Do you want to immigrate and live in Costa Rica?

1. Birth certificate

2. Criminal Records of the country of nationality and from the place of residency of the past three years. If possible, it should contain the name, fingerprints and complete information of the applicant.

3. Marriage certificate, when applicable.

4. Academic degrees, that back-up the specialised knowledge.

A final note is that for any category, in order for documents to become valid in Costa Rica, the documents have to be issued by a competent authority and must be legalised either with the apostille or through the chain of legalization methods.

If you need help in obtaining your documentation, please contact us, forget the stress of googling for answers and not knowing what to do. Let us help.

Another aspect to keep in mind is that all documents must be in spanish or translated by an official translator authorised by the Minister of Foreign Relations of Costa Rica.

Don’t worry, our job is to make your life simple, so we will coordinate this process. You just have to pay for it.

The first thing to do is to contact us to review your case, explain the different possible scenarios and then decide which way to go.

There are two ways to apply for residency:

1. ONLINE, using the Tramiteya.go.cr website, but it is limited to only certain migration categories. This comes with an extra cost of $10 per application, but with the promise of getting an answer in just 90 days.

2. IN PERSON, using the appointment system available on the Migration Department website.

It really depends on each case and the circumstances of each person, sometimes it could take up to 3 months, another times 1 or 2 years. Depends on each case, really, if you have a doubt, just reach out to us and we can clarify.

Keep in mind that once you apply for residency, you will receive a paper that proves your application and that paper allows you to legally stay in the country until you get a resolution from the migration agency.

The process involves at least the following institutions:

1. Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (Migration authority)

2. Police Department: for the inscription purposes. It can be done before or after the filing is done.

3. Labour Minister: only in the cases of knowledge migrants, in order to assure that there is no locals displaced.

4. Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social: it is mandatory to be enrolled on Social Security.

5. Ministerio de Hacienda/ Taxu Authority: In certain categories, it will be required to get inscribed before the Tax Authority

The application fees, security deposit and taxes that are paid directly to the government to apply for residency varies between USD$50-$250 dollars, depending if the application is done within the country or outside.

Yes, it does, but depends of each case. The best thing to do is to speak directly to us to get all your answers.

For the purposes of interpreting the concept of dependant, it includes:

1. The spouse/ husband (heterosexual or homosexual, it doesn’t matter, as in Costa Rica we have same sex civil marriage)

2. The sons and daughters of one or the other, under twenty-five years of age or older with some disability;

3. Their parents, as long as there is a dependency relationship.

According to law 9966 those who apply for residency, either as a rentista or investor, within a 5 year window time frame since the enactment of the law (July 21, 2021) will have the following benefits:

1.Tariff exemption and all import taxes present only once, for the importation of household items. In the applications you can protect your dependents, for migratory purposes. Household items shall be understood as all new or used items of a nature that are reasonably and proportionally sufficient for the needs of the beneficiary of this law and the members of their immediate family, including, among others, household furniture, appliances, home decor items, kitchen and bathroom utensils, bedding. If the beneficiary transfers these assets within the period of validity of the benefits granted in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of article 12 of this law, he must pay the taxes from which he was exempted. In very qualified situations, where household items will be destroyed or lost due to theft, the beneficiary may purchase other goods to replace them, equally exempt from taxes. The regulation will develop the accreditation mechanisms of the circumstances in which these qualified exceptions proceed.

2. Beneficiaries may import up to two land, air and/or sea transportation vehicles, for personal or family use, free of all import, tariff and value-added taxes. In case of loss of the vehicle due to theft, total destruction due to fire, flood, collision or accident, occurred during the period of validity of the benefits granted in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of article 12 of this law, the owner may import another vehicle free of the indicated taxes. The beneficiary of this law, who has imported a vehicle under the conditions indicated in the previous paragraph, may sell it or transfer it to third parties, in which case the provisions of article 10 of Law 7088, Tax Readjustment and Resolution 18th Tariff and Customs Council CA, of November 30, 1987.

3. The sums declared as income to become creditor to the benefits of this law will be exempt from income tax.However, the income obtained in the national territory, the results of the investments made in the country, will be taxed by the income tax, according to the provisions of Law 7092, Income Tax Law, of 21 December April 1988.

4. Exemption of twenty percent (20%) of the total transfer tax, in real estate acquired within the term of this law, provided that the beneficiary is the registered owner of the property. If the beneficiary transfers these assets within the effective term of this law, he must pay the taxes from which he was exempted.

5. Exemption from import taxes for instruments or materials for professional or scientific practice, carried out by the person with the migratory category of investor, resident pensioner or resident annuitant. The person must demonstrate, before the Ministry of Finance, that what is imported corresponds to their economic activity and has criteria of proportionality and reasonableness.