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JASON HOLLAND
ParticipantHi Grainne,
The closest international airport to Tamarindo is actually Liberia, which is then an hour by taxi to Tamarindo, versus five hours by bus or shuttle from San Jose. (Never take a taxi from San Jose to Tamarindo!). But flights into Liberia tend to be more expensive. So you have to balance out the cost versus time for your trip. By the way, good shuttle companies for transport around Costa Rica are Interbus and Grayline.
ParticipantHi Grainne,
My family is in Florida, so that’s where we go for visits back to the U.S. Try JetBlue. Tickets are regularly available for about $200, sometimes less, each way from Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, perhaps some other cities in the state. If you’re in another part of the state and you have a connection, it’ll be more, of course.
ParticipantHi Joel,
Unfortunately, I don’t know any former federal employees. But my suggestion would be to keep your benefits. You never know when they might come in handy. First, you’ll be covered for visits back home – you don’t want to go the hospital without insurance in the U.S. – I know that from personal experience. And there’s always the chance you’ll move back to the U.S.
ParticipantHi Joel,
Anyone who becomes a resident of Costa Rica, say through the pensionado program, is required to join Caja. Caja is the universal, government-run healthcare system. After you pay your fee you are given free medical care, including doctor’s visits, prescriptions, diagnostic testing, surgery… everything. Being a government-run system catering to the whole population, there can be wait times and inefficiency. But in general the Caja system gets pretty high marks for its level of care.
The fee does depend on income and is 7% – 11% of your monthly, depending on several factors. Most expat couples pay about $50 to $75 per month each to be part of Caja.
ParticipantHi Michael,
Great question. I don’t have the technology background to answer this properly, probably.
But during my trips to the Southern Zone I didn’t have any issues with picking up multiple radio stations that I recall. Perhaps the antenna in your rental car was faulty. Did you have good reception in more populated areas with the car? I know I’ve sometimes had issues with my cell phone in that area if a mountain was blocking the nearest tower – perhaps something similar was going on with the radio?
Radio is pretty popular throughout Costa Rica, so I can’t imagine the various stations wouldn’t have ways of getting their signal throughout the country. The Southern Zone is off the beaten path somewhat but not totally remote – I’d imagine they’d try to reach the audience there.
April 27, 2014 at 12:45 am in reply to: Putting all the pieces together for a 1 year sabbatical #556436ParticipantSounds like you have a great trip planned. In answer to your questions…
1. Yes, you will have to exit and re-enter Costa Rica every 3 months (technically 90 days) to renew your tourist visas. It is very important to not overstay your visa or you could be deported. If you planned to make permanent or multi-year move to CR I would say look into residency. But if you know you’re staying only a year, “border runs” are a good option.
Some stuff to keep in mind. Always always always have a ticket out of Costa Rica within 90 days when you arrive in the country. This goes for border runs and even your initial flight in. When you fly in that return ticket should be a plane ticket back home. No one way tickets. You could buy a refundable ticket and simply change the date after you arrive. When you cross the land border into Costa Rica you could show a plane ticket or a bus ticket out of the country. Bus tickets are available to buy at the border.
Most border runs go pretty smoothly. But there can be issues. Sometimes the border official will only give you 60 days or 30 days… it’s up to their discretion. Sometimes they’ll make you stay out of Costa Rica for 3 hours or 6 hours before re-entering… other times you can simply exit Costa Rica, enter Nica or Panama, and then exit Nica or Panama, and then enter Costa Rica again in less than an hour. You just never know for sure what’s going to happen. For that reason, many people head into either country for a couple days as a mini vacation.
Some people have been doing this border runs for years and years and most have never had a problem. As people deciding to only stay a year you shouldn’t have any issues. So why is it so complicated you might ask? Well, tourist visas are designed for tourists, who stay only temporarily and then go back home. When you try to use this border run strategy it’s not illegal but it’s basically a loophole and Costa Rican immigration is not a big fan of people using that loophole. The govt would prefer people to seek formal residency status.
2. Your husband won’t have any issues as long as whenever he flies into Costa Rica he has a return ticket within 90 says.
3. A long long list. There is a lot to keep track of and prepare before making this move. I couldn’t list everything here. But as you do your research and prep work please contact me here with specific questions.
ParticipantYou’re right. That itinerary is pretty ambitious. But it’s doable.
I don’t know of anyone who could organize a trip of this scope. Most relocation tours focus on one region. I would suggest planning the itinerary yourself, contacting real estate agents and schools in the areas you hope to visit in advance so you can have meetings and appointments lined up. I would also recommend renting a car to get around. With this timeframe it’s best to have that mobility.
As far as international schools, there is one on the Central Pacific called Falcon International: http://www.falconicr.com
And on the northern Pacific, near Playa Flamingo, you’ll find Country Day School – Guanacaste ( http://www.cdsgte.com) and La Paz (www.lapazschool.org ), as well as Green Life Academy in Playas del Coco (http://greenlifeacademy.wordpress.com). There’s no major international school in the Southern Zone. But you will find a smaller school that is well-regarded called Escuela Verde: http://www.escuelaverdecostaballena.com
ParticipantHi Jerry,
Great question. For those not drawing Social Security or a pension, there are a couple of options as far as residency.
Rentista is a category for people with $2,500 a month in non-job income, so dividends would count there. You can also make a deposit of $60,000 in a Costa Rican bank to qualify for this category.
Inversionista requires an investment of $200,000 or more in a business or commercial or residential property, which could be your home.
For specific questions on your case and qualification status I would suggest you contact a Costa Rican attorney who works with expats to get residency. Roger Petersen is a frequent speaker at IL events and is very experienced in these matters: http://www.plawcr.com
ParticipantHi Grainne,
In Tamarindo, you might try Villa Alegre, which is technically in Playa Langosta but still within a quick walk of Tamarindo. I don’t have any recos for Coco, I’ve never stayed overnight there. But you could check TripAdvisor.com. I always get good places out of that site.
Jason
ParticipantHi Grainne,
Sounds like a fun trip. You’ll definitely be busy visiting all those locations, checking out real estate, meeting an attorney, and doing the fun stuff. Doable. But you’ll need a vacation from your vacation, as they say. 🙂
In answer to your questions…
June, July, or August are pretty much the same. It’ll be rainy season, so expect heavy afternoon showers, though less so in Coco and Tamarindo. But it’s also low season, so less tourists and “snowbirds.”
As far as renting a car, my recommendation would be to get a car when you first arrive. Considering your the places you want to check out, you have two options. You could fly into Liberia, in the northern part of the country, which is near Tamarindo and Coco – about an hour by car from each. Or you could fly into San Jose, which is an hour to an hour and a half from Herradura and Jaco. The distance between the two areas, Central Pacific and Northern Pacific, is about 5 – 6 hours.
For accommodation, that’s a tough one. It really depends on how flexible you want to be. But keep in mind that Tamarindo or Coco would be a good home base to explore real estate and different towns in that region, same for Jaco and Herradura. So no need to stay in a different place every night.
The Rolodex is an excellent source of contacts as far as legal and real estate help. But I would try to set up appointments before the trip to make sure you get a chance to meet with them.
All the areas you mention have opportunities for fun. All sorts of activities are available. Ziplining will have to be done with a guide at that age. I don’t have any particular outfitters in mind for those areas.
ParticipantHi Sylvie,
Due to regulations like FATCA, banks around the world are now compelled to give details on their U.S. account holders to the IRS. In some countries, banks have decided not to do business with U.S. citizens anymore. Not so in Costa Rica – at least not yet. A U.S. citizen can open an account in any Costa Rican bank – same for expats from other countries. As a Canadian you’re totally in the clear. 🙂
There are some requirements however. First you have to be a legal resident of Costa Rica, in the pensionado residence program, for example. You cannot open an account on a tourist visa – this rule was instituted a few years ago to combat money laundering. You’ll also need to bring a referral letter (from a current customer of the bank, for example), a utility bill from where you live in Costa Rica (no need to own the property), proof of your income source, and your passport.
ParticipantHi Grainne,
International Living does have a newsletter focused on business-minded expats called Fund Your Life. You can sign up free here: https://internationalliving.com/fund-your-life/
There is also a paid newsletter that comes out monthly with more in-depth profiles and such. It’s called Incomes Abroad and you can find out more about it here: https://internationalliving.com/fund-your-life/incomes-abroad/
ParticipantHi Grainne,
I would say a good mix of tourist business friendly and family friendly with good schools would be the northern Pacific coast (towns like Tamarindo and Playas del Coco), central Pacific (towns like Jaco, Herradura, and surrounding area), and the mountain region of Monteverde. The Southern Zone (towns like Uvita and Dominical) would also be worth a look, although schools there tend to be more homegrown/parent run affairs – best for younger kids, in my opinion. You can find a bunch of info on schools there at these links:
https://internationalliving.com/country_clubs/costa-rica/moving-to-costa-rica/
Monteverde:
The Friends School: http://mfschool.orgCloud Forest School: http://cloudforestschool.org
Remember that home schooling is also an option. It’s technically not allowed by the Costa Rican government, but plenty of people do it under the radar.
ParticipantHi Grainne,
It’s hard to say why a B&B or any business would be for sale. Sometimes people get burned out, some decide to retire, some had an idea they would like to run a B&B and then decided it wasn’t for them, some have personal issues and they leave the country, some made bad business decisions. It could be a lot of things.
On the other hand, a lot of B&Bs and other businesses thrive and the people run them happily for years.
Costa Rica gets a lot of tourists, so that industry is one of the better ones to be involved in. But it’s also competitive, especially in the beach communities.
My suggestion would be to thoroughly research the individual business, the local competition, and the surrounding community and region – and then visit in person for an extended period – to check if it’s a viable opportunity. I think you have a good instinct for buying instead of building – from the people I’ve spoken with it seems like the options with less stress and hassle.
ParticipantYes, they are very strict about vaccinations here for kids – it’s the law. You’d need to bring a vaccination record from the U.S. to be eligible to attend school.
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