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[quote=”VictoriaLST”]Has anyone else run into this? From our lawyer: “we have receive notice from Immigration they are requiring new Police reports duly Apostille”. Evidently, they have been so slow processing the paperwork that our reports are out of date.[/quote]
I haven’t heard of it, but don’t doubt it. out of curiosity, how long has it been since you had the original police reports done?
[quote=”pixframe”][quote=”Snodad101″][quote=”pixframe”]Question. When you return to Costa Rica do you intend to terminate your Medicare Part B and supplemental insurance?And, if so, in the event of some unforeseen event causing you to, once again, re-relocate to the USA, what kind of Medicare penalties are there related to re-entering the plan?
[/quote]I do intend to terminate the medicare simply because , in my situation, I will not be able to afford both. As far as a penalty, i am not sure although i did decline in in Feb when I was in CR, and it will be reinstated as of OCT.1 There is no penalty involved for this particular example. Overall, I am not sure.:?:[/quote]
I just checked with Medicare’s site. There is a penalty. “If you don’t sign up for Part B when you’re first eligible OR IF YOU DROP PART B AND THEN GET IT LATER, you may have to pay a late enrollment penalty for as long as you have Medicare. Your monthly premium for Part B may go up 10% for each full 12-month period that you could have had Part B, but didn’t sign up for it.” There are also penalties on Part D too.
http://www.medicare.gov/your-medicare-costs/part-b-costs/penalty/part-b-late-enrollment-penalty.html
http://www.drugs.com/medicare-part-d/faqs.html#penalty
[/quote]Tks for the info. After reading up on it, it sounds more like a dam tax than a penalty. If I don’t join and get a penalty, I will pay that penalty for the rest of my life. Not a penalty, a disguised tax. (IMHO):evil:
[quote=”pixframe”]Question. When you return to Costa Rica do you intend to terminate your Medicare Part B and supplemental insurance?And, if so, in the event of some unforeseen event causing you to, once again, re-relocate to the USA, what kind of Medicare penalties are there related to re-entering the plan?
[/quote]I do intend to terminate the medicare simply because , in my situation, I will not be able to afford both. As far as a penalty, i am not sure although i did decline in in Feb when I was in CR, and it will be reinstated as of OCT.1 There is no penalty involved for this particular example. Overall, I am not sure.:?:
I have an LG phone that I got from Google. It is a Nexus 5. I got a sim card from the country run ICE. It is a pay as you go kinda thing. You put money on it and use it. I found it to be EXTREMELY cheap by any standard. When I am not there, my girlfriend uses it in her phone. My 2 cents worth.
Very nice post. i would like to add that for the year I lived in CR, I went to the local pharma and got my Cymbalta there. The cost was about $1/pill. When arriving back to the states, I visited with my former physician for a script for the medication as it is not an over the counter pill. He looked online for me and the cheapest was $12/pill. Needless to say, I no longer take that medication. I seem to be doing ok, but look forward to returning. Just wanted to point this out because the pharm companies here are always crying that they make no profits. :shock::D
[quote=”brett”]I have submitted my application for residency on 28/5/2014.
I am currently attempting to sell my home in California. Is there a time limit on my being physically residing in Costa Rica.
If there is, when does my clock start? I hope not to have to dump my home but do not wish to lose all the time, money, and effort I put in to get the application finished. Any information would be greatly appreciated.Capbrett[/quote]
I have some info for you that i hope helps. I completed my application for residency last year. I went through the ARCR down there and they are very competent and as speedy as can be expected. It took about 9 months to get the paperwork that said i had been accepted. After that comes in,technically you have 90 days to go to immigration to complete the process preceded by joining the caja and getting a utility bill to show immigration when you go. In my case, I got a bill from my landlord as everything is included in my rent. Basically, they just want some sort of a physical address for you. That’s comical in itself if you’re familiar with the address system there. Back on point. The ARCR informed me that even though the law says 90 days, it is almost impossible to do it in that amount of time as it usually takes 1-2 months to get an appointment at immigration. They say up to a year after your acceptance is about the limit. You will have to pay a $3/month penalty on anything after 3 months when you finalize your residency. Hope this helps. Anything else you need,I will try to help.:lol:
[quote=”costaricafinca”]Snodad, just don’t depend/presume that your CAJA premium will be ‘$55 a month’ because if it is $1855, as you mention, unfortunately, it could be double…:cry: [/quote]
My girlfriend went to the local caja, gave them the info they needed to calculate, and they (the caja)came up with that figure. Even if it is double, it is still way cheaper than my Medicare premium of $104/month plus my supplemental. 🙂
Hi. This is my first post, but I must address this. I feel it will be a little long winded, but I hope it helps somebody.
I am retired. I retired at 63, moved to CR and lived in the La Garite area. Yes it was hot and humid, but you learn to adjust or move elsewhere. I lived there for about a year. I rented a 2/2 brand new casa on a compound of 4 casas. They also had horses. I had brought my life long pal with me (Fancy my Shiba Inu). I paid $750/month with furniture and all utilities. The casa was about 1100 sq.ft. My total income from SS and a very small pension is $1855/mo. I bought a small used car and had full insurance on it because, in an accident, the foreigner is to blame. I started buying groceries at the local Wal-Mart and tried eating like the states. Long story short, not possible. I started eating like a local and found it was more nutritional (no more stomach problems, lost some weight which I needed to do, and overall felt better).
I was luckier than most as I met a wonderful tica that was not interested in anything but me. Remember that I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination.
Due to problems that my dog experienced with tics, and some driving forces from home, I moved back to upstate NY where I came from. I have been back for about 4 months and have fallen back into my old eating ways because I cannot find all the fresh foods that I enjoyed in CR. This winter should prove truly bad when fresh fruits and veggies mean eating cardboard. Now, my monthly house payment is $500/month here and I had to get a part time job driving school bus to meet monthly bills and upkeep.
What i am trying to say is, if you look hard enough, you will find bad in everything. I am going back to CR in November to finalize my cedula, join the caja, (about $55/month because of my income), and look forward to the day I can move back. I will be moving to the Heredia area as that climate suits me better. I will also be seriously upping my Spanish speaking skills. At 65 this is hard because I have trouble retaining. Not like when we were young.
I do own my place here in the states, but before anybody goes nuts with that, I could probably sell it tomorrow for about $69,000. Problem is I owe about $65,000 on it. You do the math.
I have owned houses all my life, but never considered owning in CR. There are just to many good deals on renting, or if you’re lucky enough, house sitting. Having said that, there are trade-offs. But remember about seeing what you want to see? I chose to see that I have extra money to go and do a few things and see some things that I have never seen in my lifetime. Without the hassle of “upkeep”, this frees me up for a vast number of things I can do and see. And yes, I am very, VERY lucky to have a girlfriend who values love, kindness, family, and virtue above all else. She has 3 wonderful daughters, and everyone bends over backwards to help me in the everyday hassles we all have. My advice? Make some friends!!!!!!
So, in conclusion, and I can hear the sighs, let it all go. Live the way they do, enjoy life, and don’t be so hung up on how many (things) you have, want, or feel you need. That is strictly an American frame of mind, and it can be debilitating.
Try to live Pura Vida. It can happen. 😀
