Can a person forfeit their residency status in Costa Rica?

You apply for CAJA and must show a paid receipt for the first months premium, at Immigration, before you sign the legal paperwork, get fingerprinted and receive your cedula stating you are now a legal Temporary Resident, so I expect that you may cancel out at this point, although the funds you have paid for the residency application would not be refunded to you. Otherwise, once you have legal residency and as long as you live in Costa Rica as a 'legal Resident', you cannot 'opt out' except if you have gained citizenship.
You are also required at this point before getting your cedula, to 'deposit' approx $350 per person in your family, the cost of an air ticket out of Costa Rica (not necessary to your home country as that will probably cost more) in case you are considered persona non grata and deported. This additional cost is not usually included in the fees you are required to pay to your lawyer nor is the cost of the actual cedula ... or a renewal of a cedula ... at $130 each, including the delivery fee.
If you decide to leave Costa Rica for good, you can apply for this 'deportation' fee to be returned, but it could take a year before you receive the funds.. If you just 'up and leave' or stop paying CAJA without advising CAJA that you will be leaving, your CAJA bill will keep growing ... and you will not be permitted to renter the country until is is paid 'up to date'.

*Please confirm with your lawyer regarding this information, as I am by no means an expert. .

After reading all this information on CAJA I now understand why there are so many perpetual tourists in Costa Rica.  If you can't get out of residency status once you are in "that's scary".

Edward1958 wrote:

After reading all this information on CAJA I now understand why there are so many perpetual tourists in Costa Rica.  If you can't get out of residency status once you are in "that's scary".

I'm curious how much your CAJA is that it would cause you to prefer to be a perpetual tourist. And is it not worth it to have health insurance?
Just curious, as you're the first person I've ever seen ask this question.

It seems to be that non payment of your CAJA premium and not renewing your cedula which you can't do with an up to date receipt of payment, you would revert to having 'tourist status'.

Edward1958 has mentioned that he is not a legal Resident, so is what many call 'a perpetual tourist...'