Language furnishes the best proof that a law accepted by a community is a thing that is tolerated, and not a rule to which all freely consent. - Ferdinand De Saussure, Swiss Linguist. A free pizza campaign crafted by a Dallas-based retail and delivery chain has turned into a divisive linguistic uproar. Pizza Patron came up with what seemed to be a brilliant idea: free pizza to all customers. Th...

There is no shortage of opinions about how to go about relocating to another country. Just look on the internet under ‘expatriation’ and you’ll be met with over 5 million related sites. There are magazines, newsletters, personal blogs and electronic bulletin boards all dedicated to answering your questions and disseminating information. Official government web pages and real estate sites abound. ...

Cascajal de Orotina in the province of Alajuela is the proposed site of the future major international airport in Costa Rica, scheduled to begin operations in 2026. As previously reported in The Costa Rica Star, the management contract held by Aeris Holdings over the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Alajuela will come to an end that same year. Design proposals by Tico architects are beg...

The Costa Rica Star has recently published information about receiving your permanent residency in Costa Rica to avoid border runs, wasting time, and money. Author's Note: This article should not be considered legal advice. Readers with questions on the matters explained below should contact attorneys who are in good standing with the Colegio de Abogados de Costa Rica (the National Bar Associat...

An official press release by the United States Embassy in Costa Rica indicates that shrimp caught in our country may once again be imported by the North American nation, following a certification that was reissued under Public Law 101-162, Section 609, 16 U.S.C. 1537, entitled Shrimp Import Prohibition Legislation for Marine Turtle Conservation. The import ban does not apply to nations that...

Given the ecological track record of Costa Rica in the international stage, and her goal of becoming a carbon-neutral nation by 2021, you would think that the average Tico would be interested in hybrid cars, or plug-in electrical vehicles, or even a more efficient mass transport system that uses clean energy. The reality points to something different. When you ask drivers in Costa Rica to re...

The international business consultant Tholons revealed in its most recent study; "The 100 best destinations for outsourced operations by 2012," that San Jose, Costa Rica is considered one of the top 10 emerging cities and ranks number 18 among the best in the world to outsource operations, business and information technology. Second only to Sao Paulo, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina, San Jos...

Costa Rica’s national vocational educational programs are administered by the National Training Institute, INA, which on May 21, 2012 celebrates its 47th anniversary. INA provides vocational training for nationalized Costa Rican’s over the age of 15, in all sectors of the economy, in order to create jobs, improve living conditions and stimulate economic and social development.  INA maintains i...

Pension and retirement fund managers in Costa Rica are hungry for public sector government debt. As reported by Evelyn Granados Diaz of digital news daily Costa Rica Hoy, 80 percent of holdings in the investment portfolios of pension funds are spread among bonds issued by the Ministry of the Treasury and Taxation (Hacienda in Spanish), the Central Bank, and the public electric and communicatio...

According to a recent report published by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the capital city of Costa Rica is home to the most expensive and inaccessible real estate in the region. The IADB looked at 41 cities in the Latin American and Caribbean region and determined that only 29 percent of Ticos have the means necessary to acquire a home in the metropolitan area and its suburbs. By w...

The misty city of Cartago may have the unluckiest football team in Costa Rica, but two announcements this month are making residents feel fortunate. The former capital of the Republic is bound to become one of the cleanest and greenest in terms of transportation options. According to an official press release from the Executive branch, the new train service between Cartago and San Jose may begi...

Pictured above is Superman renouncing his American Citizenship in the 900th issue of Action Comics. What would move an American expatriate residing in Costa Rica to renounce his or her citizenship? Would it be FATCA, or the proposed passport restriction on owed taxes? What about a Canadian citizen, could he or she do the same? The questions above come to mind as the co-founder of onli...

At any given time in Costa Rica, tens of thousands of Ticos take calls from consumers in other countries who are in need of service and support. These agents work in call centers mostly located in the Central Valley, and the majority of the calls are handled in English -although demand for Portuguese-speaking agents is growing. What would happen to the economy of Costa Rica if an army of unpaid...

People in Costa Rica are increasingly turning to the Internet when looking for jobs, new and used automobiles, real estate, deals on electronics, home appliances, pets, and more. A number of competing online classified portals have cropped up in the last few years, all looking to get a sizable piece of this lucrative pie. The latest entry comes from Grupo Nacion, one of the largest media conglo...

SAN JOSE – Costa Rica has once again proved herself as an important destination for foreign investment, particularly in technology. The human capital and the government's initiatives to train professionals to work in the tech industry are attracting businesses to this sector. On Thursday, May 10, President Laura Chinchilla maintained that during her next two years in office she will keep su...

Despite early rains and an optimistic forecast for the next two coffee harvests in Costa Rica, Tico growers are concerned that demand will outpace supply and may not be able to meet orders from retail coffee shop Goliath Starbucks. In an article by Sergio Arce of national newspaper La Nacion, the president of the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (iCafe) explained that Starbucks is not the only bu...

After a few false starts, the Treasury in Costa Rica finally issued an amended list of foodstuffs and educational products exempt from the 13 percent sales tax (or IVA). An Executive decree issued days earlier had placed several foodstuffs on a list of items to be taxed, something that critics see as a crude and vindictive reaction to the vanishing of the Fiscal Reform plan. Representati...

Since October 6th of 2011, Costa Rica has been advertised on the pages of publications such as National Geographic, The New Yorker and USA Today about 9 and half million times. The national Tourism Board of Costa Rica (ICT by its acronym in Spanish) is satisfied with the results of the Million Dollar Gift of Happiness campaign, according to a broadcast by news station Radio Reloj 94.3 FM. Ireth...

Today was the last day for corporations and partnerships registered in Costa Rica to pay the new corporate tax as outlined on Law number 9024, Taxation on Business Entities, which was published by La Gaceta on December 27th, 2011. True to our idiosyncrasy, thousands of Ticos scrambled to make last-minute online payments on Banco de Costa Rica's (BCR) Internet platform especially designed for that ...

A recent press release issued by Banco Nacional on April 27th announced that its new partnership with American online payments giant PayPal was finalized after months of testing. The partnership will allow both Banco Nacional and PayPal to develop e-commerce payment solutions for small-to-medium business owners in Costa Rica. The most prominent marketing point that Banco Nacional makes on i...

Author's note: You can learn more about greenwashing in a previous article in The Costa Rica Star about the Hotel RIU in Guanacaste. Fifteen students and a Spanish teacher from West Richland High School in Illinois are coming to Costa Rica later this year. According to a recent news report in the Olney Daily Mail newspaper, the summer trip is being financed in part by a donation from a farm...

As you may or may not know The Costa Rica Star, the website you are reading now, is new in the English news media landscape in Costa Rica. Though the founder and people working with the website day to day have been involved with media and internet marketing for many years globally, the platform itself was only founded in December of 2011. I am often asked: why does The Costa Rica Star exist and...

Costa Rica is known to attract a fair share of international visitors, but Ticos are catching up to foreign tourists –and they are turning to Google to plan their domestic getaways.  According to a report on online business daily Estrategia y Negocios, more than half of all Ticos who go on vacation within Costa Rica started their trip on Google. Google is paying attention. The Internet search g...

A Small and Medium Business (PYMES) Fair will take place at the Plaza Mayor Shopping Center in Rohrmoser, San Jose, from April 26th to April 29th. Everyone is invited to visit the expo and support PYMES in Costa Rica. The businesses that will exhibit their goods and services at the fair include: Almacén Searson Arte Muebles Casa Muar Artesanía de los Santos  Artesanía Turca Temka Baysal ...

Financial analysts and different news media outlets have been busy reporting on the output of coffee crops in Costa Rica, and the reports paint a different picture regarding production and climate. Costa Rica's most prized agricultural commodity is either holding up well in the wake of climate patterns caused by La Nina, or weakening to the point that Tico roasters will import more bags of coffee ...

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MICIT in Spanish), along with the Chamber of Industries of Costa Rica (CICR) wrapped up InnovAccion, the First Conference on Innovation for Competitive Enterprises on April 20th. The conference was directed to entrepreneurs and small business owners who are interested in using innovation to remain competitive in today's marketplace. At the InnovAccion...

Conectad@s and VUCE 2.0 are the names of two new initiatives launched by the administration of President Laura Chinchilla in order to make the lives of exporters and small business owners easier. The entities involved are the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Commerce (COMEX) and its leading agency for international trade and commerce, PROCOMER; as well as Banco Nacional and ICE. VUCE 2.0 is a proj...

Residential customers of the National Power and Light Company (CNFL in Spanish) can expect to pay approximately 4.7 percent more on their electricity bills in May. According to an official press release by the Public Services Regulatory Agency (Spanish acronym: ARESEP), the CNFL had requested an increase of 9 percent for residential service and 7.76 percent for street lighting and other pub...

According to a recent official press release (PDF) issued by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC), the love affair between Tico consumers and credit cards grew fonder in 2011. The number of credit cards circulating in Costa Rica increased by 2.4 percent, for a total of 1,502,389 currently in the market. The collective amount of debt owed by credit card holders in Costa Rica is ...

The French Republic has removed eleven sovereign jurisdictions from its closely-watched list of offshore tax and financial havens. Within the Central American region, Costa Rica, Belize and Panama have been removed from the list, although the Finance Minister of the French Republic warned that the eleven nations will still be monitored for loopholes that may attract unscrupulous business. One C...

From afar, they look like snowflakes accumulated on the coffee plants. Up close, you see the small white flowers and smell the strong perfume. Coffee blossoms put a smile on farmers, growers, exporters, and commodities traders. This time the blossoms are early, thanks to premature spring rains that have fallen on the fields. The early blossoms signal a good start for the harvest later this year...

Seven new casual dining franchises will open their doors to hungry Ticos this year, while three existing chains will expand their operations, according to online financial news site El Financiero. Many Ticos may not be familiar with brand names like Cosi, Moe's, Mo Joe's, Pollo Tropical, Smash Burger, Spoleto, or Whopper Bar -but they will get to know those franchises in 2012. Ticos are already...

Drug trafficking operations in Mexico are estimated to launder $10 billion each year, according to a report issued by the country's Legislative Chamber in coordination with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The alarming figure was calculated in a report from Mexico's Treasury Department, which detected a surplus of funds in the overall financial system of that nation. That surplus can...

Juan Carlos Sanabria is the current Director of the School of Architecture at VERITAS University. He is also one of 146 architectural design professionals who form part of the distinguished alumni of Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, known as the AA. The school, founded in 1847 in London, is the oldest and most prestigious independent institution of higher learning for ar...

According to an investigative report written by journalist Carlos Arguedas and published in today's edition of La Nacion, prosecutors are having a hard time moving forward with their accusations against 10 individuals who seemingly went from rags to riches overnight. Mauricio Boraschi, commissioner of the national anti-drug task force, confirmed to La Nacion that his office has all the personal...

From May 9th to the 11th, the 2012 Tourism Expo (Expotur) will attract more than 300 representatives of the burgeoning tourism industry in Costa Rica and the region. This year's focus will not be so much on ecotourism, something that has been a prominent theme in previous expos. The tourism industry will dedicate this year's Expotur to advancing Costa Rica as a paradise for business meetings and c...

The office of the national prosecutor in Nicaragua has brought up Henry Farinas on charges of drug trafficking, involvement in organized crime and money laundering. Farinas was also identified as a one-time partner of Alejandro Jimenez Gonzalez, AKA "El Palidejo", a Tico businessman who is currently detained in Guatemala on charges of having masterminded a botched assassination that took the l...

The financial news media is abuzz with the latest massive security breach of a computer system containing sensitive credit and debit account information. A security analyst at Gartner, one of the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, reported on March 30th that she heard "the crime was perpetrated by a Central American gang that broke into the company’s system by...

Real estate investors take note: Purchasing a new home in Las Heliconias makes more sense than a short sale or foreclosure in the United States. Puntarenas, Costa Rica – April 1, 2012. Las Heliconias is a new, one-of-a-kind residential project located just 250 yards (229 meters) from Playa Agujas in the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica, right on the edge of the Carara National Park. Playa Ag...

An article published by International Living, a leading organization that provided information for people interested in real estate, retirement and relocation abroad, extols the charms and relative obscurity of our Zona Sur and calls it one of the World’s Best Real Estate Markets in 2012. On the list published by International Living, Costa Rica's southern zone placed third on a list of 27 ...