dollars to colones

[moonbanks]

I need a clarification….
conversion documentation needed…
its simple if you have a dollar account and a colone account which account do you need to deposit dollars in for proof of conversion…and yes I want to make the deposit in order to pay bills on line…

[DavidCMurray]

To satisfy Migracion’s requirement that you convert dollars to colones, you need a teller’s receipt that shows your name, your cedula number, the date, the exchange rate, and the dollar and colon amounts.

You do not have to have any bank account to satisfy this requirement. That is, you could withdraw dollars from your U.S. bank at a Costa Rican ATM or from under your mattress, walk into the bank and have the teller convert them to colones, put the colones in your pocket and leave without making any deposit. Just be sure to get the necessary receipt.

Or you could withdraw dollars from your Costa Rican dollar account, convert them to colones, put the colones in your pocket and leave.

Or you could bring dollars (from whatever source), convert them to colones, and deposit those colones into your colon account.

Or you could convert dollars to colones, get the necessary receipt, and then convert the colones back to dollars and deposit those in your dollar account. Of course, you’d pay a price for doing this due to the difference between the “buy” and “sell” exchange rates.

Or you could take Traveler’s Cheques denominated in dollars in, cash them for dollars, and then convert those dollars to colones. Traveler’s Cheques are a pain where it hurts the most and I don’t recommend using them in any circumstances. Again, just be sure to get that all important receipt.

If you do a “dollars-in-cash-to-colones-in-cash” transaction, ask the teller to put your name and cedula number on the receipt.

Of course, if you want to pay utility bills online you’ll need a colon account to debit, but you still don’t need a dollar account.

All that said, if you’re opening an account in either currency, it’s a simple matter to open an account in each, so why not?

[costaricabill]

[quote=”DavidCMurray”]

Of course, if you want to pay utility bills online you’ll need a colon account to debit, but you still don’t need a dollar account.
quote]

Thanks David for the clarification, advice and suggestions on how best to satisfy the requirement for migracion. I too thought it had to be a straight deposit from the source back home and was working on how to get that big fat monthly social security check transferred through the international monetary system and into my account at BNCR.

The only comment I have to your long list of great advice is that BNCR does allow online payments from a dollar account. The bill comes up in colones and once you process the payment the receipt is available to print showing the amount debited from your account in both colones and dollars.

[DavidCMurray]

I didn’t know about BNCR converting dollars to colones for bill payment. HSBC doesn’t do that.

You can have your SS check deposited to your Banco Nacional or Banco de Costa Rica account each month for a $6 fee. It goes through Mellon Bank of New York, but you do not need an account at Mellon. If you’re here in Costa Rica, you can call the federal benefits unit at the American Embassy and arrange that over the phone. It’s easy.

[rosiemaji]

So, you only need to prove to Migración that you converted the required amount of dollars to colones each month? You don’t have to show that you spent the colones on anything? Does the conversion have to happen exactly every month in the required amount or does the total converted in a year just have to add up to 12 times the required monthly amount? If one were, for example, buying, building on or improving a property, the amount converted from dollars to colones to cover expenditures might vary widely each month and could even add up to an entire year’s worth of dollars converted to colones in one month or so.

Also, would an online receipt (converting dollars from one account to colones in another account) have all of the required information on it? Would one just need to print these out and submit them to Migración or would one need to go into the bank and get a printout or something from the bank? When we are in the states, we do not have the ability to walk into the bank and convert dollars to colones at a teller window. Even when we are in Costa Rica, most of the converting is still done online to avoid the long lines at the banks.

We find it beneficial to have both a dollar and a colon account. The exchange rate fluctuates, sometimes wildly. When the dollar buys fewer colones, I only exchange enough dollars for colones to just cover the bills. When the dollar buys more colones, I take the opportunity to buy extra colones. I call it “enriching my colon account”. If I start getting what I perceive to be too many colones in that account, I convert colones back to dollars when a dollar can be bought with fewer colones. It is a bit like playing the stock market. Once I get my residency card, I will still use this strategy to get the most colones for my dollar.

[DavidCMurray]

Your conversions at the end of the year only need add up to the required minimum. They don’t have to be exactly $600 or $1,000 or whatever each and every calendar month as long as the total is correct.

And you don’t have to spend any colones at all. You can withdraw them and play Monopoly with them if you wish, just as long as you can prove the conversion.

It’s my understanding that an original receipt from the teller is required to meet the standard of proof. It would be easy enough to gin something up on the computer otherwise. Some folks are reporting that a summary letter from the bank is required. That wasn’t our experience, but there is some variation in the way Migracion handles these matters. When we got our Permanent Resident cedulas, we came prepared with all our teller’s receipts and proof of our CAJA enrollment. They didn’t ask for any of it.

[rosiemaji]

Thank you for all of this extremely relevant information. It takes some of the mystery out of toeing the line to comply with the requirements for residency.

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