POSTERN

Costa Rica

Estancia para Trabajadores Remotos y Prestadores de Servicios. A one-year, once-renewable stay (not full residence) for remote workers and freelancers whose income and clients are entirely outside Costa Rica.

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

Estancia para Trabajadores Remotos y Prestadores de Servicios

One-year stay, renewable once for a second year; exempt from Costa Rican income tax on the qualifying income; can open a bank account and get a driver's license.

Who qualifies

You keep your U.S. citizenship.

1

Does it fit your family?

3 questions, from the program’s own rules.

Steady monthly income, from any source?

Not legal advice.

2

What it takes.

Income
Steady income each month, rising with each person who moves.
Just you$3,000
2 people$4,000
4 people$6,000
Time
15–30 days official processing, though gathering documents typically takes 1–2 months.
Cost
About $500–1,500 including document legalization; the government fee itself is modest.
The hard part
Proving income is 100% foreign-sourced and that no Costa Rican client relationship exists at all.

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

This door stops short of a passport.

  1. 2027
    First residence permit

    1 year, renewable for 1 year at a time.

  2. 2028
    Renew the permit

    Filed before the old one lapses; renews for 1 year.

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.
  • Time on this program does not count toward permanent residence or citizenship; the family would need to switch to one that does.
  • A one-year stay renewable once, not residence; the time builds nothing toward permanence or citizenship. Switching to Rentista starts the clock.
  • 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.
The law behind these dates
4

Living there.

Time you must spend there
No minimum days in Costa Rica are required; this is a stay category, not a residence one that builds toward permanence.
Tax
The qualifying remote-work income is exempt from Costa Rican income tax.

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

5

Start today.

  1. Register on the DGME's digital nomad platform and book an appointment.Open migracion.go.cr ↗
  2. Round up the papers.
    • Proof of steady income: at least $3,000 a month
    • Request your FBI Identity History Summary
    • Health cover for the move
6

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.

16 steps, from the first paper to every renewal. 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 →
7
ISSUED TO

YOUR FAMILY

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