Can a foreigner own a Costa Rican corporation?
Sure, there is no problem in owning a Costa Rican corporation. It can be started by a citizen, resident or even a tourist. You can obtain a corporation, known as “sociedad anónima”, that means the owner’s name is not identified in any record and whoever owns the stocks is the real owner. First you need you need your lawyer to draw up the Constitutive Charter (with the description of the activities, organization, administration of the corporation and the respective signatures of shareholders, board of directors, etc.) Next, your lawyer has to make known the constitution of the corporation in the official newspaper “La Gaceta”. Please take into account that names of corporations with meaning in foreign languages are not accepted. Then your lawyer will register your corporation in the Public Record Office which takes from one to three months. Once this office gives a positive response to your corporation inclusion you need to present the accounting and legal books, in which all transactio
