Cost of Residency

[ratus]

Greetings all. We have purchased a home in Coco, and will be moving to CR on September 1st.:D I think we have most of our affairs in order, and next on the list is residency. I have checked out a couple of different agencies that can help us with this, but we were wondering what the “average” cost of this service is? We can either get residency via the Pensionado or the Investor status, not sure which one would work better for us. We were quoted anywhere from $3400 to $2800….so what is your experience with this, and what is a good price? Is there a service or company that is better than others? I don’t mind paying extra, if its gonna streamline the chaos:roll:

And yes we considered the border jump every 3 months, but we are too damn lazy for that. Plus its gets in the way of my beer time by the pool, also we want to do things legally, so that’s not an option:lol:

[barbara ann]

this is the attorney we used and he is excellent. He can explain a lot by email. The agencies we contacted were not as user friendly. we were referred to him from a friend and it worked out well. the residency requirements have changed somewhat so this is my best lead. His nickname is Junior

gonvicar@viquezoreamuno.com

[costaricafinca]

Definitely go for the [i]Pensionado[/i] status if you are in receipt of a guaranteed for life pension. Investor, can be ‘hit or miss..’.
Suggest you contact [url=www.arcr.net]ARCR [/url]

[Rob Goodell]

Mine cost me $30 and only took about two years.

[ratus]

[quote=”costaricafinca”]Definitely go for the [i]Pensionado[/i] status if you are in receipt of a guaranteed for life pension. Investor, can be ‘hit or miss..’.
Suggest you contact [url=www.arcr.net]ARCR [/url][/quote]
I contacted ARCR and was told it was close to $4000…..I fell off my chair <:

[costaricafinca]

This was probably for more than one individual. A friend applied with them last year, an it was $1800 for the primary applicant, then for additional family members, $200-300 less. Half of the cost goes directly to immigration, for their fees.

I don’t mean to rude [b]Rob Goodell,[/b] but did yours include the cost of having a Tica wife and/or child?:roll:

[Sailor]

I live part-time in Playa Hermosa, your next door neighbor. My wife and I filed for legal residency last month, including making a four hour drive to San Jose, for fingerprints. Our costs were around $4,000. Neither my wife nor I am fluent in Spanish,this included the best advice, service and hand-holding through the entire process, that money can buy! We have an excellent attorney,and friend. She also recently opened a new office in Coco. If interested, I would be happy to provide you with her name.

[waggoner41]

My wife and I paid our attorney about $1,000 each in 2008.

[ratus]

Ok…before I get ripped apart….just a question..<:

How many times can i realistically do the border jump to Nicaragua? Does anyone know of anyone being refused entry back into CR by doing this?
Gracias…please be gentle with your answers <;

[costaricafinca]

[b]ratus,[/b] my first question to you, is [i]’did you not look into the cost involved to gain residency before you purchased your condo”?[/i]
When re-entering CR you [i]may[/i] get 90 days or you [i]may[/i] get 8 days. There is no guarantee.
If you are a [u]not[/u] a legal resident you [u]cannot[/u] join CAJA and you [u]will[/u] have limitations with banking.
Unless you obtained your CR driving license before the rules changed, you will have to exit CT before your tourist visa expires
Forgot to add, that yes, we [u]did[/u] know people refused re-entry.

[ratus]

Yes we checked residency out, and we budgeted $3500 for residency, just hoped that we could do it cheaper…I hate paying retail for anything:wink: We have contacted [i]Immigration Experts[/i][u][/u] in Coco, and will start the process on Monday. That gives us a good 3 months to get the paper work together. Tho we don’t want to get it done too soon, only have 6 months from date of issue////ohh the fun and games of moving to CR, but it will be worth it on Sept 1st, when we are sitting by the pool with an ice cold Imperial:D
As an aside…we did get a bank account opened when we were there in March, though with a $1000 maximum deposit allowance. BUT, we can get our bank statements from canada,apostiled and they will average out the last 6 months of our deposits and reset the limit to reflect that amount. Getting a bank account set up without residency is not impossible, but is damn hard on the nerves

[costaricafinca]

I didn’t say it couldn’t be done, as you had mentioned you had opened an account, but unless you have residency, you [u]cannot[/u] do inter banks (SINPE)transfers.

Could be pretty rainy in September…:roll:

[clayton]

You can set up a bank account in the name of your corporation if you have one with out residency.

[ratus]

[quote=”clayton”]You can set up a bank account in the name of your corporation if you have one with out residency.[/quote]

Yup, that’s what we did. It took awhile ( 7 trips to the bank) but we finally got an account set up. 😯

[VictoriaLST]

Be sure to get that all important appostille stamp on your documents [i]before[/i] you move here.

[Author]

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