Tips on Relocating to Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a beautiful country in Central America. It is a stable democracy and a friendly place. If you want to live there, it should be possible to make the move with a few tips on relocating to Costa Rica.
The first thing you will want to consider about relocating to Costa Rica is your residency status. If you are relocating to Costa Rica, you have several choices of residency options. A pensionada is a person who gets a private pension or social security retirement check from outside the country. The check must be over $600 per month.
A “rentista” is a person relocating to Costa Rica who has provable income of $12,000 per year from investment or annuity sources outside the country. Either a pensionado or a rentista can become a permanent resident in two years.
To gain any type of residency, a person will need a certificate showing that they don’t have a police record. They will need a birth certificate and a marriage certificate (if they have one). Anyone relocating to Costa Rica will need an income certificate.
You might think next of what kind of work you might want to do. You may want to start up your own business if you are relocating to Costa Rica. The country makes this fairly easy to do. Many pensionados start businesses when they are relocating to Costa Rica because they are not allowed to work at other jobs until they have permanent residency.
If you are thinking of relocating to Costa Rica and becoming a permanent resident, there are many job opportunities. A person from the US might find a good job in the tourism industry. There might also be work for you with any firm based in North America that does business in Costa Rica.
A multinational company might have many good jobs available for you if you are relocating in Costa Rica. There are sales jobs, executive positions, and company representatives needed.
Other jobs will be easy for you to get if you are relocating in Costa Rica and have a degree such as an MBA. If you have talent as a writer or photographer, there is work anywhere. In the case of Costa Rica, there are two English language newspapers that might hire people relocating to Costa Rica.
Finding a good place to live in Costa Rica will be a task of anyone relocating to Costa Rica. If you like a spring-like climate and like to live in the city, you will probably like living in the San Jose area in the Central Valley. There are also nearby suburbs where people relocating to Costa Rica have already moved in great numbers.
Once you know what you will do, and where you will live, you will want to think about the actual move. Relocating to Costa Rica may involve letting go of some of your personal possessions. This is because most goods, even goods like the ones you own which are used, are taxed.
The tax on used goods coming into Costa Rica are importation taxes of about forty to ninety percent of the value of the goods. On top of that, there are shipping and handling charges. For this reason, it is best to sell when you leave your former home and re-buy in country when you are relocating to Costa Rica.
There are many details to work out if you are relocating to Costa Rica. If you take the time to work some of them out ahead of time, it will be well worth the effort. |