By Laura Gutierrez of Immigration Help Costa Rica We all love tax cuts. Therefore, it is understandable that many of you got very excited when you heard about the new laws governing importation and investment incentives designed to stimulate post-COVID investment in Costa Rica. It did not help that many trigger-happy lawyers, and certain media hyped it up as though it would take effect the n...

Many foreigners who decide to live in Costa Rica, or come to visit seasonally, find that it is necessary for them to acquire a vehicle to get around. In this way, the high costs of renting a vehicle are avoided, since it is not an occasional visit. However, some have encountered bad experiences when acquiring a vehicle that has been salvage, total lost, suffered odometer alterations, and the like....

Multinational MedTech, U.S. - based company, confirmed its arrival in Costa Rica. Over the coming months, the company will establish operations in La Lima Free Zone, in Cartago. In addition to manufacturing the company's signature medical devices, it will also house a design, research, and engineering team involved in new product creation. Likewise, it will develop improvements to existing devices...

During the next weeks, all those Expats who have a corporation in Costa Rica will have to fulfill some obligations that are relatively recent, making important to take them into account in order to avoid problems and headaches. Certainly, having a corporation is no longer as simple as it was a few years ago, but it still offers advantages, and it is a matter of organizing yourself with the fulfill...

Intel Costa Rica is expanding its operations in the country: it is currently hiring 202 job positions in different areas, both technical and administrative. “The Costa Rican human talent quality is a key piece for Intel operations in the country, and over these 24 years, it has made it possible for us to offer high-quality services and value-added to the Corporation at the world level. Today we...

Many expats coming to live or invest in Costa Rica decide or receive advice that creating a corporation is the best way to operate and protect their investment here. There are numerous reasons why they decide to proceed with that, but establishing a business, opening a bank account, or obtaining asset protection seem to be the most common ones. The initial process of a creating a new corporation i...

Intel Corporation announced today that it will invest $350 million US dollars over the next three years to start assembly and test operations in Costa Rica. The investment is anticipated to create more than 200 new jobs in the coming months and the facility will begin to operate in the second half of 2021. "Intel continually evaluates its operations around the world to ensure that we have the ...

MicroVention-Terumo, a U.S.-Japanese company in the life sciences sector, announced that it will expand its Costa Rican operations with the construction of a new plant in Alajuela’s Coyol Free Zone. The 20,000 square-meter facilities will generate 2,000 more jobs in various administrative, operational, and engineering areas. MicroVention currently employs 1,700 workers in Costa Rica; its newest...

As part of its expansion plans, Concentrix Costa Rica, which has operated since 2005, is now opening its fifth location in the country. The company is currently in the midst of a Costa Rican expansion, with the creation of more than 1,300 jobs in various parts of the metropolitan area; this has generated work opportunities at the new offices and in work-from-home positions. The new building is ...

The company Fresh Del Monte recently launched an exotic product: the pink pineapple, currently only grown in Costa Rica, more exactly in Buenos Aires de Puntarenas. These pineapples are known as “Pinkglow”. This genetically modified fruit has the approval of the FDA “The pineapples were simply "engineered to produce lower levels of the enzymes already in conventional pineapple that convert the ...

Costa Rica announced the Gender Parity Initiative (GPI) to increase women’s participation in the labor market, reduce the wage gap, and increase women’s representation in leadership positions. The proposal is part of the fifth objective of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, which works toward gender equality. The Vice Presidency of Costa Rica, led by Epsy Campbell, heads the...

The Government of Costa Rica presented this Thursday to the Legislative Assembly the proposal (Plan to overcome the fiscal impact of the pandemic) to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new loan of $1.750 Billion. “We need to maintain economic stability and activate employment to improve the situation in the country generated by COVID-19. If we do not act, the risk is in the hi...

Concentrix, a Customer Experience (CX) solutions company is working to increase its presence in Costa Rica with over 1,300 new jobs at various locations. With these new positions, which will be offered to start this month, Concentrix hopes to strengthen local communities through a variety of new job opportunities for skilled workers throughout the region. “Concentrix Costa Rica gives you mo...

Costa Rica's not just about rainforests and beautiful beaches. It is also a competitive world leader in agricultural exports. The country has plenty of experience in the food industry, coupled with innovative growing processes, superior soil quality, and a year-round growing season, have resulted in a cornucopia of high-demand crops sought worldwide. The country's coffee industry is known acros...

SYKES recently announced that it will open its new headquarters in Solarium Park, Liberia, and will begin hiring the first 100 permanent positions during November and December. The company estimates it will hire a total of 600 people within 18 months, to work at their new headquarters. Bilingual applicants will be considered for positions in financial and telecommunications operations, while th...

Costa Rica’s Central Bank announced on Wednesday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved $508 Million in emergency financing for Costa Rica to help alleviate the impact of the coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic. The five-year loan was granted through the IMF’s Rapid Financing Instrument, and carries a spread of 150 basis points over the IMF’s special drawing rights (SDRs), equal to an ...

Saturday August 8th Costa Rica has registered 721 new Covid-19 cases for a total 22,802 confirmed patients out of which 7,589 have already recovered. 360 people are hospitalized, 80 of them in the intensive care unit. 228 deaths are reported in relation to the pandemic in the country. The government announced adjustments on the restrictions and sanitary measures that had already been announc...

The COVID-19 pandemic has promoted to rethink different processes in the "new reality". Transcending sectors, the novel coronavirus has touched on – and fueled – one of the key points in innovation: the adaption to change, because those who do not will suffer even greater consequences. Industries that have led the charge –the process to rethink and analyze adjustments, given the situation gener...

How will Costa Rica recover economically from Covid-19? That's a great question with many variables and unknowns. Two things are clear about COVID-19 in Costa Rica: Cases continue to increase, and it will be an uphill battle to recover the economy. Currently there have been 12,361 confirmed cases of COVID since it arrived on March 6 (via two American tourists), and 71 people have sadly lost th...

Teleperformance, a multinational company that operates in the services sector, will hire 335 people in the next three months, due to business expansion in Costa Rica. Positions to be hired are related to bilingual and trilingual customer service in English, French, German, and Portuguese; technical support positions will also be available. In addition to employment, Teleperformance offers it...

BAC Credomatic, Costa Rica’s largest private bank, announced this week that it is closing eleven of its outlets, canceling 187,000 customer credit cards, and laying off 373 of its employees. Many of BAC’s loyal clients have been contacted and told their credit cards will be cancelled within 60 days. Several other changes will be implemented in the coming months, apparently all due to the new law, ...

UPDATED 06/19/20 The Costa Rican Government has SUSPENDED Phase 3 of the Economic reopening due to major spike in cases. The Ministry of Health confirmed this Thursday that as scheduled more businesses will be able to open doors again during the weekend as long as they comply with the sanitary guidelines given in each case. The country enters the third phase of reopening commerce which will...

Starting this month, SYKES will offer 450 permanent technical support positions to applicants with advanced, intermediate, or basic knowledge of Cisco networks, operating systems, and programming. The company will be hiring from June through September. During the health crisis due to COVID-19, most positions will be work from home. In addition to technological knowledge, applicants must demonst...

Coursera, an online education platform, will team up with Costa Rica over the next 6 months to train 50,000 people in the strategic and technical skills required for Industry 4.0. This initiative is one part of a reskilling and retooling strategy that Costa Rica currently has underway, which defines three main areas for talent development: career management, soft skills, and technical skills. T...

AR Holdings, member of Promerica Group had already announced in November 2019 their intentions of bringing to Costa Rica the Olive Garden restaurant franchise, the biggest Italian food chain in the United States where it has 850 locations. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic which has impacted many industries, one of them being restaurants, the plans continue except that instead of opening doors in ...

PriceSmart announced that it plans to move forward with opening what will be its 46th warehouse club on June 17, 2020 in Liberia, Costa Rica. Sherry S. Bahrambeygui, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "In March 2020, when we first began to appreciate the uncertainties created by the COVID-19 pandemic, we temporarily suspended significant capital expenditures, including additional club developm...

Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") has today changed the outlook on the Government of Costa Rica's ratings to negative from stable. Concurrently, Moody's has affirmed Costa Rica's B2 long-term issuer and senior unsecured bond ratings. The negative outlook reflects Costa Rica's increased funding risks due to higher borrowing requirements resulting from pandemic-related economic and fiscal sh...

The Swiss-based Pharmaceutical company Roche –a leader in personalized healthcare and the world’s largest biotech company– announced today that it will double the size of its Roche Services & Solutions operations for the Americas, located in San José, Costa Rica. The company will hire 370 new employees throughout 2020 and will have over 700 employees by the end of this year. Roche establish...

The Government of Costa Rica will announce on Monday, May 11, the plan to gradually re-engage  economic activities and begin the road back to “normalcy”. “We will reopen economic activities subject to a strict surveillance of sanitary protocols. We will extend the vehicular restriction first. We will open for national tourism, hotels, national parks, commerce, restaurants, theaters and movie th...

Through May 4th the number of patients positive with Covid-19 in Costa Rica was of 742 according to the update provided by the Ministry of Health. 339 people are now recovered, however, 17 remain hospitalized and 5 of them in the intensive care unit. The Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, insisted that the population cannot let the guard down, even though the curve of transmissions has been s...

In an effort to combat the repercussions generated in the labor sector due to the COVID-19 health emergency, the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) has designed a virtual platform to bring together all current job offerings available at multinational companies. To date, more than 950 positions are available. This initiative is part of a joint agreement, since February 2019, betwee...

All corporations and limited liability companies in Costa Rica are required to have legal books. Corporations or SAs are required to have three books as follows: 1. General Assembly to keep the minutes of shareholder meetings, including all decisions to amend the original articles of incorporation by changing the corporate structure, legal address, raising capital stock, granting powers of attorne...

Family-owned franchisee brings the “Original New York Pizza” to Costa Rica, opens two stores. San José, Costa Rica. The Sbarro brand, located in more than 28 countries all around world, opened its first two stores in the country October & December, respectively, of 2019. The “Original New York Pizza” brings the flavor of a globally known brand for New York Style XL slices, along with an Ita...

Costa Rica has 577 cases of Covid-19 confirmed as of Saturday March 11th, the government has announced it will be placing additional restrictions on vehicular traffic until April 30. Beginning on April 13, there will be a complete nighttime restriction from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. every day. When it comes to daytime restrictions, during the weekdays the restriction will be from 5 a.m. and 7 p.m., v...

PRESS RELEASE : April 8th 2020, San Jose Costa Rica  Unfortunately the current COVID-19 pandemic continues to take many precious lives. The resulting economic fallout is negatively impacting businesses worldwide – in a truly unprecedented way. As the largest English newspaper in Costa Rica, The Costa Rica Star has long been an industry leader in providing reliable, quality news and informati...

The infamous COVID-19 has caused not only a global health emergency but has also had a severe and negative impact on the economy. To mitigate the impact on the finances of employers, two regulations were approved over the recent days that are unprecedented in our country. The first regulation is called Temporary Suspension of the Employment Contract and is issued by the Ministry of Labor. The seco...

Video Credit and thanks to Adam Baker and Namu Travel Group. ***Repost from the President of Costa Rica*** We all know that small businesses, restaurants, workers in the service industry, etc. have been affected economically by covid-19. The entire travel industry; airlines, hotels, tour companies, travel agencies, entire countries, and everyone in between were immediately impacted by cov...

In the first debate Costa Rican deputies approved the bill presented by the Ministry of Work that will allow employers whose businesses are suffering a substantial reduction of their income to bring down their employees’ workdays by as much as 50%. This is a temporary measure in response to the state of emergency declared by the Costa Rican Government due to the crisis caused by Covid-19. Th...

The effects of the coronavirus on the economy of the country and worldwide are inevitable and began several days back, in Costa Rica, it is obviously the tourism sector the most affected, with borders closed as of today and for almost one month in the best case scenario the economic landscape is certainly not looking good for the hundreds of thousands of people that depend on this industry and for...

In 2012 law #9024 named 'Impuesto a las Personas Juridicas" or "Tax on Corporations" came into effect. It was an annual tax on all corporations registered at National Registry based on the Code of Commerce such as SAs and LLCs plus all of those branches of foreigner corporations that obtained a corporate ID number for their Costa Rican divisions. It was in effect until 2015. It contained provision...