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Moving to Costa Rica

Costa Rica is calling you…

Immigration Law is the bridge that connects people with opportunity and prosperity.

Our world is becoming more and more complex but technology is helping it to feel smaller. As Immigration lawyers, we are here. Whether it’s to advise, assist or guide, we are here to help. So far, we’ve helped thousands of people across the world by making the difficult possible and delivering their goal to live in new country. Immigration means different things to everybody. For some, it’s work or to advance their education. For others, it’s the opportunity to live the life they’ve always dreamed of and worked towards. Our lawyers live for this work and the challenge of breaking down barriers. Overcoming the obstacles and penetrating the bureaucracy fuels us on our mission, which is to grow and improve in order to give our clients the highest quality of service.

How to move to Costa Rica

You must initially be a temporary resident for three years unless you are a first degree relative of a Costa Rican (via marriage or having a child in Costa Rica). You can apply to become a permanent resident after that time and begin working lawfully for Costa Rican businesses.

You have different types of Visa that will allow you to move to Costa Rica. They are the following:

Tourist Visa: When coming to Costa Rica, visitors are granted a 90-day tourist visa (the exact number of days is up to the immigration official but 90 is standard). You must therefore depart the country every 90 days in order to obtain a fresh 90-day stamp or visa upon your return.
Usually, performing these border runs while the residency applications are being processed works well. It will provide the opportunity to go to places like Panama and Nicaragua, among others. But for many people, it might be a hassle, particularly if they live far from the closest border.
Digital Nomad Visa: The new digital nomad visa is an excellent substitute for full residency if you just intend to stay in Costa Rica temporarily.
You can enter the country with this straightforward visa process and stay for a year, with the possibility of requesting for another year. You must submit an online application and provide proof of monthly income of at least $3,000 ($4,000 for a family).
Residency: Obtaining residence may be a smart move if you know for a fact that Costa Rica is where you wish to live. This provides you with a cedula (ID card), simplifying numerous tasks in this nation (e.g., banking and getting a cell phone plan). A Costa Rican driver’s license is additionally available.
Several methods exist for obtaining residency in Costa Rica.
One requires evidence that a specific sum of money will be received under a pension or retirement plan. Another requires evidence of money coming in (non-pension/retirement), or you can make a sizable deposit into a bank account in Costa Rica. The third has to do with settling down as an investment.

About Immigration Department

¨We are a department formed by qualified legal experts who have been trained in the field of immigration law. We work on these requests every day and it’s our passion. For us, Lexidy is a way of life and what excites us the most is to be able to deliver the happiness and satisfaction of a successful immigration process. We want to help you achieve your goals and dreams.¨

-Immigration Team

Find your Immigration Lawyer

Laura Fuste — Laura Fusté
Head of Immigration Europe

Mónica Isern López
Lawyer, Head of Immigration Spain

Eli Garcia — Elizabeth Garcia
Legal Trainee

Why move to Costa Rica

In the past ten years, immigration to Costa Rica has gained popularity. A number of characteristics and conditions make Costa Rica a special location for working, living, visiting, investing, and learning. Our immigration services in Costa Rica include the evaluation of the country’s top experts and attorneys who help potential immigrants obtain or manage their residency status there in accordance with immigration law by offering timely, pertinent advice as well as in-depth support.

Tell me more!

The Costa Rican Immigration Law, which is frequently amended, governs all petitions for residency in Costa Rica. Our Costa Rican attorneys and other competent specialists must be up to date on the most recent immigration and residence requirements in order to handle this particular issue. Upon meeting the prerequisites for immigration, the Immigration Department examines each application and ultimately grants approval. Consult a professional about the procedures for entering Costa Rica at the moment, the requirements for entering under the various regimes, and the immigration guidance we can offer for the chosen route.

Why is an Immigration lawyer Important?

People are resourceful and have a wealth of information at their fingertips but knowledge must be combined with experience to maximise the chances of success. Immigration law doesn’t fit a template. The law evolves, circumstances change and life happs.

An experienced Immigration lawyer is your guide to a new life in a new country.

They monitor, track and interpret legal and political changes to the law, whether it’s locally in Italy or in your home country.
A lawyer understands the landscape and can advise on better, more affordable options for you.
They have long-lasting relationships with Costa Rica Immigration officials, Embassies and Consulate and can navigate bureaucracy elegantly and swiftly to deliver results.
Immigration experts are exposed to documentation every day, so preparing paperwork successfully is second-nature to them.
Sometimes there are interviews and a seasoned Immigration legal expert will prepare you for that meeting with the officials.

Moving to Costa Rica With Pets

Do you want to move to Costa Rica but want to bring your pet with you? Don’t worry, depending on your pet’s size and weight, you have three major alternatives for getting them to Costa Rica: as carry-on luggage, checked baggage, or freight. At Lexidy we can help you with the all the process and help you immigrate to Costa Rica with your pets.

Moving to Costa Rica with Family

Do you want to move to Costa Rica with your family? It is possible to do so and relatively easy. Costa Rica is a very family-friendly country and either adults and kids will enjoy it. Don’t doubt to contact us and we will help you with the process of relocating to Costa Rica.

Be happy. Join a community of satisfied and successful customers

Myself and my wife wanted to apply for Spain's digital nomad visa from our home country of Turkey and we decided to get help from a local law firm and chose Lexidy. Unfortunately for us, the process did not go as we planned and we regret paying €3000 to Lexidy.- Ever since the beginning, we felt that Lexidy was not familiar with the overall process of digital nomad visa application from Turkey - we believe that accepting our case was a mistake for them.- Lexidy was not aware of the fact that the NIE application had to be done beforehand (we provided this information to Lexidy) and this caused us a 6-week delay in the application process- We could not communicate with the embassy properly and neither could Lexidy- Lexidy filled the NIE forms incorrectly (the embassy wanted our Turkish address and Lexidy recommended to type the city where we wanted to reside in in Spain) - on top of this, they told us that applying for NIE was normally a separate service for which they would normally charge €400 per person. A service that they didn't know was a requirement :)- Lexidy insisted that the translations needed to be done in Spain, and we found out at the application center that most of the documents did not even need to be translated- Lexidy was not aware that an apostilled criminal records certificate from Germany would be necessary (I lived in Germany for 6 months in the past 5 years) - we found out about this at the application centre.- Lexidy did not inform us that we needed to have private health insurance in Spain in order to apply from Turkey - the declaration stating that we would apply for social security in Spain was not sufficient (Lexidy told us that it would be sufficient). Because we didn't have the apostilled criminal records certificate and health insurance, the application centre did not accept our application.We discussed these shortcomings on Lexidy's part and asked for a full refund, but Lexidy only refunded €1000. We ended up doing the research, figuring out the process, and paying €2000 for some emails that didn't really help in our process. I do not recommend their services.

Akif Can Taşkent

15:21 16 Oct 23

We get to know about Spanish Golden Visa by property investment through web searches but as a foreigners we have limited knowledge about Golden Visa application compliance and property sales and purchase governing rules and regulations.There are many websites out there listing out how Golden Visa legal system or property ownership in Spain works but we know it is even beyond language bearer that we need an experience, responsive and dedicated specialist to do the job.We come across Lexidy Law, which specialized in assisting foreigners in Golden Visa application and in our case through the property purchases (there are few types of ways for qualifying on Spanish Golden Visa application).Because of the straightforward services price structure of Lexidy and easy to understand explanations of the home-purchasing process, we felt confident after meeting with Mr.Alejandro who is the first person we met of the application process.During our property purchase, the sale of the house has come to a halt and become a complex and problematic deal as a result of sellers’ family dispute on the sales proceed distribution. The argument lasted for two months, pushing back the completion deadline.The Lexidy real estate team has done an excellent job, in particular with the lead by Señor Juan Diego.Juan is highly knowledgeable, competent and down to earth practical lawyer in this field; his previously work experience in real property gives us good spectrum of views and advices with alternative or solutions and he shows his capability in ranking them logically so we do the decision to choose the best fit for ourselves.He promptly provides updates on every development and highlights complication or consequences from both the seller and buyer perspective (nearly every day). His effective and fluent communication skills in written and spoken English saved thousand words for non Spanish language speakers like us; He maintain his client's best interests in mind yet remain independent in giving his advices.Lexidy's real estate team has spent a considerable amount of time and resources helping us have a successful closure to this property purchase.Yes, we are now proud house owners, and Lexidy didn't charge us extra for the additional work and efforts on the process hiccup. We are impressed and thankful with the professionalism.Thankful Lexidy, it would be impossible for us to have a flawless closure and a successful property transaction which now lead us to the final path of Spanish Golden Visa process which handle by Ms.Laura and her team.It is truly a blessing and we sincerely hope that our review might also benefit you in finding a correct choice of Spanish Golden Visa application service provider.

Yaw Kevin

02:00 27 Sep 23

Exceptional service with exacting details. Not only were the staff friendly but also extremely exhausting to make everything simple, efficient, and clear. Whether it's about the new digital visas or retiring visas, they're your obvious choice!

Mohamed Ramy

09:57 29 Aug 23

A great law firm that covers anything an expat might need. I needed help with real estate initially, and they also helped me with immigration, taxes, and corporate legal matters. Fantastic people to work with. Alejandro from their real estate and immigration department is my main contact and he is an absolute pleasure to work with. Highly recommended!

Jonathan Elron

07:37 13 Aug 23

Absolutely wonderful team that made the visa/residency application process seamless! For any Americans looking for assistance with this process, Lexidy is THE way to go. Great team to work with!!!

Michael Leggett

22:27 17 Jun 23

Poor experience to be honest. Filled out a form to obtain my NIE tax number for Spain on their website.There was a box to tick on there form that asked if I wanted help with a lawyer for buying property, I ticked “NO” the advisor “Alejandro” broke the terms and conditions of my right not to marketed to and reached out anyway multiple times. I decided to book a meeting because even though I have no intention to buy property at least I would learn about the process.Alejandro without even a email or a sorry didn’t turn up to the meeting but his colleague was sent to fill in for him. His colleague was nice and was able to learn lots from him.We agreed they could help with obtaining the NIE and later down the line probably my visa too.Alejandro was suppose to reach back out however after one week, no response. I followed up, again no response.After 33 days Alejandro reaches back out to say “ We still have no answer regarding the possibility of obtaining NIEs for our clients.”In my opinion Alejandro isn’t interested in the small commission from obtaining the NIE. He only wants the big commission from selling a property. This is why he broke the terms and conditions on their application process.My experience with Alejandro has been very poor and disappointing would avoid using him!

Arran Lake

22:20 06 Jun 23

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Moving to Costa Rica

Costa Rica is calling you…

How to move to Costa Rica

About Immigration Department

Find your Immigration Lawyer

Laura Fusté

David Planes

Cristina Negro Vizoso

Mónica Isern López

Gabriela Baly

Francesca Coluccio

Luisa Rivera

Paola Cavalleri

Sandra Faura

Carolina Gimeno

Elizabeth Garcia

Rizette

Why move to Costa Rica

Be happy. Join a community of satisfied and successful customers

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