New Immigration Laws

The new immigration law went into effect August 12, 2006 but no one seems to know how it is going to affect those filing for Rentista status and other items that are supposed to change with the new law.  Even the attorneys are stumped and don’t have the answers at this time.

The law was passed raising the amount you need for a family of 4 from $60k to $180k but we don’t know if this is going to be enforced.  There was an article presented by the government recently that stated the law would not go into effect until December 2007 but yet it passed on August 12 as originally planned. There is a lot of conflicting information floating around out there right now.  They are even talking (the government) about recending the law as though it never happened.

There are no funds available to enforce the new laws and that is the main reason for all the problems with the new law.  We don’t have the law enforcement, nor the funds to police as required by the new law.  This has put the Costa Rican government between a rock and a hard place on what needs to be done at this juncture.

Bottom line…we don’t know how this new law is going to affect us but as we learn more, we will pass the information onto you.