Need to know about financing a property, setting up a business

Financing is not that prevalent in Costa Rica.  Many banks now will not allow you to open an account without having residency (some still do).  You might want to look at financing in your home country.  Setting up a business within a corporation is simple and a matter of e few hundred dollars.  Running said business and handling employees is a nightmare.  First you cannot perform any work within your own business unless you are a resident and that can take up to a few years (we are at the 17th month mark and still waiting).  You MUST employ residents to work within your business.  Then you get into the matter of employees and all the fees, CAJA, vacation, etc. that you are responsible for.  It is not for the faint of heart.  Insects will vary all over the place depending on what micro-climate that you are within.  I used to get eaten alive by mosquitoes in Canada and here I haven't even had to use repellent.  We are located in the Puriscal area.

You should check out what residency status will be best for you, before committing to any making a move, working or opening a  business.

I would suggest you forgo opening a business until you have lived here for at least a year. If you requiring financing from the bank to do so ... and you manage to get it ... realize that interest rates are high ... and sorry to say, the chance of success is low.

It is said that between 50-60% of those moving here, return to their home country within 3 years.

Hi,
hubby & I are trying to prepare for retirement in 5 years. We will both be on military pensions and plan on trying to find a place in Playa Potrero.  We are heading there in January on a  reconnaissance/vacation trip. Hoping to find the right vibe and area. We have only ever been Carribean, so this will be a new adventure for us.  I am hoping the sun will help offset the SAD that affects him here in Canada with our long winters.

Best of luck! I spent 58 years between British Columbia and Alberta.  We love it here.

When applying for residency as a pensionado, your health care premium with be a percentage of your pension used for the application, so you should use one nearest to US $1000 per month. If the principal applicant is under 55, this can be quite high.
Also suggest you read up on being a 'non-resident of Canada for tax purposes' as 25% of your pension will be 'withheld', so with that and the Canadian dollar, Canadians are taking a beating...

In regards to bug bites: this will be determined by location and by the size & species of the insect that bites you.

It will cost approx $3000 to apply for legal residency, including receiving your cedula and the approx. $350 that will be 'held' if you are deported from the country  and getting residency usually takes a year or more.

Is the $1000USD a month that is declared, before or after,  the withheld income tax (25%) from home country?

You must provide a notarized copy of your pension to Immigration with the rest of the required paperwork, that works out to be at least $1000 US funds. I.E, if you have only one pension of $3000 a month   you will have to declare the whole amount, not just declare $1000. When your pension, hits your Canadian bank account, as a 'non-resident for tax purposes' the 25% of the total pension, will have been deducted.
Because Costa Rica is not part of the Hague convention you can't have it direct deposited into a CR bank.
Although you will be able to open a bank account ... possibly with some difficulty ... you won't be able to transfer funds electronically with other banks, until you have a DIMEX/cedula,

mnnkim wrote:

Is the $1000USD a month that is declared, before or after,  the withheld income tax (25%) from home country?

It is my understanding that what counts is the amount that, say, social security deposits into your bank each month, not the amount after taxes.

Hello everyone,

Please note that i have created a new topic on the Costa Rica forum from several of your posts.

cheers,
Bhavna