Immigration laws in Costa Rica

Well it has happened again….I didn’t think it would ever pass but I was wrong.  President Arias has signed the bill into law.  On Wednesday the 19th of August the bill became a law changing the amount for Pensinado’s required to have in income and several other changes.

The amount that Pensinado’s must now have to file for residency has gone from $600 a month to $1000 a month.  This is NOT retro-active so it will not affect those pensinado’s that have been in the country for years.  A retro-active clause was deleted.

Rentistas will now have to show a steady monthly income of $2,500 but close family members are included in that requirement.

The law will not take effect until six months after it is signed and published, so expats seeking residency will have options.

Answers to many of the questions expats have on how the law will be applied will be contained in the regulations that have not yet been published.

With a requirement that residents join the Caja and a beefed up police force, the possibility of a crackdown on so-called perpetual tourists is a possibility. Some in government seek to restrict tourists to two 90-day visits a year.