You CANNOT work in Costa Rica!
You cannot work in Costa Rica unless you have a work permit or the proper type of residency that allows you to do so. You cannot work while living in the country with a Tourist Visa, Rentista Status or Pensionado status. You are actually forbidden to do so by the Costa Rican government. You cannot take the job that a Costa Rican can do. This is the law!!!
Work permits are difficult to impossible to get unless a company is willing to sponsor you. The only companies that do this are large, financially established, well-known by the Costa Rican government. The only people that are approved for permits with these companies are executives for the most part.
If you are living in Costa Rica legally, you can start your own business but you CANNOT work it this business.
There is only one type of visa that allows you to work and live in Costa Rica and that is Permanent Resident Investor Status which gives you all of the rights that a Costa Rican citizen has. This comes with one exception and that is becoming politically involved. You are not permitted to vote in any Costa Rica election but you can work.
You cannot move to Costa Rica and start working. Well you can but if you do, you can get into some serious trouble and will be deported loosing anything that you have bought or business you have established while living in the country.
This has happened to too many Expats to list. Foreigners, usually from North America, come down and buy property or a business and begin working without getting the right paperwork taken care of ie., residency visa. They are caught by immigration, usually because they have upset a Costa Rican in some way. The Costa Rican turns them into immigration and they are kicked out of the country and not allowed to return for 10 years.
You do not want this to happen to you.
If you would like more information on how you can get the right type of residency, please email us.
I want you to know that you can’t just fly in and start working, You CANNOT work in Costa Rica!!!!