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This is great news for us and a net change of $6,000 per year as a rentista.
Pensionado, rentista amounts include spouse, minor children
Under a new immigration law that is on the verge of passing, pensionados can obtain residency for themselves, a spouse and children under 24 years with an income of $1,000 a month.
Rentistas will be able to obtain residency for their spouse and minor children for the new monthly income requirement of $2,500.
That’s the word from the legislative committee that is about to send a restructured bill to the floor of the Asamblea Legislativa for almost certain passage, according to Javier Zavaleta of Residency in Costa Rica.
Zavaleta has been following the progress of the bill closely since 2006 because he helps expats obtain residency. He said Thursday that he had spoken at length Thursday with Natalia Cordoba, the principal assistant for the Comisión Permanente de Gobierno y Administración. She was on her way Thursday afternoon to the last session the committee would hold on the immigration proposal. However, she was able to read from an updated copy of the bill that has endured multiple changes in the committee.
Zavaleta said that he was assured that lawmakers had stricken from the bill language that would seem to make all expats meet the new requirements. Now pensionados have to show that they have an income of $600 a month to gain residency in Costa Rica. Most agreed that this amount was too small to provide an adequate living here.
There had been confusion as to whether the new amounts and the new law would include spouses and children up to the age of 24 in the residency granted the primary applicant.
Zavaleta noted that the only category of persons facing major changes under the new law would be a single rentista applicant who would have to show a stable income of $2,500 just for him or herself. They have to show a monthly income of $1,000 now.
Still unknown is how the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería would apply the bill. The regulations that implement the legislation have not been completed. So it is uncertain, for example, if a rentista could comply with the requirements by posting five years worth of monthly income in a bank account as is the case now.
Initially the Arias administration proposed requiring pensionados to show a $2,000 a month income and rentistas
to show they had a $5,000 a month income from sources outside Costa Rica. The bill also said that existing pensionados and rentistas would have to meet the new requirements when they renewed their status.Zavaleta and others noted at the time these requirements would eliminate most U.S. residents who sought to seek residency with Social Security income and would as force others to leave Costa Rica.
Zavaleta said Thursday that Ms. Cordoba credited some of the changes to e-mails and contacts from expats last year.
Zavaleta said that only four of his several hundred current clients would not be able to comply with the new requirements.
The final draft says that pensionados and rentistas who renew their residencies would be required to meet the requirements that existed when they originally filed their request.
The committee president, Olga Marta Corrales Sánchez, was quoted by Ms. Cordoba as hoping that the new bill would be passed by the end of April or, at the latest, early in the next legislative term that begins May 1.
Still, the new law would not go into effect until six months after it is published in the official newspaper, so those who do not meet the new requirements still have time to apply before then under the current rules.
The bill is a priority for Óscar Arias Sánchez and his administration. He said at the start of his presidency that the immigration bill passed in 2005 was too harsh. Most of the concerns were not directly related to expat residencies. The administration said that the goal of the bill would be to integrate persons who come here into Costa Rican life. That meant the flood of immigrations from other Latin countries, including Nicaragua.
All expats would have to become affiliated with the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social and show that at the time they renewed their residencies, said Zavaleta.
A continuing problem with this and other bills in the legislature is that changes, amendments and restructurings are not always easy to obtain, be they in committee or on the floor of the full legislature. Sometimes the exact text of a bill does not become known to the public until it is passed, signed into law and published in the La Gaceta official newspaper.
The immigration information that grb1063 is referring to can be found at
[ https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/2157.cfm ]
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comIt is good news for many folks that the new income requirements will not be applied to current legal residents and that the increases are not excessive.
As I understand it, however, residents will be required to enroll in the national health system, the CAJA. The question is, what will be the cost of that enrollment? The Association of Residents of Costa Rica has a years-old contract with the CAJA to enroll ARCR members for a flat $40 per month, but will that opportunity remain open, or what will be the new cost? Does anyone know?
And once again we have learned NOT to put too much faith in the outrageous rumours that have been flying around for years about the increases in the income requirements…
Yes! The income requirements have increased but let’s be blunt here, as a retired couple, if you’re not receiving US$1,000 per month, you’re going to have a problem living in most places that have electricity and clean running water.
Wouldn’t you think?
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comVery good point Scott! As much as we don’t want to see changes that adversely impact folks…. let’s be real about it… $600 wasn’t cutting it… and $1000 really isn’t a number that most folks will have a problem meeting. Besides… as you point out… if you’re living on less than $1000/month… chances are your not reading this forum from the cave you’re living in sans electricity and running water.
I know there will be folks that will claim they’re doing it… but for those thinking of making the move to Costa Rica and living the “simple” life… it’s better to be able to live below your means rather than find yourself unable to meet your expenses after making the big move.
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