Residency or Not?? Looking for testimonials, not opinions. thx

You're asking about becoming a "perpetual tourist". As such, you will always be an invited guest in Costa Rica. You will not be eligible for health care in the CAJA system, which many find satisfactory, and your "right" to enter and reenter the country will always be entirely at the whim of whatever Immigration officer you happen to encounter. You have no guarantee of admission, so assume that you will not be readmitted and make provisions for the dog or cat, your money, etc. If you have precious belongings, take them with you when you leave.

Thanks, I guess.  I already knew about the No Caja; and 'whims' of the immigration officers.   

Do you actually know somebody who left and then when they tried to return, was not allowed to re-enter??

I'm looking for testimonials from people who are not residents nor citizens; but live here anyway and do the exit/re-entry thing.  Maybe I wasn't clear.

thanks

Sorry. In the absence of any replies to your inquiry from those who have done it, I thought maybe my insights would be instructive. Apparently not. I'll try to be more careful in the future.

Actually, I do know about a woman who went to Nicaragua and, upon trying to re-enter Costa Rica, was not admitted because she could not demonstrate that she had sufficient funds to support herself here. The Costa Rican Immigration officer was demanding that she be able to demonstrate  having $600, but I could be mistaken on that.

Hmmmm. This is an interesting post. I would definitely like to hear other’s testimonials.

@daveandmarcia

OK...  that is something.

The immigration officers at the border are going to possibly be a 'thorn' in such a plan.  I'm guessing that flying out and coming back in from North America, or elsewhere (anywhere but Nic. or Panama) is going to be the safer and most legitimate re-entry.  You can say that you went to a funeral for a loved one; or to visit a sick relative, a wedding, etc.   Just going to Nic for the day or for an overnighter will raise eyebrows... especially if, for some reason, you are memorable.   One would think that the guys at the border would be accustomed to this by now.  It's not like the perpetual tourists aren't Contributing to the CR economy, which helps to pay the border agent salaries.   Whatever.   Maybe the whole increase in drug trafficking has them extra cautious and suspicious.   

I wonder (because I've been here long enough to know things) ... if the woman you spoke of DID have $600 on her, if placing it in his hand would have made the 'return' a little smother?   Was he $600 short on his child support??  Car payment?  Perhaps he sould have tried for less and actually ended up with something.... ??

I know that in order to get 'into' Panama, a person has to show some sort of Plane or Bus ticket to EXIT Panama...  I get it that these countries just don't want a bunch of broke, backpacker 'slackers' wandering across their borders and thus, staying too long and trying to work in order to move on... This aint the 60's, or even the 80's when you could wander the world and spend a few months picking olives or oranges in order to pay for the next leg of your journey.  How lucky I feel to have lived back then... and picking oranges wasn't that bad!!  Cypress was worth it.

Anyway....    the world we live in...

Good to know, Dave..   

You always come through....   

Gracias.

rainagain, the woman I know of who was denied re-entry did not have $600 in the bank or anywhere else. She survived by working illegally as a real estate agent and spent time as a perpetual tourist because she did not have the income required to become a legal resident. In those days, $600 was the required minimum guaranteed income to qualify as a pensionado. There was no issue of bribing the Immigration officer or anyone else.

Strange that they asked her that...  It must have been obvious that she wasn't the typical tourist. 

She was living here on borrowed time and breaking the law. 

I'm always surprised that people don't do their homework before coming here.... as if they are moving from Iowa to New Mexico. 

Your observation that she was "breaking the law" is an interesting one. I've never understood why Costa Rica has three legal "statuses" for individuals who live here -- temporary legal resident, permanent legal resident, and citizen. To that, in effect there is that fourth (questionably legal) status -- perpetual tourist(PT).

If Costa Rica requires those who apply for one of the first three legal statuses to meet certain criteria (income, criminal background, legal identification, etc) then why would it also permit those who meet none of those criteria to also live here indefinitely? If someone who has a criminal record would not be permitted to become a legal resident, why do they allow that person to live here indefinitely as a PT? If a person doesn't have the minimum monthly guaranteed income to meet the legal requirement, why is that person permitted to remain as a PT?

I have recently read that there are either 70,000 expats living here or that the number is 10,000. Maybe the writers were counting different things. Regardless, even 70,000 expats, some of whom cannot meet the income requirements for legal residency, cannot be making such a positive impact on the economy of some 5,000,000 native Costa Ricans to willingly permit those who cannot or do not apply for or qualify for legal residency to remain indefinitely.

All valid points. 

When I wrote that she was breaking the law, I was referring to what you wrote, that she was, "working illegally as a real estate agent."   I'm surprised that whatever 'agency' she was working for didn't vet her status.  Whatever..  i hope she is doing well, somewhere.

But yes, the PT thing is a strange phenom.  Sometimes it sounds very chaotic (like when they had to leave every 90 days) and other times it sort of makes sense, especially if you aren't prone to planting your feet in one place for more than a few years.

Interesting, some people from the US who travel to Canada are turned away from the Canadian border patrol simply because they have a DUI on their record.  One would think that with 'technology?'  that basically, any fully evolved Border Patrol Apparatus in ANY country, would be able to implement a system that checks the criminal record of an incoming visitor via an international data base of some kind.  Or ...  it happens at the departure airport and saves the person with the 'mark' on their record from making a surprise 'round trip'.

Bottom line Dave.... it's ...  $$$$$$$.

CR wants and needs ALL tourists and their cash.  The country took a beating during Covid.  And if they are making some dough off the PT's... then ??

I'm guessing most PT's pay rent, buy food, eat in restaurants, shop, and even pay cash for some emergency or non-serious medical needs.  Some may even get visitors from abroad, who also come and spend $$.

But because they are PT.'s.. they can easily get the boot for even a minor offence; so that is one caveat that they must live by.

I'm not sure about your assumption that PT's can't all meet the requirements for Residency... but it is always something I think about when they post inquiries on this forum that seem a little more than just vague... As in, they leave out the basic information about themselves.  People like you and I respond by asking the basic questions, and quite often; we get no response.  That generally tells me that they didn't do their own research ahead of time and didn't consider Residency or that it comes with 'requirements', can't meet income or ID requirements, or they have a SCAR on their criminal record.  A gun, drunk driving, or domestic abuse 'flaw' on the record up there doesn't really affect much and most violators live their lives without any real, legal issues.  I'm sure that's why the RED states don't want background checks for gun ownership... 90% of applicants would get turned down.  Aint I right Bubba??   LOL  From cops, to teachers, to preachers.

But I'm glad CR, just like USA, checks for those things before they allow a person to move here, permanently, from a foreign land.   One thing that I think of, from time to time, is that $300 airfare 'fee' that a person has to pay during their Residency Application process.  It's 'supposed' to cover flying a bad actor out of CR when and if they break the law... or, CR has decided that enough is enough.  I was told that even with Citizenship... not to expect getting that fee returned.  Hahahahaha!!   

Nothing lasts forever (except this friggin RAIN) so, someday, the PT lifestyle may come to a screeching halt without much notice.  Sad day for them and those who profit from them.

I guess that "Fourth Status" is kept laying around so that short-term visitors (tourists) will drop cash and then fly away before they've had a chance to do any wrong...  the PT's are one of those situations that just seemed to slip through the cracks.  If and when it becomes a major issue; we'll see people writing about it here!!

Peace