place in Costa Rica, then it should have been properly registered in Costa Rica.

Common Documentation:

Regardless of the category, all the people who are applying for temporary residency in Costa Rica should provide the following documentation.

• Request Letter. This letter should contain information regarding the reasons why you are applying for a temporary residency in Costa Rica.

• The letter should consist of information such as Full Name, Nationality, Information related to Occupation, Age, Current Address, and either the place or means through which the individual can receive notifications.

• This letter should either be signed by an immigration officer or through a public notary.

• Two recent passport-sized photos

• Two types of payments must be made. First, a payment of $50 should be deposited in the form of colones in the account 242480-0 of Bank of Costa Rica (Banco de Costa Rica).

Secondly, payment of $1.25 and $2.50 per page, which have been presented within the request for residency. In both cases, the applicant’s name should be indicated as the depositor.

• A form that has been filled and signed accordingly.

• Proof of fingerprint registration, which has been issued by the Ministry of Public Safety, is only a requirement for individuals older than 12 years of age.

• Proof of consular registration, which has been issued by the respective consulate in Costa Rica.

• Birth certificate, which has been issued in the person’s country of origin within the previous 6 months and is appropriately legalized and annotated.

• A legalized and annotated certificate related to a person’s criminal record obtained from their country of origin (or country of current residence for the past three years).

To ensure this certificate, the legality of the person’s stay in that country should also be provided additionally, which is a certified copy of the mitigatory document acquired within the indicted term.

• Photocopy of all the pages in a passport, which should be certified and compared concerning the original, and this should be done by the official who received them or with the help of a public notary.

The process of applying:

• First of all, make sure that you have all the necessary documents ready.

• While getting the documents ready, you must also make sure that the documents are accurate and are up to date. Most of the documents should not be longer than some specific timeframes.

• Gather all the necessary documentation and submit the application to the Platform of Services of the central offices of the Department of Immigration, or else, you can go to the regional offices.

• While submitting, you must mention to the respective officer that it is the first time you are applying for residency.

• In general, the official will provide you with a receipt, which means you are assisted by them, and inform you about the place where you have to go next.

• Wait until the indicated time and then attend the place mentioned by the official. Then, provide all the documents to the respective official at that place, and then the documents will be reviewed and entered into the system.

• The official who assists you will provide you with a paper that shows your personal information, file number, and the documents that have been provided by you. You should make sure that all information provided by you is accurate by checking that paper.

• After this process, the department will take around 90 days to let you know about their decision.

• If any of the necessary documents are missing, then you will be provided with a time of 10 days to submit the missing documents.

• In case you need more than 10 days to provide the missing documents, you should submit a request (written) within that deadline for extending the timeframe.

• After three months, the answer regarding your residency would be provided through fax (if you provided it), or else, you should reach the Platform of Services in person and contact the receptionist regarding your application status.

Residency through Investment:

Apart from the general options available, individuals can also obtain residency in Costa Rica by making an investment. Earlier, individuals were required to invest an amount of $200,000 in qualifying projects to obtain this type of residency.

However, this amount has been reduced to $150,000 recently, which sounds good to the people who want to gain residency in Costa Rica and be able to afford this amount.

Additionally, people can also get residency by investing $100,000 in projects related to forestry in Costa Rica.

1. Starting a New Business

People can invest an amount of $150,000 in a new business, which can be a hotel, restaurant, factory, service company, or any other type of business, and become eligible for this type of residency program.

People who want to acquire residency through this method should come up with a good business plan and because of that, most people don’t opt for this method.

• Investing in an Existing Business

People can invest an amount of $150,000 in an existing business, which can either be buying off the entire business or buying a part of that business.

Buying a part of a business means that you will be buying a bunch of stocks or shares of an existing company.

There are no specific requirements regarding the type of business or the number of shares, as long as you invest an amount of $150,000 in an existing business.

• Real Estate/Vehicles:

In this category, you must have real estate and/or vehicles worth $200,000 in Costa Rica, which can be a farm, house, condo, lot, or vehicles (means of transport through land, sea, or air).

You will be allowed to bring over vehicles (cars, motorcycles, boats, helicopters, etc.), furniture, appliances, etc., without having to pay any sort of taxes.

However, the value of the property, properties, vehicles, or a combination of these should add up to a minimum of $150,000.

• Forestry Projects:

You can also get residency if you invest a minimum of $100,000 in a forestry project such as lumbering, preservation, regeneration, etc. However, you should acquire the necessary permits from the environmental agency (SETENA) and the local municipality.

The investments in forestry projects should be held for at least 3 years before a person can be able to apply for permanent residency or withdraw their investment.

There are some specific timeframes regarding these residency permits i.e., the number of days that a person has to stay in Costa Rica as a requirement for acquiring the residency status.

Permanent residence:

In most cases, the permanent residence status can be obtained after two years as a temporary resident, yet it differs for the investment made in the forestry projects (3 years).

In general, the process of acquiring permanent residency is unrestricted, and people can continue their work in Costa Rica during the process.

The citizens of Spain can apply for permanent residence status instantly. The people who gain permanent residence status should visit Costa Rica at least once a year.

The number of days needed to stay in Costa Rica as a Permanent Resident may vary by the time you read this article.

This permanent residency should be renewed after every five years. An amount of $300 should be deposited as a guarantee, which should be deposited to the Government of Costa Rica.

After seven years of staying in Costa Rica, a person becomes eligible for applying for the process of naturalization.

Bottom Line:

All the information provided in this article is accurate by the time of writing, yet there is a possibility that it may vary by the time you are reading it.

Also, you must know all the details accurately before you apply for a visa or residency in Costa Rica. Even a small mistake during the application process can result in extra charges or result in a waste of time.

Having said that, we hope that you were able to find this information useful during the process of applying for a visa or residence.

That being said, if you need any services related to obtaining a passport or visa in another country, we might be able to assist you with the relevant services.

If you need any services related to wealth management or financial planning, then you can avail yourself of the top-notch financial services offered by us. Click here.

You can even learn the fine art of investing so that you can be able to take care of your investments by yourself. For that, click here.

You can also get access to our mobile application and get all the financial services you need from the comfort of your mobile phone.

Before introducing this article, if you are interested in our core services which are expat financial, insurance and mortgages, you can contact me here. 

The best time to consider your financial situation is when you are moving to a new country.

Introduction

General information:

Costa Rica is a country located in Central America, which is popular for its rainforests, recreational activities, great biodiversity, tourist destinations, and much more.

It has the highest literacy rate among the countries of Latin America and also has the highest workforce in the Central American region.

There are some exquisite tax benefits such as no taxes on social security income, pension, or investment income. Apart from that, the tax system is territorial, which means you don’t have to pay taxes on the income earned from sources abroad.

For example, if you have a business in your country of origin while you are living in Costa Rica, or if you have an online business, or if you are a freelancer, you will be exempt from taxes.

This is quite beneficial for digital nomads or expats who earn income from their country of origin.

The currency of Costa Rica is called Costa Rican colón, which is represented as ‘CRC’ or ₡, which is further divided into centimos, i.e., 1 CRC = 100 centimos.

By the time of writing this article, 1 CRC is equivalent to USD 0.0016.

When it comes to the cost of living, it has been estimated that an average of $1,500 to $2,000 is enough for a single person to live comfortably in Costa Rica.

For a family of 4 people, somewhere around $2,000 to $3,000 should suffice. Most retired couples who live in Costa Rica get on with their lives comfortably under just $2,000.

However, the expenses related to the cost of living may vary depending on the lifestyle of the individual, couple, or family.

Now, let us discuss the different types of visa programs and residency requirements for individuals.

Visas:

There are different types of visas for people who wish to move to Costa Rica, which have been listed below.

• Tourist Visa:

First of all, let us begin with the Tourist visa as most people who visit Costa Rica usually go there as a tourist.

People might require a tourist visa when they are visiting Costa Rica depending on their nationality, purpose for their visit, duration of the stay, etc.

The requirements for a visa are dependent on the international agreements or treaties made by other countries with Costa Rica. The visa, however, will not ensure entry into the country because the entry depends on the immigration officer upon arrival similar to the situation in the United States.

To know more details regarding the tourist requirements depending on your country, please click this link.

People from the United States won’t be requiring an entry visa for going to Costa Rica, yet they should possess a valid current passport along with a return ticket from Costa Rica (before 90 days of arrival).

The individuals should either return to their country or go to another country after these 90 days and if they intend to stay longer, then they should acquire a residence permit.

Individuals from other countries may or may not require an entry visa, and the information regarding that can be found with the help of the link we’ve provided earlier.

• Provisional Visa:

There are 4 types of provisional visas in Costa Rica, which have been given below.

• Special category for individuals who are students, volunteers, researchers, or academics.
• Provisional visa for rentiers
• Provisional visa for retired individuals
• Provisional visa for the people who are closely related family members of a Costa Rican National

1. Special category for individuals who are students, volunteers, researchers, or academics:

Individuals who are students, volunteers, academics, or researchers should obtain this provisional visa from the Costa Rica consulate by presenting some documents.

An application letter for a provisional visa is required under the special category of student, academic, volunteer, or researcher along with information such as full name, nationality, passport information, employment information, current address, address where they intend to stay when they enter Costa Rica, date of birth, fax number to get notifications, date, and signature.

Other documents necessary for getting a provisional visa under this special category are as follows:

1. Birth certificate
2. Federal criminal background certificate (must be no longer than 4 months) that has been issued by the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) Interstate identification index.
3. Original and a copy of the passport or the travel document, which is valid for at least 6 months.
4. Proof related to economic viability so as to be in the country for the intended period.
5. Three passport-sized photos (color)

Along with these documents, the person should pay the necessary fees for the process and after completion, a provisional visa shall be offered.

All the documents will be returned to the applicant, and these should be submitted to the Costa Rica immigration office where the applicant has to finalize the process.

• Provisional visa for rentiers:

An application letter for a residence permit is required while stating the reason for applying, which consists of information such as full name, nationality, passport information, information related to occupation, current address, address where they intend to stay when they enter Costa Rica, date of birth, date, and signature.

Other documents necessary for getting a provisional visa under this category are as follows:

1. Birth certificate
2. Federal criminal background certificate (must be no longer than 4 months) that has been issued by the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) Interstate identification index.
3. Original and a copy of the passport or the travel document, which is valid for at least 6 months.
4. Three passport-sized photos (color)
5. Document ensuring that the person has been receiving a stable and permanent monthly rental income of at least USD 2,500 or the amount equivalent to it in colones. This certificate should have been issued at least 3 months before the application.
   If the income is received from abroad, the document determining this information should be apostilled.

Along with these documents, the person should pay the necessary fees for the process and after completion, a provisional visa shall be offered.

All the documents will be returned to the applicant, and these should be submitted to the Costa Rica immigration office where the applicant has to finalize the process.

• Provisional visa for retired individuals:

All the documents required under this category as the same as above except for the document proving the monthly rental income.

Instead of that, the individuals are required to submit a document ensuring that the individual will receive a permanent pension of at least USD 1,000 per month or the amount equivalent to it in colones as per the rate determined by the Central Bank of Costa Rica.

If the certificate is being acquired from abroad, then it must be apostilled.

This certificate should be issued at least 3 months before applying for this type of provisional visa.

Other than this, the process of applying for the provisional visa is the same as the process for rentiers.

• Provisional visa for the people who are closely related family members of a Costa Rican National

Only the parents or the children of a Costa Rican national can apply for this type of provisional visa. The children who are applying for this type of provisional visa must either be under the age of 18 years or should have been suffering from a disability.

An application letter for a residence permit is required while stating the reason for applying, which consists of information such as full name, nationality, passport information, information related to occupation, current address, address where they intend to stay when they enter Costa Rica, date of birth, date, and signature.

Other documents necessary for getting a provisional visa under this category are as follows:

1. Birth certificate
2. Federal criminal background certificate (must be no longer than 4 months) that has been issued by the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) Interstate identification index.
3. Original and a copy of the passport or the travel document, which is valid for at least 6 months.
4. Three passport-sized photos (color)
5. Birth certificate of the Costa Rican relative, which has been issued by the Costa Rican Civil Registry.

Along with these documents, the person should pay the necessary fees for the process and after completion, a provisional visa shall be offered.

All the documents will be returned to the applicant, and these should be submitted to the Costa Rica immigration office where the applicant has to finalize the process.

Important Information (for all provisional visas):

• For the people belonging to the United States, all the necessary documentation should have been obtained apostille legalization from the Secretary of State based on the state from where they apply.

• The Spanish translation of the documentation can be done with the help of services offered by the official translators in the United States, and while doing so, the documents should be translated before being apostilled.
  Otherwise, it can be done by the official translators, who are recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica.

• All the certificates and documents should be valid, and they must have been acquired by the individuals within the required timeframes.

• The documentation for these residence permits should be presented to the immigration office while staying there.

• If the person who applied for these permits enters as a tourist, then he or she would be charged a fee of USD 200 for the change of status.