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Hola,
My wife and I will be moving to Costa Rica within the next year. Based on research, we have narrowed our options for relocating to two locations. We have never been to Costa Rica, but we know this is the place for us. Our purpose for creating this post is to gather information from individuals who have spent time and lived in either of these places. We would love to hear some pros and cons for each area.As a little more information about us. We are both in our mid 20s and have been married for almost 3 years. I am getting out of the US military and really want to pursue opening a restaurant after we have gotten a good feel for Costa Rica. We truly enjoy exploring outdoors and an exciting night life. Any of your suggestions and information about these two locations would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Living here legally [url=http://www.costaricalaw.com/Immigration-and-Residency/residency-general-information-and-summary.html]requires residency [/url]and although you can ‘manage’ a business you can’t [url=http://www.costaricalaw.com/Working-in-Costa-Rica/]physically work[/url] until you are Permanent resident which takes approx 5 years. It is very important for you to be able to speak Spanish if you intend to own a business as there can be an unbelievable amount of red tape.
Now, it is mandatory to be affiliated with the social healthcare system and being under 55 means your premium could be quite high depending on what residency status you apply for.
Both places are quite nice and are ‘high’ tourist areas and there are many great restaurants already located in the areas. Friends living in Quepos tell me many businesses there have recently closed.
You really would be advised to visit first.
[quote=”sandt330″]Hola,
My wife and I will be moving to Costa Rica within the next year. Based on research, we have narrowed our options for relocating to two locations. We have never been to Costa Rica, but we know this is the place for us. Our purpose for creating this post is to gather information from individuals who have spent time and lived in either of these places. We would love to hear some pros and cons for each area.As a little more information about us. We are both in our mid 20s and have been married for almost 3 years. I am getting out of the US military and really want to pursue opening a restaurant after we have gotten a good feel for Costa Rica. We truly enjoy exploring outdoors and an exciting night life. Any of your suggestions and information about these two locations would be greatly appreciated! Thank you![/quote]
Wow, you have an interesting decision making process. You have decided to move to a country that you have never visited and you have even decided on one of two towns to live in without visiting either and your goal is to open a restaurant that you can not legally work in until you have permanent residency. (Incidentally, you mentioned that you are in your mid 20s, so if you have also decided to start a family I suggest that you wait until you get here. I believe that having a baby in CR offers a faster pathway to permanent residency or perhaps citizenship??)
Seriously, before you pack up all your belongings and head south, it would be advisable to visit each of those locations (and perhaps others) and maybe even take a rental of 3-6 months in each place to “live the dream” a bit before jumping into it.
And also, thanks for your service to the USA (there are some on this forum that won’t offer that thanks, but I will – and now I have!)Ongoing drought conditions continue to plague Guanacaste with [url=http://insidecostarica.com/2014/08/21/guanacaste-water-shortage-hotels-threatening-close-doors-layoff-staff/]9 hotels threatening to close[/url]
Although I am a ex-pat Brit, a Canadian citizen and a long time resident of Costa Rica I, too, give thanks to anyone who serves their country as I did too, although in a small way.
Thank you for the responses so far. Maybe I should have explained myself a little further in the original post.
I am aware of the legality issues with gaining residency in CR, as well as the fact that I would not be able to work at my own restaurant under their current laws. Also, I should mention that we plan to visit these places before making the final move. Additionally, I would never jump into starting a business without getting a feeling for the area for awhile before I began seriously pursuing that dream. In the mean time, I will be able to use my GI Bill which is a benefit that will pay my living costs while I am enrolled in a online business degree. On top of that, my wife has a job that allows her to work on the internet from virtually anywhere. I’m glad that the whole baby loop hole was mentioned, my wife and I had read into that a few times and is seriously considered as an option.
My advice is to get to CR & spend time in each place. They are in totally different areas of Costa Rica with different landscapes. Yes, both are hot beach areas but one is in a seriously dry area of CR & one is in a seriously wet area of CR. You need to spend some rainy season time in Manuel Antonio to decide if it is for you. Both places are tourist “traps” so you’ll really need to decide if you want to live in the midst of it. I’m about 40 minutes north of Manuel Antonio – I love living NEAR it but certainly don’t want to live there with tourists around 24/7/365. You also need to do some research on the ease (or lack of ease, more accurately) of doing business in CR.
Jessica
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