Costa Rica · Residency by investment
Inversionista Residency
USD 150,000 under Ley 9996 art. 8 and Reglamento 43926 art. 4; DGME still publishes 150,000. CRITICAL: Ley 9996 took force 14 July 2021 and art. 12 permits opting into its incentives 'únicamente durante los primeros cinco años' — that window closed on 14 July 2026, the day before this file was verified. Whether the threshold now reverts to USD 200,000 is genuinely unresolved and we do not assert either way.
At USD 150,000 this was the cheapest investor residency in Central America and it buys into a genuinely stable country that the EU removed from its lists entirely in February 2025 — something Panama cannot say. The problem is timing: the incentive window closed on 14 July 2026 and nobody yet knows what the threshold is on 15 July.
Qualifying routes
reduced from USD 200,000 by Ley 9996 in 2021; USD 100,000 was never the figure, contrary to widespread claims
same threshold; project must be of national interest
The facts
- Minimum investment
- $150k
- Total landed cost
- USD 150k investment plus roughly USD 5–12k in legal and government fees for a family; mandatory CCSS social security affiliation is an ongoing monthly cost
- Timeline
- 8–24 months — DGME backlogs are severe and have run well beyond a year
- Physical presence
- No annual minimum. Ley 8764 art. 214: temporary residency is cancelled after more than two consecutive years' absence; permanent residency after more than four.
- Family
- spousechildren under 25disabled adult children
- Permanent residency
- 3 consecutive years (Decreto 37112 art. 208)
- Citizenship
- 7 years; 5 years for Ibero-Americans and Spaniards by birth
- Language test
- Spanish plus a Costa Rican history and values examination, pass mark 70, CRC 10,000 each; exempt for the elderly or the medically impeded
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- qualifying investment of USD 150,000, documented and maintainedclean criminal record, apostilledCCSS affiliationrenewal every two years with proof the investment persists
- The Ley 9996 five-year opt-in window closed 14 July 2026. Anyone mid-application should get an urgent status check. Applicants already granted keep their benefits for ten years from grant. We found no extension bill, but proving that negative is inherently uncertain.
- Whether USD 150,000 reverts to USD 200,000 is an unresolved legal conflict. Reglamento 43926 art. 31 repealed Decreto 37112 arts. 87–93, which held the old 200,000 figure — so arguably no 200,000 norm survives to revert to — but Ley 9996 art. 8's 'por el plazo que establece la presente ley' cuts the other way. This needs a DGME or PGR criterio. Do not rely on either number without checking.
- The widely-repeated 'four months per year' presence rule appears to be a myth: 'cuatro meses' returns zero hits in Ley 8764. The real rule is art. 214's two-year (temporary) and four-year (permanent) absence limits.
- CCSS social security affiliation is mandatory for residents and is assessed on declared income. It is a real recurring cost that marketing material routinely omits.
- DGME processing backlogs are severe — budget a year or more, not the months often quoted.
- The 5-year naturalisation shortcut applies to Ibero-Americans and Spaniards BY BIRTH only. A naturalised Spaniard does not get it.