Immigration Info

Culture and lifestyle

Ticos, like people in other countries, have been held up between modern and old cultural forces. These forces have a significant impact especially on most of the young inhabitants. However, her permissiveness and pluralistic outlook count in the top in the list of what attracts people from other countries to Costa Rica.

Most of the Ticos have respect for their culture, but they are adopting several American Cultural Traits. However, most of the Ticos maintain distinct characteristics that set them out from their neighbors.

The majority of the Ticos are beautiful both racially and culturally. For the most females, flirtation is an innate quality and no male of Costa Rica is jealous or possessive about their women or try to propitiate the outsiders.

Entertainment is not limited in Costa Rica. The country has majored with tourism in focus, dancing bars, cinema theaters, casinos, discotheque halls, multi-cuisine restaurants available in the county with a dusk - to -dawn indoor nightlife that adds a sense of thrill to the visitors. There is also a variety of open outdoors activities such as unpolluted beaching, kayaking, sea surfing, rafting and snorkeling that are additional attractions.

Costa Rica Immigration Laws

The country offers three basic types of immigration to foreigners. In the first option, an applicant may be listed as a pensioner (pensionado). Pensioners have a probable monthly life pension of $ 1,000 or above. Then there is the Rentistas permanent residence status given to those without pension but have income from other sources averaging $2,500 per month. The next type of immigration status is the ‘invesionists’, a title given to those foreigners who want to invest in Costa Rica.

Invesionists immigration status is given to those individuals willing to invest more than $100,000 in approved tourism projects or $200,000 in other industrial projects in Costa Rica.

All the types immigrants listed above are allowed to bring along their spouses and children who are under the age of 18 years or 25 years if they are students.

Immigrants can also be granted temporary work permits, student permits, and permanent residency if they have relatives who are citizens of Costa Rica. However, these permits are given under very strict stipulations.

Costa Rica Immigration documentation

The basic Costa Rica immigration documentation includes the original birth certificate, applicant's first and last name, father's name and mother's maiden name, nationality, marital status, passport with date of entry, criminal record, four recent photographs and all of the necessary fees. All of the documents have an official translation into Spanish and must be certified by the Costa Rica Consulate of the applicant country or have an apostille. The processing can take from six to one year in a normal case and much longer for complicated applications.

Why should one seek legal advice?

A farewell advice for the prospective immigrant. Lately, it is observed that Costa Rica immigration laws are becoming tougher by the day. If you do not know Spanish, you may be taken for traveling in this foreign country by unscrupulous elements. The only way to escape this trap is to go through a reputable legal service provider like the law firm of Melendez and Bonilla.

The law firm of Melendez & Bonilla immigration attorneys have a thorough and up-to-date knowledge of Costa Rica immigration laws that change without notice these days. They have excellent relationships with the Costa Rica immigration bureaucracy and as such, can resolve the most difficult complications. The service charges for smooth documentation and processing are very nominal considering the complex nature of the work. The charges include all legal services, filing of all documents, proofreading of all documents, and notarization of the documents. Their legal fee is worth it because the price for not having proper legal assistance will be too high to pay later if something went wrong. Because of all this, an application rejected for some unintentional error will take a long time to rectify, or may even be permanently and summarily rejected. It is better to be safe than sorry.