When did the new Costa Rican Immigration Law go into effect?
The new Immigration Reform Law, formally known as “Ley 8487 – La Ley de Migración y Extranjería,” was approved on December 12, 2005, and went into effect eight months later, on August 12, 2006. Currently, there is a bill pending in the Costa Rican Asamblea Nacional that proposes additional technical modifications to the law. What changes were made to the various residency programs under the new law? From our point of view, the most significant changes to the residency programs are listed below. All the changes listed have been in effect since August 2006: Changes that affect all Residency Programs: • Where to file residency applications: Applications for residency under the Pensionado, Rentista and Inversionista programs must be filed in the applicant’s country of origin. Note that country of origin is the country where the applicant resided at the time the residency application is filed, which may not be, necessarily, the applicant’s country of birth. For example a person born in Aust
The new Immigration Reform Law, formally known as “Ley 8487 – La Ley General de Migración y Extranjería,” was approved on August 2009, and went into effect six months later, March 1, 2010. What changes were made to the various residency programs under the new law? From our point of view, the most significant changes to the residency programs are listed are. The new income requirements apply to applications filed starting on March 1, 2010. Pensionado – Income: The new monthly pension income requirement is US$1,000. One pension allows both husband and wife to apply for residency Rentista – Income: The new Rentista monthly income requirement is US$2,500. The exact same amount of US$2,500 applies to all applicants, whether or not the applicant is single, or married, or married with children. Inversionista – Investment Amount The investment made must have a registered or verifiable value of at least US$200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand dollars). The investment of a lesser amount in tourism is n
