The Alternatives to Costa Rica Residency (Besides “Expating” Somewhere Else)
This is part two of two posts on the ways of obtaining
residency in Costa Rica and whether, for you, it is even worth pursuing. Part one is here.
This post deals with possible alternatives to going through the
time and expense to get residency or the possibility of obtaining “super-residency”
aka Costa Rica citizenship.
The So-Called Perpetual Tourist
Perpetual tourism is the practice of taking advantage of
Costa Rica’s relative lenience when it comes to tourist visas, especially compared
to most other Latin American countries. People choosing this route, of which
there are thousands, make border crossings, usually to Panamá or Nicaragua,
every 90 days.
Costa Rica does not, as many other countries do, limit the
number of times you can do this in a year. However, entry or the length of stay
is solely determined by the immigration officer at the border.
There are four groups of countries designated by Costa Rica Migración of which the first two groups do not require a pre-approved visa to
enter the country. People from those countries who can get a visa at the border, e.g., citizens of Canada, the
U.S., the EU plus many others, would be candidates for perpetual tourism.
Perpetual tourism is very much a hot button issue with many local expats, especially for
those who have obtained residency here. They resent it, they decry and condemn
the practice as “illegal” when it fact it is not. It is risky, however, as you
could be denied entry or, as sometimes happens, you are given only 30 days on
your passport.
Although PT is not technically illegal, there is a legal
requirement to show that you have pre-paid passage back out of the country. Many
PTs fake this with flight reservations that they have not paid for yet and
fully intend to cancel. There’s even a website explicitly for this purpose.
I won’t judge the practice except to say it was never under consideration for us. The border crossing every 90 days or less would drive me batty and it would
be, IMHO, too risky for anyone owning property or running a business here, but
to each his own.
It’s also not cheap, in terms of the time and
expense of all those border crossings but it does add flexibility to life. You do avoid the whole CAJA
thing that I covered in Part One of the overall discussion.
Remaining in the Country for 20 Years
If you can prove you have lived in Costa Rica for 20 years,
you are eligible for citizenship if you can pass the other requirements of
citizenship (e.g. clean police record, birth certificate, passing the
naturalization tests). I readily admit I’m fuzzy on the details of this because
I don’t think it applies to many people, but I know people who have done it.
I
know another person who has been a PT for 15 years now and plans to take this
route.
I’m not sure of the details, though, such as whether the 20
years has to be contiguous, if it’s OK to have put in those 20 years under only
tourist visas or even whether you could have been an illegal immigrant (say, you
simply overstayed your initial tourist visa for 19 years and 9 months). I am
pretty sure that there is no requirement that you obtained any type of
residency along the way as that would imply that you would use the 7-year rule to
obtain citizenship instead.
Costa Rica Citizenship
I discussed what citizenship is and its advantages in a previous post also. There are several ways to qualify for citizenship via residency, 20 years in-country, marriage or birth of a child all of which have different timelines.
In the case of marriage, after two years married to a Tico/a, you would be
eligible to obtain citizenship. Having a child in CR gets the child
citizenship, but not for the parents. However, they can jump straight to Permanent
Residency. If you want residency by having a child born in Costa Rica, I recommend starting here.
In the latter case, the parents fall under the same
requirement for qualifying for citizenship that most others do: 7 years in-country
(not calendar time) or 5 years if you are from Latin America.
Unless you are over 70 years of age (they upped the age
limit this year from 65), or obtaining citizenship by marriage, you must also
pass two naturalization tests, one for social studies (civics, history,
economics, culture) and one for Spanish proficiency.
The 7-year rule does not apply if you are filing for
citizenship via marriage, but it will as of today probably take about 4 years
to obtain it due to the 2-year qualification wait on the marriage and the new 2-year maximum limit (they'll take all of that) on
the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) processing the application. Note that gaining citizenship has nothing to do with Migración.
Another Non-Resident/Non-Citizenship Alternative
Of course, you could simply enter Costa Rica and never
leave. This method would appeal to those who want to live totally off-grid. I think
it would not be difficult to accomplish, especially if you didn’t care about
banking here or driving here legally. I think that you could even qualify for citizenship under the 20-year rule, but I'm guessing on that point.
There are lots of places to hide and you could even avail
yourself of CAJA in emergency situations by just acting like a dumb non-Spanish
speaking tourist. No one there is going to care about your visa. They will
charge you for care but will not stop you from leaving the hospital either with the bill unpaid.
What Good is Residency?
The three main advantages, in my opinion, of residency are
1) obviating the need for 90-day border runs, 2) obtaining a cédula (national
ID card) and 3) being able to get a CR driver’s license. It’s also
a path to citizenship, which obviously does not appeal to everyone, but it does to me.
Having a cédula means a lot of financial transactions are
open to you without having to establish a corporation in order to make you a “person.”
Corporations are messy, expensive and taxed annually now. Every time you
need to make a transaction in its name (e.g. opening a bank account), you need
a special document from the National Registry known as a personería jurídica
that expires after 30 days and is usually kept by the party you are doing
business with anyway. That’s a hassle and costs money.
If you want to pursue citizenship and not wait 20 years or
marry a CR citizen, then any other type of residency starts that clock ticking toward citizenship.
The downside, especially compared to being a PT, is having
to pay CAJA. Also, you will still be viewed by Ticos as a foreigner because
your cédula is of a different format. More on that in a bit.
What Good Is Citizenship?
I’ve covered what I think the benefits of citizenship are in
an earlier post, but my list has grown since then:
- Return of your residency security deposit back ($200 for me, $300 for more recent residents I believe)
- Whether or not you belong to CAJA will never be checked unless you go to the hospital and it is possible to opt out. You can opt-in by simply paying 6 months of back premiums.
- Your 10-year cédula (vs. 5 years max for residency) is free
- You can get a Costa Rican passport
- There is no physical presence requirement to keep your citizenship
- You have a constitutional right to leave and enter the country at will
- You cannot be extradited for crimes committed in another country
- You can vote and run for office.
- In short, you can avail yourself of ALL the rights guaranteed under Costa Rica’s detailed and generous constitution, which may not be available to you as a resident or tourist.
Obviously, these benefits differ in value according to the
individual.
Another intangible value, according to those who have gone
this path before and shared their experiences with me, is that having a citizen
cédula simply makes your life easier in ways that are difficult to explain.
These boil down to no longer being considered a foreigner, since you have a “normal”
ID and “normal” ID number format. Many transactions, I’m told, become seamless
whereas with a residency ID these processes are more sticky.
So, Is Any of It Worthwhile?
Except for Perpetual Tourism, any residency or citizenship path
is for those with ready cash to pay all the costs (including any income requirements) and who are convinced they
are going to plant roots here as we have. Since it’s a long-term process,
however, if you amortize the costs over, say, 10 or 20 years, it’s not so
expensive.
Residency/citizenship gains you privileges and stability if
I were to sum it all up succinctly. Either path is not for everyone.
There are so many
paths available and so many situations that it there is no clear cut answer. I
hope these brief summaries are of help to those considering long-term stays in
this beautiful, peaceful country though. I’m actually taking my first
naturalization exam in 3 days, so clearly I think it is all worth it. I’ll let
you know how that goes.
Update 11/2018: Just got the results of my Spanish test taken earlier this month: 83% overall. In August, I took the Social Studies test and received 98%. Neither I found to be trivial. They both required substantial study. With those done, the way to citizenship is clear for me with just the turn of a few more bureaucratic cogs. Hoping that I'll have cedula in hand by Februrary.
Update 11/2018: Just got the results of my Spanish test taken earlier this month: 83% overall. In August, I took the Social Studies test and received 98%. Neither I found to be trivial. They both required substantial study. With those done, the way to citizenship is clear for me with just the turn of a few more bureaucratic cogs. Hoping that I'll have cedula in hand by Februrary.
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