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Recently in AM Costa Rica it was reported that a real estate agent was caught selling real estate with a tourist visa. Can anyone tell me what the laws are regarding working in Costa Rica as an expatriate? It seems everyone I talk to has a different “opinion”.
Here is the article.
——————–Another real estate broker
grabbed by immigrationBy the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Immigration has nabbed another real estate broker who was living in Costa Rica on a tourist visa.
They identified her as Kytka Jezek, who also is known as Kytka Hilmar-Jezek. Ms. Jezek ran Kytka’s Costa Rica for several years. She also is an author, educator, life coach, tutor, home school and raw foods consultant, according to one of her many Web pages.
She is believed to live in the Central Pacific and has been here for at least four years.
Ms. Jezek, 43, has 48 hours to appeal the finding by the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería. Otherwise she will be deported.
She becomes the second real estate broker this week to run afoul of immigration. Wednesday agents detained Adam Blackiston, 36, in Jacó. He was identified as a real estate dealer there, but he also is wanted to face a charge of growing marijuana in the U.S. State of Virginia, agents said. Because he was here illegally he was to be deported.
Raihnman, if you are interested in the laws regarding work permits you must go to the Costa Rican embassy web site and read the rules. Don’t listen to most expats because they want to slant the rules their way so they don’t feel that they are working illegally.
You will find out that there is only two ways to work in Costa Rica, A.) have a employeer sign for you B.) married to a Costa Rican —– or if you become a citizen of Costa Rica!
Other wise all others that are working and making money in Costa Rica such as a large amount of the sales agents of real estate are illegal!
. . . everything scottbenson said plus
Consult a knowledgeable Costa Rican attorney who practices lots of residency law.
I have heard/read;
You can own a business and perform certain functions to maintain the business as long as you employ a Costa Rican(s) for the operations. If the real estate people are in business with a Costa Rican, wouldn’t that mean they were working legally?Yes, I have also been told that you can work legally in Costa Rica for your own Costa Rican Corporation.
I thought the rule was that you can take the profits from the business but you cannot actually legally work IN the business; that must be done by a local. If you are a pensionado or rentista, you are not allowed to work. Period. Did I miss something?
Raihnman, If this is the same Jezek, Thursday’s Inside Costa Rica has her being nabbed for something other than selling real estate.
The Costa Rican immigration police is back. I couldn’t stop laughing meself….. Its a nice comic relief though, keep it up…
Yes Maravilla, I think so. You work for your own business not as a wage or salaried employee, but you can compensate yourself in other ways, Director fees, for example. Since you are creating your own work (and maybe some for Ticos as well) you are not taking work away from a Tico. I don’t believe there is an essential difference between directing your corporate affairs and working.
I was told you could not pay yourself a salary per se, hence the taking the profits clause, and yes, I do believe there IS a fine-line difference between directing your corporate affairs (who else would do THAT?) and actually working. I’ll have to do some research on this, especially when I start packaging my coffee for sale.
This working issue has been discussed ad nauseum on another board and one woman wrote today that as a foreigner you cannot do any task in a business that a Tico could do — that means answering the phone, sweeping the floor, greeting customers, etc. You can take the profits from the business but you cannot “work” IN the business. Where’s the fine line? Hmmmmm, I guess an immigration lawyer could tell you that.
Yes, the best advice is to inquire of someone who really does know what s/he’s talking about rather than seeking the consensus of a group of wishful thinkers. Regardless of what the two recent deportees were doing for work, the point remains that they were working. That (working without the proper credentials) is the no-no.
Working in a Costa Rica based business is verboten but you can as noted manage your own affairs including investments. And there are exceptions for jobs that a Tico does not have the skills for. Some may think selling realestate is managing an investment and it MIGHT be if you own the property. But selling property for others would be against the law.
Where things get tweeky is questions like managing an off-shore business such as a web site from Costa Rica. It is probably legal but this is a country where if arrested you must prove your innocence without the government proving your guilty.
I have seen various gringos and other non-Ticos in various jobs in Costa Rica. That included waitresses at a resort. HOW can that be legal? The job requirement was for multi-lingual workers with Spanish as a second language. The resort had an American, a German and an Italian working there (The owner was from yet another place). While I prefer the cultural immersion some folks do not and this was a tourist destination.
The above DID have other Tico employees. And this is the point. In Costa Rica you can get away with almost anything unless some Tico you rubbed the wrong way denounces you for it (reports you to the local authorities). Folks that hire Ticos and generally are good to the local community probably can get away with working in their own business as long as it looks like there are Ticos there to do the work. Others often have Tico partners and if they are work it is only to “manage their investment”.
As always, nothing is as simple as it seems in Paradise.
Both of the aforementioned cases were people that were “nabbed” for other things and both happened to be selling real estate – like about 75% of the country does (including…).
Amcostarica who does a fine job and is a community asset dropped the ball on their reporting when they slanted it to infer that these people were thrown out of the country for selling RE. The “I am a holy than thou resident who follows the rules” zealots on this board are frequently nauseating and I am sure the little crocodiles on their shirts agree.
It’s too bad that these types are here now. Its like the old saying “It takes all kinds.” The truth be told – it really doesn’t take all kinds – unfortunately they just all happen to be here.
Take the zealots lightly as practice and theory walk separate paths in CR. Just give the good little followers a pat on the butt and hope that they sicken themselves to death with their own US indoctrinated spew.
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