This central American country has been popular with US retirees for decades, and for good reason: The country’s green environs, its laid-back way of living, and a high quality of life that includes a well-developed and supportive expat community are all incentives that make relocating here entirely worth your while. The relative ease of establishing residency is a bonus as well.
Costa Rica’s pensionado visa grants temporary residency to approved applicants of any age who make a minimum income of $1,000 a month, either from a retirement fund or a permanent pension source. Once settled, most retiree couples can live well within the country for as little as $2,000 per month. This includes making a small monthly contribution (approximately 7 to 11% of your monthly pension) to Costa Rica’s universal healthcare system, the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social, which guarantees services to all of the country’s residents.
Requirements: Proof of a permanent monthly income of $1,000 is really all that’s required for retirees to obtain temporary residency in Costa Rica. Any foreign national can then apply for permanent citizenship after three years, as long as they’ve stayed in the country for four months (continuous or discontinuous) per year and renewed their visa after two years. After seven years, they can even apply for citizenship by naturalization and obtain a Costa Rican passport, without having to renounce previous nationalities. As a pensionado visa holder, temporary residents can also establish a business or work independently—just not as an employee.
Another option for retirees is the two-year inversionista visa, which requires a one-time investment of $200,000 in either an active business, real estate, stocks, or securities; or an investment of $100,000 in forest plantations. As with Colombia, there is currently no US–Costa Rica tax treaty, but the IRS tax credits will typically help expats get around any extraneous dues.
