Costa Rica: residence and citizenship

The USD 150,000 minimum did not expire: it stands in Reglamento 43926 art. 4, which has no end date. What ended on 14 July 2026 is the five-year window to opt into the Ley 9996 art. 5 incentives (Ley 9996 art. 12, Reglamento 43926 art. 22). Those already granted keep the incentives for ten years from the grant. Ley 9996 itself has not been amended: SINALEVI lists it as version 1 of 1.

USD 150,000. Reglamento 43926 art. 4 sets it for real estate, registrable assets, shares, securities, productive projects, projects of national interest, venture capital funds and sustainable tourism infrastructure. The USD 200,000 figure lived only in Decreto 37112 art. 87, which Reglamento 43926 art. 31 repealed in February 2023, and no rule has restored it. DGME applied USD 150,000 in its resolution DJUR-0045-02-2026-JM of February 2026. Investment in forest plantations has its own lower minimum of USD 100,000 under Ley Forestal 7575 art. 70.

Costa Rican law sets no minimum annual stay. Neither Ley 8764 nor Decreto 37112 contains a four-months-a-year rule. What they set is an absence limit: Ley 8764 art. 129 and Decreto 37112 art. 214 cancel temporary residence after more than two consecutive years abroad and permanent residence after more than four, unless the absence is justified by health, study, family or similar reasons. Naturalisation has its own, stricter residence requirements.

The deposit structure no longer works. Since 23 February 2023, Decreto 37112 art. 2 says a bank deposit paid back in monthly instalments is not income (renta), so depositing USD 60,000 and drawing USD 2,500 a month does not meet art. 99. Art. 99 l) requires a stable, permanent income of at least USD 2,500 a month for at least two years. The income is shown by a document from a Costa Rican bank or a bank in the country where it originates, or, failing that, by a certificate from a Costa Rica-accredited CPA. The USD 60,000 figure is arithmetic (2,500 × 24), not law.

Costa Rica runs a territorial system under Ley 7092 art. 1. Foreign-source income is generally outside the charge, and there is no net-wealth tax and no inheritance tax. Crucially, Costa Rica was removed from the EU's lists entirely on 18 February 2025, something Panama cannot say, so its banking is clean by regional standards. Two things are worth watching. Ley 10.381 imposes 15% on foreign passive income of non-qualified entities within multinational groups. Under art. 2 quater a multinational group means two or more related legal entities resident in different jurisdictions, so individuals are outside its scope. And income from your own labor while you are physically in Costa Rica counts as Costa Rican-source income, regardless of who pays it.

CCSS is Costa Rica's social security system, and affiliation is compulsory for residents across the Inversionista, Rentista and Pensionado routes. Contributions are assessed on declared income, and in practice on declared worldwide income, which sits oddly with a territorial tax system and catches people by surprise. It is a real, recurring monthly cost, and marketing material routinely leaves it out when quoting the headline investment figure.

You need USD 1,000 a month from a lifetime pension under Decreto 37112 art. 100. That is a materially lower bar than the Rentista route, and it lines up with Panama's own threshold. Costa Rica accepts private pension schemes more readily than Panama does, so it is reachable even if your income is not a government pension. As with every Costa Rican route, portfolio income does not qualify, and mandatory CCSS affiliation applies.

Costa Rica allows dual citizenship, so you keep your existing nationality. Naturalisation by residence generally takes seven years. That drops to five for Ibero-Americans and Spaniards, but only by birth, so a naturalised Spaniard does not get the shortcut. Applicants also sit a Spanish language and Costa Rican history and values exam, with a pass mark of 70 and a fee of CRC 10,000 each. The elderly and the medically impeded are exempt. DGME processing backlogs are severe, so budget a year or more even for the residency stage.