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I know that a lot of questions arise about residency status, but I still end up just as confused. I’ve talked with 3 lawyers in CR as well as the Consulate here in the states, and they all give me different answers. I need to find a lawyer that will do all of this painstaking paperwork for me so that I can just do what they tell me to. I have some paperwork already gathered, but now I’m confused as to how to file. I am buying a business in CR and want to work, but unfortunately I can’t invest $250,000 to be an investor. And filing as a Rentista doesn’t allow you to work. Anyone have any suggestions or reliable contacts that will get the job done for me so that I don’t have to worry about it anymore and they can do the ground work for me? I’m trying to meet the August deadline if I need to.
Thanks!Leo
The attorneys associated with the Association of Residents of Costa Rica are very sharp. I think you’re mistaken about the work/rentista thing if you’re self-employed, i.e., own a business.
Lic. Romulo Pacheco did our pensionado residency and it went perfectly.
Dave:
That is what the lawyers there told me about the rentista status. Even if you are self employed….I specifically asked that question, and they told me that if I worked in my own business that It would be illegal. Although, I could own the business, just not work in it in any way, shape, or form! The only way would be to be an investor. Anyway, I appreciate the contact information! Have you heard of a group called the American Association of Costa Rica….or something like that? Someone told me to contact them, but they didn’t have the contact info, and I can’t find them anywhere either. Anyway, they said that they are very thorough about getting things done there in CR.
Thanks again!
LeoLeo, I think you’re talking about the Association of Residents of Costa Rica, whom I pointed to above.
I’m hardly the expert, but it’s my understanding that, in most occupations, you may not compete with or displace a Costa Rican worker unless you are working in your own enterprize. So you can, for example, found your own real estate practice, but you cannot go to work as a real estate agent for an existing company — all this in rentista or pensionado residency status.
If somebody knows more definitively, please chime in.
Ask Scott Oliver. I deal with Roberto, in San Jose. He is fantastic for me. But again each individual has their own quirks and needs. A lawyer good for one, may not be suitable for another. 3 Lawyers you have tried already indicates something. What I do not know.
Email Scott with a simple direct question. Minimal info and direct request. Scott may know the best lawyer for your specific needs.
I started my process March 2006, and because I follow up, and am very diligent, my immigration papers are already in San Jose. I now have a temporary CR immigration number as of two 1/2 weeks ago, mid-April. Focus. Clarity. Listening to what I was being told. Doing my homework on the consulate web-site for my area. And doing it exactly as requested, means I am on the right path.
Now it is up to the immigration folks in Costa Rica as too how long I will have to wait, to get my final papers. This is where the right lawyer is very important. Make sure you have one who is responsive to your needs. But if you want them to educate you, understand time to them is money, and high maintainence clients should pay through the nose, becasue why should the easy ones have to subsidize the high maintainence ones, who take a lot of the lawyers time up with educating them, and can be very draining. Also make sure you do not waste their time, with babble.
I have had clients who I have had to turn away because they wanted too much of my time and were too draining, and not willing to get the years of education I have, to be able to do what I do. On the other hand, I had a lawyer pay me what he thought was an exhorbitant fee, for one hour of my time. Another lawyer told him I knew what no one else knew and was the expert in the specific area of his incompentence, or as one might say lack of knowledge.
Being direct, egoless and not taking anything personally on my part, in as many matters as is possible, is what makes this process so much fun and it is so easy.
Good luck. Bueno sertes. Chao. Chao.
curlyonecurlytwo:
I talked to Roberto….and then talked to another Lawyer that was highly recommended….and they both told me different solutions to the same question and then condemned the other for what they told me to do. It isn’t that I’m high maintenance or need them to hold my hand, but I do need straight answers, and money isn’t the problem. When you talk to 3 different lawyers and the consulate, and they all give you differences in answers to the same question….it is a little frustrating. I appreciate your opinions and your advice! Hopefully I can get this resolved soon!!Thanks!
They both may be right!? Did you speak to them in English or Spanish? Did you give them both excatly the same information – from a written script? Did you ask them the exact same questions – from a written script?
These are not flippant questions. It is a technique I have taught others, as we tend to color our approaches the more information and opinions we get.
But believe it or not, confusion is very good. That is when one arrives at enlightenmnet. It is the nature of the human condition.
Roberto’ comes from an extremely solid business background. The problem, that even Scott mentions in his 124 tips and points, or his book or both is that immigration law is a moving target in Costa Rica, even though we might think otherwise. The personality and descisions of the bureaucrats inside the governemnt may varyu from case to case.Nothing is black and white, when special situations or cases arise.
I have a friend who is a brilliant judge. One day I asked her a question, and part of the answer was one dealing with conjecture and the witnesses state at the time of being crsseaxmined. In a case, an uneducated man, who did not present himself welll at trial was accused of something he had not doen. The same facts were slanted to different ways. In the end the judge had to decide based on the credibility of the witness. It was not the content that matters, as much as their sincerity and delivery. Go figure. A world that is not black and white.
A person I know in business, whose business is seasonal, is using his established business in the country he lives in as the basis of his cash flow needs to meet government requirements. This he was told by a lawyer is possible. I don’t know what happened in the end, but he wanted to have resident status befoore the change in laws, because of a rumor about what the affect wuld be, on his chnaces under the new laws. What he was told is NOT what the new laws apparently may do!?
Good luck, with your Gordian knot of a question and solution. May the answer and positive solution appear sooner rahter than later.
Adios.
I spoke to them in English, but I also had my friend talk to them in spanish when I couldn’t understand them completely so she translated for me. I realize the language barrier is in effect as well, I do understand spoken spanish to a point but can’t fully speak fluently. But yes…I did ask the same questions because I printed off the website of the consulate and asked the questions directly off that.Questions that I wrote down. I did contact the Association of Residents of Costa Rica to see their viewpoints. Hopefully questions will be answered when I get a response back from them. My biggest question that can’t seem to get answered is how do I file if I want to work in Costa Rica and own that business (Chiropractic Clinic). Roberto told me to file as a Rentista and just fly under the radar, and another lawyer told me that I could get deported for that and it is common for that to happen, and he told me the only way was to get married to a tica. But I informed him that I won’t marry out of convenience so he told me that I had to come up with the $250k to file as an investor and that was my only other option. Then another told me that I could file for a work visa, but then the consulate told me that I couldn’t have a work visa and that I would have to file as an investor in order to own and work in my business. Can you see my confusion?? Some similarities but different enough to make it very cloudy as to the legitimacy of them all.
I appreciate all of your help and insight!We have an awesome lawyer in Costa Rica he will help you and his fees are very low. His name is Juan Carlos Fonseca Herrera he is in Cobano. juancarlosfonseca@yahoo.com He speaks perfect English and Spanish. call him he will set you straight. Email him and get his phone number.
Welcome to the rule of law. That is why they say you need a lawyer in Costa Rica, before you get out of bed, so someone can intepret the options for you. Costa Rica is not a litigious society, compared to the USA and even Canada believe it or not – Scotts 124 tips makes it clear why thisis so.
Now that said, I am sure Robrto would NOT tell you to do something illegal, in anyway.
He may indicate that this is what others have done, but a lawyer, a professional, does not jeapordize his livelihood by telling a potential or fee paying client to do llegal activities. Are you getting my drift?
The key is JUST DO IT, from what I gather. I have, and am lookingforward to becoming a resident once the paperwork in San Jose is done. I am now GRANDFATHERED. Phew! ¡fo! as they would say.
I guess I will review mey reply and EDIT IT after I get your reply. DONE, see what I mean!?
Chao Curly signing out.
Edited on May 05, 2006 06:56
I don’t think that he was telling me to do something illegal….I understand what you are saying. I realize that it is a dog eat dog profession as it is anywhere. They all want the business just like any other businessman/woman. I really do appreciate your help. I had to laugh with your comment about needing a lawyer before getting out of bed!! Good one! Anyway…I’m still trying to figure it all out. I did talk to the Juan Carlos guy that Coach referred me to….and all he said was to marry a tica, and another told me to “knock one up”. Although this process is getting frustrating….I am finding some humor in it! Thanks again!
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