Costa Rica Residency for Expats 101: Most Costa Rica residency applicants start off surfing the net for any articles they can find on the subject, particularly on Google where most of the results stem from sites with paid ads. Once devouring that information, some, unfortunately, think it safe to go it alone. If they speak Spanish, they currently have a 20% chance of success accompanied by off ...

To run or not to run that is the question: Border Running is the practice of traveling to either the Panama or Nicaragua border for the sole purpose of obtaining a new 90 visa stamp on one's passport as an economical alternative to returning to one's home country for the same reason. In and out and back to Costa Rica within 60 – 90 minutes. (Those who specifically go to shop for cheap goods, mu...

In December 2016, a law called the "Law to Improve the Fight against Tax Fraud" was published, which in turn created a Registry of Transparency and Final Beneficiaries, under the responsibility of the Central Bank of Costa Rica. The concept of "anonymous" corporations disappeared, because although the Registry is not publicly accessible, it will be accessible tax, judicial, public security and oth...

The term eviction can be defined as the action of expelling a person from land, a building, a house, etc., by legal process as well as the action of recovering a property by virtue of superior legal title. This word immediately brings to mind the necessity of a legal process in Court to get a decree permitting the eviction. The most common examples of evictions in Costa Rica are for tenants who ge...

A Mexican with strong ties to Costa Rica and a 20-million dollar bounty on his head, Rafael Caro Quintero, is now #10 on the FBI’s Most Wanted List – and may well be hiding in Costa Rica where he has strong connections and many cartel friends. Quintero is wanted for the murder of Drug Enforcement Agent (DEA) Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, in July of 1985, as well as charges of drug trafficking, kidnappi...

All expats living in Costa Rica part or full time that have investments in the country should take in consideration what will happen in case they die. Making plans regarding this difficult topic could avoid leaving legal swamps fo your loved ones. People always expect to live as long as possible, but certainly an accident or unexpected disease could suddenly change everything. The legal document t...

In Costa Rica there is a law governing the relationships between the Landlord and Tenant for two specific situations: 1) When renting houses, apartments or condos 2) When renting a property for commercial, industrial or professional purposes. This Rental Law has been in effect since 1995, with only a few amendments since then. It has a number of different rules for similar situations, so kno...

A notary at your home: For years the National Registry has offered to the public information from all Public Registries such as Property, Vehicles, Boats, Corporations and Lot Plans on the website www.rnpdigital.com . This information is exclusively for consultation purposes since only certifications obtained from Registry offices or issued by a Notary can be used as valid documents to submit t...

By law #8683 was a created to implement a Luxury Home Tax for all houses in Costa Rica where the construction has a value higher than one hundred million colons (approximate USD $200,000.00). All owners with a luxury home were enforced to submit a value statement in 2010 that would be valid for three years. The tax Ministry created a value database with the parameters to calculate the proper value...

Validation of a Foreign Driver’s License in Costa Rica.  Those foreigners staying in the country for more than 3 months and wanting to drive a car are required by law to obtain a Costa Rican driver’s license. They can validate the license of their country of origin by fulfilling the following requirements: Must be over the age of 18. Proof of legal residency, through residency card, work p...

Costa Rica has more than twenty-nine thousand lawyers and approximate eight thousand six hundred notaries authorized to practice in the country. To become a Notary it is required to be a lawyer, but certainly, the two designations have separate duties in the eyes of the law. Lawyers represent their clients in Court cases - collections, criminal prosecutions, lawsuits, or procedures handled by gove...

On September 1st, 2017 law number 9428 named Ley de Impuesto a las Personas Jurídicas or Tax on Corporations took effect, imposing 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. This tax is due again for 2019...

The Minister of Public Security, Michael Soto, expressed his disapproval of the voting that took place on Monday evening in the Security and Drug Trafficking Commission of the Legislative Assembly regarding changes to the Firearms and Explosives Law. “With the motions approved, we cannot continue with the reduction in homicides”, stated Soto. The Minister assured that the objective is not to ri...

As explained in a previous article, December is time for all owners of motorcycles, automobiles, SUVs, Pick-ups and trucks in Costa Rica to pay the MARCHAMO, which is collected by INS (National Insurance Company). We mentioned that the largest amount to pay on the marchamo is a government tax created in 1987, when law #7088 took effect creating a property tax against all vehicles, airplanes and bo...

All owners of motorcycles, automobiles, SUVs, Pick ups, Trucks and similar in Costa Rica are obligated to pay the MARCHAMO before the end of December. The amount can be checked at http://portal.ins-cr.com/marchamo/marchamo/frmconsultamarchamo.aspx As of January 1st, 2019 all cars without proof of payment are exposed to a fine and license plate removal from Traffic Police officers (Transito). Fo...

Although the real estate market is at a low to medium level due to different factors, such as the the current fiscal crisis in CR, the fact is that land remains (in my opinion) the most valuable asset available. Viewed from another standpoint, right now there are excellent investment opportunities in the real estate market due to lower prices. In addition, many sellers now offer the ability to fin...

Like every year, the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC) calls on small and medium size corporations to request their condition as PYME to be exonerated from the 2019 Yearly Corporation Tax, for this, the deadline to register and request the exoneration is December 3. This action is carried out following what’s established in Law 9428 “Corporation Tax Law” and its regulations wh...

The Constitutional Chamber in Costa Rica (Sala IV) gave, the evening of this Friday, November 23, its resolution regarding the fiscal reform project; the judges concluded, unanimously, that they did not find vices in the procedure or form of the project giving green light to Congress to vote it in second debate. The resolution of the Constitutional Chamber provides the green light for the pr...

The Costa Rican Chamber of Industries shares its concern regarding the recent ruling that deemed the labor strike which affected the state refinery (RECOPE) legal. “This ruling attempts against the judicial security and the good direction of the country, its production, its citizens, its wellness”. The strike at Recope (Costa Rica's State fuel refinery) was initially declared illegal, accordin...

Former president of the Costa Rican Soccer Federation (FEDEFUTBOL), Eduardo Li is now in supervised release after serving nine months in prison and a period on parole determined the Court of the State of New York; Li is now free to return to Costa Rica, if he wishes to do so. Eduardo Li was arrested back in May 27, 2015 in Switzerland as a suspect of accepting kickbacks and bribes for the comme...

It is very common for people to believe that selling a business in Costa Rica is the same as selling a piece of real estate. This is not necessarily true as there might be many different situations to consider which could change the scenario. The Business may or may be not part of the real estate transaction, meaning sometimes the owner also owns the business operating at that property. Sometim...

Back on September 25, judge Ileana Castillo Porras had ruled the strike "illegal" for employees of the Santa Ana Municipality; the labor union presented the corresponding appeal and today Judges José Adrián Calderón, Juan Carlos Segura and Manuel Rodríguez gave their resolution leaving firm the decision of illegality for these workers, however, the Municipality will not be able to collect the sala...

Costa Rica has 81 Municipalities plus three District Councils functioning as Municipalities located in the districts of Cobano, Paquera and Lepanto. They usually provide different services for their jurisdiction such as potable water or garbage collection. They are also in charge to collect the Impuesto Territorial or Property Tax, which constitutes as one of their main sources of income along wit...

Photo Credit: US Embassy Costa Rica The Judicial Branch of Costa Rica received the support of the U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL)in a special two-year project to strengthen the anti-corruption efforts; create a new internal ethics code, and tools to improve anti-corruption training and investigations. "As part of this project, representatives from the...

This Tuesday, Judge Francisco Quesada ruled that labor strike sustained for over a month by members of the Ministry of Public Education (MEP), illegal, considering that the movement was not carried out in a peaceful manner. The labor unions will have three days to appeal once they have been legally notified and after the appeal is presented the labor court will have another five days to dictat...

Contrary to popular belief, alimony and/or child support payments are not "written in stone" once a judgment has been rendered. Costa Rican law foresees the possibility of the need for change when the financial possibilities of either the obligor or beneficiary necessitates a need for an increase or reduction of those benefits. This can be accomplished when the interested party files for a proceed...

The Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) informed that foreigners who lose their Costa Rican identification document no longer have to file the report with OIJ in order to get a new one issued, instead, they only need to make the request in the Migration offices. Up until recently any foreigner who lost their Costa Rican ID first had to file a report with OIJ, sign a sworn statement with a nota...

The Labor Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San Jose declared the employee strike promoted by five different labor unions that has affected the Social Security Services (CCSS), illegal. Resolution No.2018001589 resolved by Judge Susana Porras Cascante, states that both the international norms of the International Labor Organization and national legislation expressly prohibit strikes in cli...

The labor union strike affecting the state refinery (RECOPE) was declared illegal by the Labor Court which resolved that it did not comply with the requirements stated in the labor code that movements must be peaceful, the alternatives of conciliation must be exhausted, and it must have the support of a minimum percentage of employees. The sentence was dictated by Judge Alexander Contreras Barr...

The Labor Court of the II Judiciary Circuit of San Jose declared the labor union’s strike at the Costa Rican Institute of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (IAFA) legal. This is the first of 9 sentences that have been issued that considers the movement to meet all legal requirements. The sentence was given by Judge Angela Keiko Minero Akiya, who stated that “in conformity with the disposition of a...

The employees on strike working for the Atlantic Zone Development and Port Administration Group (JAPDEVA) has been deemed illegal, determined Judge Francisco Vargas Ramirez who considered that the services offered by JAPDEVA are essential and that the conciliation alternatives were not exhausted. “Paralyzing the services offered by the Limon and Moin ports, implies the suspension of an essentia...

The labor union strike has been declared illegal so far for six different institutions; today the resolutions regarding the legality of the strikes for the Central Bank and the Social Protection Board (JPS - Institution that handles the lottery in Costa Rica) were made public. The Labor Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San Jose, declared illegal the movement promoted by the National Assoc...

The Labor Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San Jose declared the strike promoted by the National Association of Public Employees (ANEP) in the National Emergency Commission (CNE) illegal. The sentence 1549-2018 was dictated by Judge Javier Camacho Duarte considering that the minimum requirements for a legitimate strike were not met and in addition to this, the National Emergency Commissio...

The Labor Court of the Second Judicial Circuit of San Jose declared illegal the strike promoted by the National Association of Public Employees (ANEP) in the Ministry of Housing and Human Settlements (MIVAH) stating that the movement did not comply with the requirements established in the Labor Procedures Code. This is the second sentence by Labor Courts of the more than thirty requests that we...

The Labor Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San Jose ruled that the strike of the employees of the National Production Council (CNP) is illegal because the strike is a mechanism to resolve conflicts related to labor situations and not of political order. This is the first resolution of illegality that has been resolved of the 32 that were presented by different public institutions in relat...

The Government of Costa Rica was notified by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the decision by the Arbitration Court in relation to the David Richard Aven et al c. Costa Rica (known as “Las Olas”). This arbitration was presented by a group of US investors in the year 2014 due to the Government shutting their real estate project down.  The claimants cited the...

The general labor strike in Costa Rica is going on 11 days, more than 30 institutions have presented their request to the labor courts to declare the illegality of the movement, yet, nothing has happened. Is the general labor strike legal or illegal? And why has it taken so long for judges to make their decision on this matter? The main problem comes from the changes made last year to the La...

Construction developers all over the country have changed the legal structure of their projects, migrating from the traditional individual property to a condominium system based on the regulations contained in Law # 7933 named "Ley Reguladora de la Propiedad en Condominio" or Law to Regulate Condominium Property, which applies to both residential and commercial developments. This tendency started ...

In 1977 a Law took effect named Ley Sobre la Zona Marítimo Terrestre or Law about the Maritime Terrestrial Zone, with the purpose of regulating all those areas located in front of the beach all over the country as well as other relevant areas such as islands, mangroves and estuaries. The beach areas of Costa Rica have gained a high value in recent years, due in large part to the attraction they ha...

During the Second Annual Forensic Science Symposium carried out in Mexico, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division gave a special recognition to the progress being done by the forensics lab in Costa Rica to get accreditation and elevate the level of their work. “I give special recognition to Costa Rica, which has accredited the fo...