Temporary Residence
These are the general requirements for the various temporary residence categories.
- Application Form
- Cover Letter
- Birth Certificate
- Police Records
- Fingerprints
- Consular Registration
- Payment Receipt for the application fee and the change of status fee
- Passport size photograph
- Copy of passport
Specific Requirements
- Foreign Nationals married with a Costa Rican citizen must produce a marriage certificate, certified copy of the cedula and birth certificate of the Costa Rican citizen. In addition, the couple must appear for an interview at the Immigration Department.
- Rentista applicants must produce a letter from a financial institution (either in Costa Rica or in their home country) indicating that they receive a fixed income of $2,500.00 USD per month for a period of at least 24 months.
- Pensionado applicants must produce a letter from their pension administrator indicating that they currently receive an income from their pension of at least $1,000.00 USD per month.
- Investor applicants must produce documents demonstrating that they made an investment of at least $200,000.00 USD in Costa Rica. Under current regulations, there are three types of investments allowed in order to qualify for this category. It can either be in real estate, in a new business, or shares of an existing corporation.
- Company Executives, Managers, and Technical Personnel. In this cases, the company must produce the following documents: work contract, articles of incorporation, corporate ID, income statement from issued by a CPA, and certificate of good standing from the following institutions: CCSS, INS and the Revenue Service.
- Independent or Employed Specialized Workers. The required documents will vary depending on whether the worker is an employee of a company or is self employed. In addition, if the worker required special training or college education, it will be required to produce a graduation certificate.
- There are additional categories such as athletes, scientist, and religious people that we will not cover here.
Important Note: All documents is foreign languages must be translated into Spanish. In addition, all foreign documents must bear an apostil or legalized in order to be admissible by the Immigration Department.