Foreigners coming to Costa Rica to study, work or participate in academic activities are considered to have a "special status".
On February 1st, immigration officers at the borders will start placing a sticker in the passport of those who arrive with the "special status", informed the Dirección de Migración y Extranjería (immigration service). Read more »
The Costa Rican immigration has added a new requirement for those seeking permanent and temporary residency in Costa Rica.
Applicants are now required to register with their own consulate in Costa Rica. The requirement becomes the sixth along with birth certificate, passport, photos, fees and police report. Read more »
The new Costa Rica immigration law was published in the La Gaceta official newspaper Tuesday. That means that it will become effective in 6 months.
Below are the highlights of the published law. Read more »
On Tuesday the lawmakers passed for the second and final time a new immigration law. The main item of the law is integration of foreigners into the Costa Rican culture. The new law seeks to improve the conditions of immigrants with respect for their human rights.
Although the main target audience is the Central American immigrants, US, Canadian and European expats will be subject to some changes, too. For example, now they have to join the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social as a condition of their residency. On the plus side, visitors will be able to seek residency without leaving the country. On the down side it makes hotel and operators of other lodging businesses responsible for maintaining a registry of their customers. Read more »
Lawmakers couldn’t come to the agreement on how to interpret competing texts of the proposed immigration law and had no choice, but send the proposal back to the committee. The bill was expected to be voted on yesterday, but lawmakers are going on vacation on Monday. It’s obvious now that the second and theoretically, the final vote will not come for many weeks.
There are many changes in the proposed bill. The most important ones that affect expats are the following.
The financial requirement for the pensionados is increasing to $1,000 a month (from $600) . For rentistas it’s increasing to $2,500 a month (from $1000 per person). Note, that both amounts will be covering family members. That means that a couple applying for the rentista status will be required to deposit $2500 instead of $2000. It seems that if the same couple has 2 kids, they will be required to deposit less under the new law than they’re required today.
The new law will not be retroactive, meaning that if you obtained residency before the time the law becomes effective the old rules will be applied to your case.
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January 30, 2010 6:16 pm
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