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Jose Silva, Gabriel Chaves and Paul Oporta all work together at P&D and who I would also recommend in that area. Good luck!
I think I answered this question in a previous thread. Having two passports can have benefits for many reasons, but i find that Visas is a benefit–meaning that if you travel to a country where a USA citizen, for example, would have to get a Visa (Europe for example) where Costa Ricans do not. It saves you money and hassle. A CR passport is super easy to get and not expensive. I got one for each of my sons in Liberia. Again, hope this helps!
Jerry–i always go in the resident line at any CR airport even with a USA passport… Because you can when you are a legal resident or citizen of Costa Rica. So there’s your benefit of having dual citizenship and/or residency in this country. Also some countries in the world require visas for USA citizens but not for Costa Rican citizens, so that would be another benefit to using the CR passport.
You can enter the country with whichever passport you chose to leave with. My children have CR and USA passports, but it makes no sense to travel with a CR passport to travel to the USA because you would require a visa. We always fly with USA passports for USA travel. Hope that makes sense.
I had the pleasure of working with HGTV and my clients Sarah and Steve to put this House Hunters International Show together. It was a great experience and funny how 4 days of filming gets condensed into a 30 minute show! The show does touch upon building at the beach and showcases lesser known and less populated beaches. Here is a link for more info. It airs tomorrow night on HGTV USA at 10:30 PM EST. Can’t wait to see it (it’s been a 6-month delay from when we filmed back in January) and thanks for tuning in: http://www.hgtv.com/house-hunters-international/a-woman-trades-the-corporate-grind-for-eco-friendly-paradise-in-playa-conchal-costa-rica/index.html
The Marbella episode was filmed after they left me and my clients in the Conchal/Pirates bay/Playa Grande area. Should be two great shows!
I wish there were $50,000 homes to show clients… With construction material costs rising, it’s hard to find a decent home below $200,000 (at least near the beach).
The HGTV Show “Live Here, Buy This” that you are speaking of that was written about on Scott’s site only aired on HGTV Canada, which is why you were not able to find it on HGTV USA (you can see the show on HGTV Canada’s website–under the show videos). House Hunters international airs on HGTV USA. You can go onto the HGTV website and the shows show which take place on Costa Rica. As for other shows, there are many ‘up north’ but hard for us to post when it’s going to air if we already live here….The House Hunters show mentioned will air in April/May but exact air dates/times are yet TBD.
Here is a news flash–the beach is hot (anywhere in Costa Rica)! Living near Playa Conchal, the most oppressive months are March and April. I love May as the rainy season kicks in. The beach is not for everyone. It was not for my parents, who decided to settle in the Central Valley. You are either a beach person or you are not. I lived in Tampa before here, so Guanacaste seems much better to me in terms of the humidity factor and overall temp. It also takes time to get acclimated. If you have a well built home or condo here, there is absolutely NO need to run the A/C 24/7. I run it at night only (and not all year long). Otherwise fans and keeping the windows open keeps it cool enough to be comfortable. Puriscal is a beautiful area and I wish you the best of luck!! For those thinking of moving here–come visit FIRST, then decide if it’s for you.
My mother is Tica and I am in the process of obtaining my citizenship via my Mother (I am a permanent resident now). I am also over 25. Apparently they recently changed the law allowing you to apply via a parent (in my case Naturalization) even over 25. We shall see. It is supposed to take less than a year, but as we all know, the laws are constantly changing. I am using a great attorney named Marcela Gurdian. She knows her stuff and I trust her 100%. Another bonus is that I did not have to take an exam for my citizenship since I am applying for Naturalization. Good luck!
I just flew out of LIR last week and just an FYI that the Airport Tax is now $28 (up $2 from $26 USD). Now that Liberia has the airport expansion underway and almost ready to accept more flights, it will most definately lower the cost to flyint in and out of there. I, for one, am excited for that. Nothing is worse than flying internationally and then having to drive 4 hours to the beach from San Jose Airport!
Hi Sofia: I have two boys (2 and 4). My 4-year old goes to a private bilingual school called La Paz in Playa Flamingo. If you want to be able to walk to town and the beach, you’ll be limited, as a lot of the beach areas tend to be spread out. Tamarindo and Flamingo in our area are the two best choices. You also have to think about education for your children and while Cocos is a nice town, the schools in our area (La Paz and Country Day School) offer a better education in my opinion. I am not sure if you can attend as guests, but I am sure you can go and visit the school and perhaps observe classes. Both schools have different concepts and tuition schedules. If you need more information you can also private message me. Best of luck.
It is hard to make decent money here unless you own your own business–which you CAN do as a non-resident, but you can’t technically ‘work’ for your business (you have to hire others to run it for you). I have a 3 year old and 11 month old and love it here. My 3 year old is in pre-school (bilingual) and the cost is $190 per month. Both boys were born here in Costa Rica. When I arrived 5 years ago, I was kid-less. This will also solve your residency situation. However, as others mentioned, the pay scale is low for ‘regular’ jobs. That is why I chose to take a risk and open up my own company here after working for someone else for a year. Good luck and I hope it works out for you. Becky
When I first moved here, I didn’t even have internet for an entire year at my house! Shouldn’t we be happy to just have internet at all? LOL. The most that CableTica advertises is 4 MB and if you get 3 mb, that is great for CR.
I personally think if you are searching for a nicer climate and less traffic, concentrate on Naranjo, Grecia, San Ramon and Atenas areas. Vista del Valle is a great, smaller boutique hotel with fantastic views of the valley and mountains. Here is a link: http://www.vistadelvalle.com
My family lives nearby and I’ve toured the hotel and had a few meals there.
