Looking for a Plan B? Costa Rica is an excellent place to relocate, here are some immigration categories

La República spoke with Herman Duarte, founder of Simple Legal Consulting, (SLC) a law firm specializing in Immigration, Investment and Corporate law, about different categories an expat can explore to relocate and legally settle in Costa Rica.

What options does an expat have to legally migrate to Costa Rica?

An expat can apply for a special visa to live (free of income tax and social security fees) in Costa Rica for up to 12 months, or apply for a residency that leads to becoming a national. For instance some options include:

a) Investor: if you or your spouse invest $150,000 in real estate, shares of a company, boats, cars, planes, or securities, you can obtain residency.

b) Renter or fixed income: If you have a fixed income of $2,500 per month or deposit $60,000 in a local bank, Simple Legal can obtain for you a residency for people with fixed incomes (rentista).

c) Retired/pensioner: This applies if you have any sort of pension (military for example, disability or retired) that is perpetual and at least $1,000 per month.

d) Manager of a company: If you do not have $150,000 to invest, you can set up a corporation, get all the paper work in order and apply as its manager. Ideal for entrepreneurs.

e) Specialized skilled worker: Requires someone with special skills. Keep in mind that in this category and the previous one the Minister of Labor plays a role to determine if you are going to take away local jobs.

f) Marriage residency: If you are lucky enough to find love and marry a Costa Rican or with an immigrant with legal residency you can also apply for residency. But beware that immigration is going to double check if the marriage is authentic.

g) Digital nomad visa: If you earn over $3,000 per month or $36,000 per year in the past 12 months you can apply for this category.

For all of these options the principal application can be used to cover the spouse, children under 25 and the parents that are economically dependent of the applicants.

There are other options but that gives a nice overview.

Do the categories comes with benefits?

Digital Nomads are exempt from paying income tax and social security fees in Costa Rica, they are entitled to open bank accounts and use their hometown drivers license as a valid driving document in Costa Rica.

Investors, Fixed Income Residency and Pensioners have the right -once they have the approval, not with the application- to import, free of any taxes, their household goods and two vehicles of any type (boats, cars, planes). Also, they can open a bank account, have their foreign drivers license recognized and a small discount on the transfer of property tax.

How long does the application usually takes?

The application process varies depending on the processing time of the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjeria (DGME), which does an important job handling thousands of applications per year. An estimated reasonable timeline is:

To get an approval of digital nomad visa from the day you hire a lawyer to receiving approval: 3 months.

To get an approval of residency from the day you hire a lawyer to receiving an approval: anywhere between 3-15 months.

This times can vary depending if we apply online, instead of the traditional application.

About the expert Herman Duarte

Herman Duarte is the founder of Simple Legal Consulting and has more than 12 years of experience practicing law, a master's degree from Stockholm University and a master's degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Passionate about writing and research, he is a published author of 2 books and more than 200 publications in the press.

Herman is an immigrant, hard worker, dedicated and passionate lawyer who provides a top quality and a fast pace rhythm of answers to all his clients. He is acclaimed as one of the best attorneys in the region, as stated by the Chambers & Partners Global Legal Guide and is mentioned as an English speaking attorney in Costa Rica by the honorable United Kingdom Embassy in Costa Rica (there are 34,000 lawyers and in this list there are only 31 mentioned).