POSTERN

Costa Rica

Categoría Pensionado. A renewable two-year residence for anyone with a lifetime pension of at least $1,000 a month.

Free · The law behind every answer · Checked Sep 27, 2026

Categoría Pensionado

Renewable 2-year temporary residence, plus Law 9996 tax and import incentives (one-time duty exemption on household goods and a vehicle).

Who qualifies

You keep your U.S. citizenship.

1

Does it fit your family?

2 questions, from the program’s own rules.

Steady monthly income, from any source?

Not legal advice.

2

What it takes.

Income
At least $1,000 a month, steady and documented.
Time
3–6 months to process with the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería.
Cost
About $250–500 in government fees, plus $1,000–2,000 in typical attorney fees.
The hard part
The pension must be certified as a genuine lifetime payment, apostilled, from the paying institution; lump sums and temporary annuities do not qualify.

Dollar figures are converted from the local currency at the rate the program’s research used; the official figure is in the local currency.

3

Citizens by 2035.

If your first permit is issued in 2027 and you keep living there, this is the road.

  1. 2027
    First residence permit

    2 years, renewable for 2 years at a time.

  2. 2029
    Renew the permit

    Filed before the old one lapses; renews for 2 years.

  3. 2030
    Permanent residence

    Three years in a row on temporary residence. Student and special categories do not qualify. Permanent residents must keep up their national health-insurance (CCSS) payments to renew the card.

  4. 2034
    Apply for citizenship

    With a language test and a civics test.

  5. 2035
    Citizenship
Language
Speak, read and write Spanish, shown by passing the Education Ministry's naturalisation Spanish exam or by Costa Rican schooling.
Civics
The Education Ministry's Estudios Sociales exam on Costa Rican history and values; pass mark 70. Older adults are exempt.
Time away
Seven (or five) years of official, continuous residence. The TSE asks two witnesses to confirm you have lived there throughout and accepts social-security or medical records as extra proof. No day count for absences is published.
Two passports
Yes. You keep your U.S. citizenship.
  • Temporary residence for up to two years at a time; permanent residence after three years in a row. The permit is cancelled after more than two consecutive years away.
  • Whether the clock starts at the first temporary permit: the Constitution says 'officially resided', and temporary residence is official residence, but I did not see the TSE rule that sets the start date.
  • No absence limit for naturalisation was found. To keep the permit itself, a temporary resident may not be away more than two years in a row and a permanent resident more than four.
  • Decision time: the TSE's legal limit is 285 working days (about 13 months). I found no figure for practice.
  • Dual citizenship: the Constitution's naturalisation article asks for no renunciation, so Costa Rica lets you keep your old citizenship; the home country's own rules still apply.
  • 'Central Americans' is not defined in the Constitution; Belize is left off the five-year list.
  • Remote-worker stay: Law 8764 gives it one year, extendable once by the same period. The subcategory's heading did not extract from the PDF, and the migration service's own page returned 403.
  • The earlier research says Law 9996 residents must enter Costa Rica at least once a year; not confirmed today.
  • How long the decision takes isn’t published; we allow a year.
The law behind these dates
4

Living there.

Time you must spend there
Must enter Costa Rica at least once a year to keep the status active.
Tax
Costa Rica taxes territorial-source income only; the foreign pension itself is not taxed there.

We never file a tax return. We tell you what applies and brief the professional who does.

5

Start today.

  1. File under Law 9996's Pensionado category with Costa Rica's Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería.Open ecija.com ↗
  2. Round up the papers.
    • Proof of steady income: at least $1,000 a month
    • Request your FBI Identity History Summary
    • Health cover for the move
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Or let us run it.

$900for your first year as a founding member. Then $399 a year, automatically.Standard first year: $1,200. Everyone renews at $399.One membership, the whole family. Accounts and activation included.

19 steps, from the first paper to the passport. You do 4 of them: send what we ask for, sign, and show up. We run the rest, and keep every permit renewed on time. Accounts and activation are included, whether you move now or keep the plan ready. Accounts depend on provider availability. Government, record and approved third-party charges are extra.

Run it for my family →
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ISSUED TO

YOUR FAMILY

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