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Should I start my process for residency for Costa Rica in my home country at the Costa Rica consulate or wait to I arrive in Costa Rica to start the process?:)
[quote=”ddspell12″]Should I start my process for residency for Costa Rica in my home country at the Costa Rica consulate or wait to I arrive in Costa Rica to start the process?:)[/quote]
you should start in your home country because that is where most of the documents you need reside.
It would be well nigh impossible to collect certified copies of your birth certificate(s), marriage license (if app), police background check, proof of income letter, etc. from the states while you were living or staying here. Then after you get them (depending on which state they are issued in) you must get them notarized (yes, even the certified ones) by a notary of that state before you send them to the secretary of state’s office in that state to receive an “apostille” acknowledgement. Once you get them all back then you can bring them to Costa Rica and start the process on this end.
The remaining steps can be accomplished here – with great effort and even more patience!In addition to what Bill said above, it’s also important to understand that all the documents you submit to Immigration must be less than six months old when you submit them. So you cannot, for example, have your original birth certificate processed, or your marriage license.
It would be advisable to contact a Costa Rican attorney who specializes in residency matters to get the very most current information and advice. This won’t come for free, but it will be worth every colon you pay him or her to do the running around and get it right the first time.
Elsewhere, folks have reflected positively on this outfit, but the prices you’ve quoted seem high.
An alternative would be to join the ARCR, let them pre-process your documents, and then let them refer you to one of their affiliated attorneys. That said, I’ve never understood what the ARCR staff contributes to the process.
Were it mine to do, I’d go straight to the ARCR-affiliated attorney who processed our [i]pensionado[/i] and [i]permanente[/i] applications without a hitch. He’s done the same for a bunch of folks we’ve referred to him, too.
The former $600 per month income requirement for [i]pensionados[/i] was in effect for many years. I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that it will be increased anytime soon. What’s more, especialy for a couple, living here on $1,000 per month would be very tight indeed, so if you couldn’t meet an increased minimum income standard, you probably couldn’t afford to live here anyway.
[i]Before[/i][b][/b] starting the residency process, it is important to determine if Costa Rica really has what you need, and whether you can afford it, especially if you are on a limited budget.
Obviously, costs will vary with your choice of lifestyle and where you decide to live and what you decide to life without.
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