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My understanding of the requirements are from a few years ago, so they may be out of date now.
It is not legal to adopt a child under two years if you are a foreigner. However, if you know the mother and the mother is willing to go before a judge and swear she wants you to be the parents and that she is not receiving any compensation for the child it will by-pass PANI and it is possible. If you are willing to adopt groups of siblings or older children then it is possible and legal to go through PANI as a foreigner.
Like other countries there are lawyers in Costa Rica making their living arranging these things. You just need to find one that you can work with. Unfortunately it is a racket here as well.
albertoYou will have to be in a prime tourist location to average 65% year round. There will be some months of less than 10%. My figure of 10% net return is pretty accurate from my experience in small hotels. This is an annual number. Some months you may do really well with occupancy but only by reducing the rates. Unfortunately your expenses usually remain the same.
It is a business and there are lots of ways to lose money…….. cultural reasons as well. If you keep that in mind, you can enjoy your lifestyle choice and maybe qualify for residency as a tourism investor.
Alberto
I have a BN debit card and have used it to rent cars, hotel rooms in Florida, Seattle and Vancouver and to buy airline tickets online . No problems so far but it is not a credit card so that might be different. I started using it because I had so much trouble using my Canadian credit card here in CR.
Alberto
What part of the law does this contravene? It says you may stay 90 days then you must leave for 72 hours. If the intent was for you not to return for 6 months, it would say so..
If you are actually leaving the country as required, they have no legal reason to ban you from coming back………. Unless of course you thought that was a dumb idea and paid someone to stamp your passport or stayed for six months without leaving.
Alberto
For our US friends. Your IRS has been working with the tax man in CR for the last few years to help them collect more from the underground economy here. To see some major changes in procedures and efficiencies shouldn’t be a surprise.
I realize that this is a tough break for retirees that have made plans to move here, but there is little chance that a Costa Rican could retire in the US. Most countries encourage immigrants that will create jobs for locals not burden the infrastructure.
The increase in real estate prices has added little value to the economy but has made it difficult for the average Tico to buy a house.
If the real estate prices had increased as a result of investment in some productive industry, the resulting wages paid could sustain the increase. Investments in hotels and restaurants have created long term jobs and economic improvement for locals. These jobs are not $1 per hour maids or gardeners, but good paying support for families.This is the type of immigration most countries want.
Sorry, the desire of some retired people to relax in the sun is not a high priority.
Alberto
10% net return if it is well run. Negative return is a lot easier and more common than you would believe.
Alberto
I have never seen any business that sells pianos in CR but the churches have them so maybe there is a store somewhere?
We brought our piano with us when we moved, but the problem is finding someone to tune it.
Alberto
Come on now Scott,
You are the one who insists that no immigrant without the proper residency should be allowed to work here. I find it interesting that no Costa Ricans were qualified to build this stadium. Can it really be that complicated? Have they not built stadiums here before?As an investor in CR, I am not allowed to bring Canadian workers to build my project no matter how much experience they have.
I might believe it was all above board if they brought their own engineers and maybe supervisors, but it sounds like the project is off limits to CR nationals.
Alberto
Well that’s certainly one way to keep the cost down. Keep it small.
At 200 square feet you could afford the finest finishings in the country and still keep it under $4000!Alberto
If your car is in excellent condition, it is a good idea to import it and continue to drive it here. If it is less than perfect, you can find lots of those here without the import hassle. You might find that you can buy new in Costa Rica for not much difference than importing depending on the age of your Lexus. The vehicles here tend not to be as fully loaded so they are less expensive when new.
I don’t know about a Lexus dealer, but the Toyota dealer is likely the biggest car dealer in the country. They stock Land Cruisers which are a less expensive version of your Lexus.
We imported our Honda van because we had owned it from new and we knew it’s condition. I think next time we will just buy new locally.
When we moved we were told about the horrible import taxes on personal items, so we sold a lot of our belongings and filled a 20 ft. container to ship. Looking back, I wish we had kept all our things and shipped a 40 ft. instead. A lot of the special things we had are just not available here and we got very little out of them when we sold. The taxes were minimal (less than $1000) and a good broker got it through in 48 hours.
Buy shipping damage insurance if you can. Our container was dropped and 40% of our goods were damaged. We packed it ourselves so had no insurance. Que sera!
Buen viaje!
Albertothis past week, a man on a Greyhound bus in Canada was repeatedly stabbed by a “Rambo style” knife and then decapitated by a fellow passenger without the benefit of alchohol being served.
All the other passengers were glad to get off the bus as fast as possible. Not one of them was able or willing to get involved to save the young man’s life. Had there been time they could have called the police to come and save him but the lunatic wasn’t willing to wait.
We look to outside causes for all our society problems by fail to recognize that many people are simply unglued upstairs. When we look to others to always solve our problems, we find life isn’t a sit-com and we need to take some responsibility for our own actions. When you live in an ideal world in your mind you can be rudely interrupted by reality. I bet the family wishes someone had the ability and the willingness to help out.
When I am confronted by one of the many nut cases in this country, I want to be able to defend my self, my family and yes even someone who doesn’t believe in self protection.
alberto
What GUN toting fanatics killed 3000 people?
The hijackers were armed with common box cutter knives.
Alberto
Actually if someone cared about the long term consequences, they would shut down a large number of buildings under construction in this country.
When a 600 room hotel can pipe raw sewage into the ocean in front of their own hotel, I don’t think that concern for the environment is the overriding concern.
This is a country of paper pushers as the law requires. That doesn’t mean there is any thought to the results.Alberto
“The farm has now been split up so many times that the pie can not again be split, handed down, and support those families.”
This is actually happening all over the world. If you read articles about Haiti, Africa and India the stories are all the same. “
You can add England, USA, Canada and others to your list. Many of us came from farming families where one child now owns that farm and the rest of the children moved on to something else. Or else the land was sold and none of them are farming anymore. That’s the nature of agriculture all over the world.
Alberto
