Costa Rica

The incentive window that supported it has closed. Ley 9996 took effect on 14 July 2021, and its article 12 allowed opting into the incentives only during the first five years. That five-year window closed on 14 July 2026. Applicants already granted keep their benefits for ten years from the date of grant, but anyone mid-application in mid-2026 should get an urgent status check. We found no extension bill, though proving that negative is inherently uncertain.

This is genuinely unresolved, and we do not assert either way. The USD 150,000 figure comes from Ley 9996 art. 8 and Reglamento 43926 art. 4, and DGME was still publishing 150,000 as of mid-2026. But Reglamento 43926 art. 31 repealed the old Decreto 37112 articles that held the USD 200,000 figure. So arguably no 200,000 norm survives to revert to, while Ley 9996's wording cuts the other way. This needs a DGME or PGR ruling. Do not rely on either number without checking. For the record, USD 100,000 was never the figure, despite widespread claims.

No. The widely repeated four-months-per-year rule appears to be a myth. A search for cuatro meses returns zero hits in the governing Ley 8764. The real rule is article 214: temporary residency is cancelled after more than two consecutive years of absence, and permanent residency after more than four. There is no positive annual stay requirement for the residency itself, though naturalisation is a different and more demanding matter.

It is now in doubt. The Rentista route requires USD 2,500/month of guaranteed unearned income for two years under Decreto 37112 art. 99. The familiar structure was to deposit USD 60,000 (2,500 × 24) with a Costa Rican bank and draw it down over time. But Reglamento 43926 art. 30 inserted a definition of Renta that excludes a deposit made so that it can be returned in monthly installments. That arguably kills exactly this structure. Practitioners are divided, and there is no settled answer yet. Get a written opinion before wiring anything. The USD 60,000 figure is arithmetic, not law.

Costa Rica runs a territorial system under Ley 7092 art. 1. Foreign-source income is generally outside the charge, and there is no net-wealth tax and no inheritance tax. Crucially, Costa Rica was removed from the EU's lists entirely on 18 February 2025, something Panama cannot say, so its banking is clean by regional standards. Two things are worth watching. Ley 10.381 imposes 15% on foreign passive income of non-qualified entities within multinational groups, though its wording, referring to two or more legal entities, arguably leaves individuals outside its scope. And income from your own labor while you are physically in Costa Rica counts as Costa Rican-source income, regardless of who pays it.

CCSS is Costa Rica's social security system, and affiliation is compulsory for residents across the Inversionista, Rentista and Pensionado routes. Contributions are assessed on declared income, and in practice on declared worldwide income, which sits oddly with a territorial tax system and catches people by surprise. It is a real, recurring monthly cost, and marketing material routinely leaves it out when quoting the headline investment figure.

You need USD 1,000 a month from a lifetime pension under Decreto 37112 art. 100. That is a materially lower bar than the Rentista route, and it lines up with Panama's own threshold. Costa Rica accepts private pension schemes more readily than Panama does, so it is reachable even if your income is not a government pension. As with every Costa Rican route, portfolio income does not qualify, and mandatory CCSS affiliation applies.

Costa Rica allows dual citizenship, so you keep your existing nationality. Naturalisation by residence generally takes seven years. That drops to five for Ibero-Americans and Spaniards, but only by birth, so a naturalised Spaniard does not get the shortcut. Applicants also sit a Spanish language and Costa Rican history and values exam, with a pass mark of 70 and a fee of CRC 10,000 each. The elderly and the medically impeded are exempt. DGME processing backlogs are severe, so budget a year or more even for the residency stage.