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Yes, I remember this as I was part of the group that went to meet with the Congress of CR to discuss this matter. Our immigration attorney stayed for 9 more hours after we left to convince them to change their idea of wanting $2,000 per month per person to qualify. She is the one that convinced them to bring it down to $1,000 per family. Yep, remember it well.
The cost of raising a family is certainly going to be more expensive. However, my point is that the cost of living in Costa Rica is not more expensive than the US when you take all relative factors into consideration. One of the biggest factors is going to be shopping habits – “Don’t try to bring the idea of US or European needs and desired items to Costa Rica because it is going to cost you. My wife cut our monthly shopping cost in half by staying away from the stores that cater to the Gringo’s. If you live in a small town, try to adjust and do your shopping locally. My favorite story about this is that I can by a bottle of good scotch where we live locally for $6 less than PriceSmart or any other store in the Gringo suburbs of Sna Jose. For medical care, which is important to any size family – it is about 1/2 of any place in the US and the quality of care is much superior.
As far as your residency is concerned. The Caja was mandatory when we moved here. My monthly cost is less than $80 per month. I have the name and contact information for a highly qualified immigration attorney if you would like to have it. She had a lot to do with the speed in which we became qualified at the time. Please note – that at that time, the system was a mess and we knew of people who were waiting as long as two years. – A good immigration attorney is something that should be a prime consideration. – Hope this helps
Sorry about all the negatives you saw.Some are relevant, and some not. We received our first temp residency status within 2 1/2 months of our application and our permanent residency 3 1/2 years later. If you want to live with the thought of having all the food and material items you enjoyed in your home country, it is going to cost you. You must come here with an open mind that allows you to adjust. If we didn’t have that when we arrived, we would not have lasted much more than a year here. However, we did, and are now living on the same scale we did in the US at 1/3 the cost. But, you absolutely need to be able to adjust. This is based on living here almost 8 years and I hope it helps.
[quote=”costaricabill”][quote=”PeteB”]The wife had her appointment with the CAJA late last week and it was calculated that her monthly payment would be 10,700 colones. It is to be paid directly to the CAJA. This was figured taking my SS income and subtracting all expenses taking her income down to $200. Still have not verified if this is for Gringo’s only or not. – Will let you know as soon as we find out.[/quote]
What expenses did they allow for deduction?[/quote]
The way she explained it to me was that it related to all normal living expenses such as food, rent etc. – Hope this helps
The wife had her appointment with the CAJA late last week and it was calculated that her monthly payment would be 10,700 colones. It is to be paid directly to the CAJA. This was figured taking my SS income and subtracting all expenses taking her income down to $200. Still have not verified if this is for Gringo’s only or not. – Will let you know as soon as we find out.
[quote=”lawfool2″]Not to muddy the waters, but . . .
I just went to my local clinic for an appointment that was made a month ago. However, I didn’t get past the receptionist. She said I now have to have my own account with Caja, that I can no longer be my wife’s dependent. But here’s the interesting thing. I asked her if this new rule applied to Ticos and she said no! She said according to the instructions that they’ve been given, only foreigners have to have separate accounts and can no longer have one spouse as a dependent of the other. So, while I respect Roger Peterson, our local clinic clearly believes that they only have to force us foreigners to get separate accounts. Ticos still only have to pay one monthly fee for the family, not two.[/quote]
When we visited the CAJA office this week – one lady said it just affected expats, then the one at the desk next to her said it applied to everyone. Right now, we really don’t know either to be a fact. – Guess we will have to see what the ARCR comes up with when they start their objections to this new policy.
[quote=”barbara ann”]We, My husband and I, also have our residency together with combined income. So is there a change that will separate us on an income basis? If so, I wont qualify on my own. I would like to know the answer to that as well[/quote]
Stef has an appointment next week with the CAJA. She has no income at this time leaving her with the same question as you. Will let you know the result after she gets the information.
[quote=”Scott”]I spoke to Costa Rica Tax Expert Randall Zamora this morning who confirmed that this change in CAJA payments – where both husband and wife must pay the for the CAJA individually instead of as a couple – is NOT specifically for foreigners, in fact it affects Ticos in the exact same way as expats.
The one very puzzling exception is that this does not affect gay ‘married’ couples who can still pay for the CAJA as a couple….
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My good friend and Attorney Roger Petersen also wrote to me saying:
“Yes. I already had to deal with that in two of my residency cases and had to challenge the Caja office in San Rafael de Heredia.
In the past I would get the family (Main applicant, spouse and Children) all on one Caja account. The Main applicant who generally is the main income earner gets interviewed and then the income basis is established for the calculation of the monthly Caja payment. The other dependents spouse and children fall under one account.
On November 10th the Caja published in the Gazette modification to the regulations. As a result. They are now taking the family (allowing the dependent and the children) but excluding the spouse. In both the cases we handled we then had to take out a separate policy for the spouse which cost us 11,000 Colones per month.
We did this by indicating she had no income – guess why? Because she is a dependent on the primary applicant. So by saying you have no independent income they still hit you for 11,000 Colones.
So from my first hand experience it is not doubling the Caja contributions (at least not yet) but it is resulting in the requirement to open a new account and resulting in 11,000 extra Colones per month to cover the spouse. We just went through it this week.”
Saludos
Roger
[/quote]Scott, Roger,
Thank you very much for that information. It makes me feel much better about our particular situation, but you have no idea about how good it makes me feel that we are being treated equally in this case. Again, thank you[quote=”Scott”]Thank you ….
As far as I know, expats in Costa Rica pay the exact same property taxes as everybody else but I will ask about this CAJA change and report back. …
Scott
[/quote]Scott,
As an example – earlier this year, the local government increased our property taxes by triple of what we were paying. Fortunately, my wife went in and negotiated an immediate 25% reduction. We later found out that this increase only applied to 3 area communities that mostly consisted of expat residents. – If you could find out something different, I would sincerely appreciate it! Thanks[quote=”Scott”][quote=”costaricafinca”]This is a HOT topic on another forum, with a few people experiencing the same ‘problem’. One recent resident who was given Permanent status, has been married to a [i]Tico [/i]for many years and lived with him in the USA but not long ago moved here, has also been told the same thing. Seemingly ARCR is now involved and it going to ‘take on CAJA'[/quote]
So instead of one CAJA payment for the couple they are now requiring that both pay individually, which means that it is doubling the monthly cost for the couple, is that correct?[/quote]
That is exactly what they are telling us. We pay for our CAJA through the ARCR, and they say the current payment will double because of this. The wife went to the local CAJA office here and told them she does not have an income and asked what their rate would be – They responded by saying 20,000 colones.
As most know, the CR Government has a very difficult time collecting taxes due. They take money from the CAJA as a loan, but it hurts them also. I am starting to see a couple of instances where they are pegging the expats for more money in different ways to help get a part of the needed income. The first instance was through property tax increases and now this. – Things like this are becoming a concern to me as well as some others. – This is just my opinion and nothing else.
[quote=”Scott”]Hi Pete, this is important and would like to make sure we clear this up…
When you say you are ‘permanent residents’ you mean as pensionados?
Scott
[/quote]We were Pensionados as temporary residents for the first 3 years and then applied for permanent status, which is what we are now.
On November 30th, we will have lived here 7 years and have gone through many of the things mentioned. You really owe it to yourself to listen and learn from many of the comments made on this subject. They are correct in what they have stated.
One thing you stated is the $350 monthly cost for electric? Ours runs about the same, but we have a 3,600 sq ft home, a two unit apartment building and a pool with a pump that runs 4 hrs a night – The only thing I can think of is that you are running your AC 24/7?
A couple of other costs that need to be taken into consideration are:
1) PROPERTY TAXES – We were paying $6,000 per year for a home worth 1/2 as much as we have here – Current cost is $800 per year.
2) MEDICAL/DENTAL CARE – At least 1/2 as much as the US – the same with insurance – In addition, Costa Rica was recently chosen as #4 in the world for health care. And, because of the cost and high quality standards here, dental tourism is Costa Rica’s second largest industry.
3) CHANGING HABITS – When we first moved here, my wife would go to Price Smart and Auto Mercado on a regular basis. The cost for this would blow my mind. I said to her “can you please start thinking like a Tica on what to buy?” She did that and the cost was cut in half. We also found that we could buy a bottle of my favorite beverage anywhere in the town we live for at least $6 a bottle cheaper than Price Smart.These are only a few things of many to consider in making the adjustment to living here and enjoying it more.
Again, please take into consideration what these members are suggesting. Best of luck to you.
I did the comparison, and the company Tom mentioned did have some very good pricing. As I stated before, the place we are now using has excellent prices. Based on the quote Tom’s pharmacy gave me they are about $200 per year less money. And, if I apply the discount cards the doctor gave me, it will be closer to $400 less. All of this is based on the pills listed below:
Bonaviva 150 mg
Hiperlipen 100 mg
Benicar HCT 20/12.5 mg
Nebilet 5 mgCaltrate D
Cardiosprina 81 mgVytorin 10/40mg
Hope this helps.
Well, I will just check it out for you. I recently started on a new program where the doctor wants me to take only brand name drugs. The monthly cost is around $300 per month. I have checked prices here, Canada and the US to find that our little local place here in Atenas had the best prices. Will run a comparison and let you know. Based on the amount I spend each month, this is very important to me.
