www.CostaRicaTicas.com

IMHO, this is the key. At your young age, unless you've got about 7 figures to live off of for the rest of your life, you'll need a residual income to sustain you. And when it comes to "working" in CR, it gets real tricky. If this is the path you choose, do your homework, and good luck.
Mikey-B

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You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

DD,
No, I'm not completely sure...but I'm pretty sure. At least that's what I read somewhere. It doesn't completely defeat the purpose because, if you'll note, I never said you could simply withdraw all the money as soon as your rentista app was accepted. I believe they review your account annually and you have to show you have the funds EACH time. What you can do is redeposit the money immediately before you come up for review and withdraw it again right afterwards. Is it strictly legal? Again, I'm not sure. I don't believe one is really supposed to repeatedly enter CR on a tourist visa and leave the country for a few days every 3 months either and yet many people do AND get away with it (at least for now). Maybe someday they'll close these loopholes if they really exist or start to crackdown on violators if they don't.

I also think you've got how the rentista program works a little mixed up. You don't really have to place ANY funds in a CR bank to qualify. All you really need is proof that you have a guaranteed monthly income of at least $1K/mo. This could simply take the form of an annuity or CD from a US or other financial institution providing that $1K/mo. A SEPERATE option for satisfying the income requirement is to deposit a flat $60K in a CR bank (based on $1K/mo X 60 months), but there is no requirement that you have to withdraw exactly $1K each month. As long as you can show you have the funds to provide $1K for each month remaining on your rentista visa each time it comes up for review, you should be okay.
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LVS, Straddler and DD,
As most of you know, CR discourages foreigners from taking jobs that could be filled by a CR citizen. LEGALLY speaking the only way for a foreigner to work in CR, is to get a special permit. To do that they have to show that they are uniquely qualifed to do a certain task that can't be done by a tico. Foreign companies are entitled to a certain percentage of non-citizen employees, but rarely fill their quotas for 2 reasons: a) they can nearly always find qualified ticos and b) few gringos want to work for tico wages. That said, despite the questionable talents of most tico short-order cooks, I don't think that argument would fly with the authorities. DD is mostly right. In order to be able to work anywhere without any restrictions or unique abilities, one needs a carta libre and one can only apply for that after 5 years of residency and even then it will still be for only "tico" wages.

Now PRACTICALLY speaking is a slightly different story. There are gringos that manage to find work under the table. Of course, if one gets caught it could lead to deportation. One classic example of this are US contractors. The work could usually be done by ticos, if not always quite as well, but the authorities usually look the other way because such guys usually create subcontractor and laborer work for ticos. You also find it in the tourist sector, where english speaking ability is a big plus and gringos are sometimes hired by other gringos (as would be the case with Straddler and his friend).

Again, these jobs whether under or over the table nearly always pay tico-level wages. If you can make $1.50-2.00/hr you're doing pretty well and if on top of that you're talking about a PART-TIME job you won't be able to count on this providing any real additional income worth talking about. The biggest benefit of working is that every hour you spend working is an hour you won't spend spending money. Figure 20 hours/week X $2/hr X 50 weeks/yr = only $2K extra per year which will barely cover your flights back to the US if you go the perpetual tourist route. BTW, even with a more permanent residency, you'll probably want to return to the US or visit other countries a few times per year and will want to add that into your budget.
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TP,
One could certainly reduce one's monthly housing costs by sharing your home with a roomie who pays rent to defray your costs or by sharing a rental with a roomie and splitting the rent that way. That's certainly how many Ticos manage to get by. I'm not sure how many gringos would be interested in doing that. Personally, I'm used to living alone and for just $200/month I'd much rather have a place to myself. If I WERE to share my place it would probably be with a young and attractive "bedmate" rather than just a roommate and I'm not sure this old fart could find one to do so if I asked her to pay for the privelege. OTOH, that might be a good way to defray chica costs by providing free housing in leiu of propina. Still that might also mean having to get a larger place so the ultimate savings are not so easy to determine.

BTW, VB can tell you something about roomies as that was his original plan. His planned roomie, Mexpat, ended up leaving CR early before the end of the lease term. Finding a replacement proved not so simple. Ultimately, VB decided to go it alone and now seems to prefer it that way (no reflection on Chuck). The other thing VB will tell, which I have to partially agree with, is that although one can find apartments in SJ for just $400/month that might be perfectly fine if you want to "live like a tico", those places aren't going to be in the nicest neighborhoods. Now we don't all have to live in a luxury apartment in Escazu like VB, but I think most of us are going to want something more than a $200/month (net) place in either a gang-ridden barrio or in a remote village.

Finally, even if you can make $200/month renting out a room and save another $200/month you'd otherwise pay for SHARED housing, it might defray your costs but won't represent the same return you'd probably make on investing the money elsewhere. Where you might make your real return is on any property appreciation (still no guarantee there) and unless you sell your home, its not like you'll be able to use that increased equity to buy food, etc.

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I don't like to be the one to put a wet blanket on everyones' dreams, because I share that dream too. But I think too many guys grossly oversimplify what is involved in making the jump. Go ahead and take the leap, but at least do it with both eyes open.

Prolijo wrote:



I am certainly not an expert on Costa Rica Rentista Residency requirements but I can not find a single thing in that part of your post that matches what is openly discussed on various Costa Rica discussion boards.They all are unanimous in stating the requirement to post $60,000 in a CR bank and produce receipts showing you have exchange $1000 per month from USD to colones.

Do you have to meet the exact dollar exchange every month? Most likely not. I am required to exchange $600 per month. When I renew my residency Immigration does not care that it was $600 each and every month but they do care it was $7200. or more for the calendar year.

Please PM me with the documentation that backs up your assertions. No need to bore the rest of the group with this discussion.

_________________
Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

DD,
I don't want to split hairs with you. I did read somewhere that some people skirt around the law in the way I discussed. I don't remember exactly where I saw it but if I find it I'll let you know. I will stand by a few of my other comments such as a similarity to the "perpetual tourism" example or the gringos working as employees under the table. This is CR where what is the letter of the law and what is practiced are often 2 different things.

I could turn your challenge around and ask you to tell me where it specifically says you do have to leave the money in the bank for the whole year. As with most loopholes, the proof is usually not so much in what it says but what it doesn't say. I've just rechecked at various websites including http://www.costarica-embassy.org and http://www.arcr.net and its not absolutely clear to me although I'll admit it doesn't look so simple.

One thing I said is definitely true, you don't have to post any funds in a CR bank if you don't want to:A US based annuity will definitely suffice for this.

I have seen reference to "irrevocability" but not at the CR embassy site and while permanent and stable suggests "irrevocability" there is nothing to stop someone from cashing in a CD before maturity through trading or closing out a bank account once the funds were demonstrated to be available. In fact, they require that you withdraw at least $1K/mo. They don't say anywhere you can't pull out more earlier.

As for depositing $60K in a CR bank or having a stable $1K/mo source of income being two alternative approaches rather than being mutal requirements, I'll quote from the arcr site:Note: the OR in upper case caps is the way they wrote it not me.

Finally as for their checking up on you, I was wrong. It is every other year not annually. Again from the arcr:

The last part of this quote is significant and just goes to show how ridiculous this whole discussion is. ITS ALL MOOT. One is probably going to need at least $1K/mo to live on in CR anyway. Whether you keep the money in a low-interest CR bank account all year long, purchase an annuity from a US-based bank or somehow manage to withdraw the funds and invest them in some other hopefully higher yielding investment, you're still going to need to withdraw at least $1K/mo to live on from whereever you've stashed it and if you have to convert that money to colones before you pay your bills, whats the big deal.