The residency is possible to renew it in a perpetual way and leads the road to become a national. While the VISA is designed to be something limited to a fix period of time.

1. After 2 years of marrying a Costa Rica

2. After 5 years of being a legal resident of Costa Rica (with a residency, not a VISA)

3. After 20 years of being an illegal resident of Costa Rica

According to Law 9996, enacted in the year 2021, for the next years the investors, residents and pensioners will have the following benefits:

1. Tax free import of the household goods

2. Tax free import of 2 vehicles (boat, car, plane)

3. Right to import capital without having to pay any taxes

4. Discount of 20% of the transfer tax (1,5% of the value of the property).

All these benefits are given once the residency is approved.

According to law 10009, the the benefits for digital nomads are the following:

1. A valid and legal permit to stay within the territory of Costa Rica for a period of 12 months, with the right to extend it up to 24 months.

2. The right to open bank accounts;

3. The right to have their license driver recognised as valid during the period that the VISA is extended.

4. The exception to NOT PAY any INCOME TAX during the time of their VISA

5. The exception to pay social security fees

Verification of the main requirement. Depending on the category you will be applying for, documentation will be required to confirm eligibility under that category. For instance, people applying under the retirement category must produce a letter providing confirmation of the retirement income; people applying under the investment category must provide certifications of the investment regardless of whether the investment is in real estate or in shares of a company; people applying for residency through marriage must produce a marriage certificate from Costa Rica.

Background check. This document should be issued by a national authority. In the case of US nationals, for instance, it should be from the FBI. In the case of Canadian nationals, it should be issued by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In the case of UK nationals, it should be issued by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Birth certificate. A new copy of your birth certificate is required, not over six months old.

Application form. We complete this for our clients.

Cover letter. We complete this for our clients as well.

Biometrical registry before the police. Obtained at a police department. We will coordinate with you in order to receive these, assisting in San José or Liberia by driving you from our office to the location concerned and handling the corresponding forms.

Certified passport copy. We certify your passport copy.

Passport-size photographs.

Government fees. Initially, it is required to pay $251 USD in application fees. At the end of the process, it is required to pay an additional fees in concept of guarantee deposit

We just need your bank statements and proof of contract, then we will help you coordinate with the professionals.

All documents in a foreign language must be translated into Spanish by an official translator. We take care of it by coordinating with the best translators in multiple languages.

The following only applies for residencies and naturalization procedures:

All documents from abroad must be authenticated for its use in Costa Rica. This is achieved with the Chain of legalizations or apostille.

The birth certificates and the background checks (and any other documents from abroad) must be issued within six months prior to filing the application. Therefore, the original birth certificate issued when you were born will not be valid for immigration purposes in Costa Rica.

Background checks must be from the countries where you lived legally in the past three years. Living legally excludes people who were living as tourists, it is only applicable to people who were legally residing in a foreign country.

Around 3-15 months. Depending if we apply using the online system or. the traditional in person system. We can divide it into 3 stages:

1. Stage 1: Collecting documents. 1-3 months.

2. Stage 2: Application process. This process covers from the day of the presentation until getting the final approval resolution. It varies between 3-15 months. Depending if the application is made online or using the traditional in person system

3. Stage 3: Documentation. 1 -90 days. After getting an approval, immigration grants up to 90 days to finish the process and take the picture to get the ID Card called DIMEX.

Around 5-8 weeks.