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Just to clear it up in my allergy filled brain, I understand that to maintain “pensionado” residency status (at least) you must be in Costa Rica four months a year. Are these consecutive months or can they be segmented.
Once I have residency, I can enroll in the CAJA medical care system run by the Costa Rican social security system. The monthly premium is based upon your income. Got that. I think it’s pretty cheap compared to US rates.
You can also purchase one of two health care policies offered by INS.
Do these policies also require “establishment of residency”? The costs depend on the extent of the coverage which you opt for. The INS programs do not cover pre-existing conditions, however.
Also, If I purchase property in CR is there a waiting period to apply for the health insurance?Purchasing property will not allow you to buy into the healthcare system. That is based on your having legal residency status.
Vivian, your four months of “presence” in Costa Rica each year to maintain your pensionado residency status do not have to be continuous. It is critical, however, that you keep your airline or bus ticket receipts to prove your comings and goings.
You know, too, that you must exchange $600US into colones each month, right? You must get a receipt from the teller in the bank that shows your name and the amount converted. These will be examined when you apply for your renewal.
My wife and I pay $37US combined health insurance premium. We enrolled via ARCR. As part of the enrollment process, we went to the local Social Security office where they thought our premium should be $57 instead. They called ARCR and we walked out paying the original $37.
What is ARCR, David? Thank you! I’m sure I read it someplace, but I can’t find it.
Anyone,
1. How long does it take from the time a person applies for residency to the time that a person can buy health insurance through CAJA?
2. Can a person apply for residency during a visit or must the person have a domicile to do this?
Thank you in advance.
You cannot just apply for residency while you are on vacation. It’s a long process and many forms to fill out plus you will need documents that have been both notarized and apostilled by the Secretary of State in which they were issued, then they have to be stamped by the Costa Rica Consulate in the States, translated into Spanish, and you will need to go to the Embassy in San Jose to get a letter stating your benefits that will qualify you for, say, pensionado status. The entire process will take 3 – 6 months and you will have to appear in Costa Rica to do some things such as being fingerprinted by Interpol, signing your residency application, then appearing before immigration — so count on at least 3 separate trips to CR to get the process done and once you’ve got it you will have to spend 4 months out of 12 in Costa Rica.
ARCR provides several useful supportive services like mail forwarding, enrollment in insurance programs, referral to attorneys for residency applications, etc. Membership is $110 per year for non-residents; $60 per year for those with legal residency.
You can, indeed, apply for residency before actually moving to Costa Rica. We did it. But the response above is accurate about the need to gather and have blessed a myriad of documents, get fingerprinted, etc, etc, etc. Then, once your residency is granted, you must spend at least four months per year in Costa Rica (not necessarily contiguous) to maintain your legal status. In the case of “pensionados”, you must also be able to document the conversion of $600US per month into colones.
Once your residency is granted (and you have your ID card), then you can apply for the CAJA medical program.
Before you begin collecting the documentation, you need to have a serious sit-down with a Costa Rican attorney — preferably one wise in matters of residency — to be sure that you understand the process fully.
We, too, have applied for residency before our final move. In fact, we have to be in San Jose next Wednesday so my husband can be fingerprinted and sign his application for residency. I did this all on my last trip in March, so I now have my stamp on my application which means I did not have to leave Costa Rica; but I had to come home to finish packing and selling our house. I used the http://www.ResidenceinCostaRica.com service and I am very happy with how they handled the whole process.
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