You CANNOT work in Costa Rica!
You cannot work in Costa Rica unless you have a work permit or the proper type of residency that allows you to do so. You cannot work while living in the country with a Tourist Visa, Rentista Status or Pensionado status. You are actually forbidden to do so by the Costa Rican government. You cannot take the job that a Costa Rican can do. This is the law!!!
Work permits are difficult to impossible to get unless a company is willing to sponsor you. The only companies that do this are large, financially established, well-known by the Costa Rican government. The only people that are approved for permits with these companies are executives for the most part.
If you are living in Costa Rica legally, you can start your own business but you CANNOT work it this business.
There is only one type of visa that allows you to work and live in Costa Rica and that is Permanent Resident Investor Status which gives you all of the rights that a Costa Rican citizen has. This comes with one exception and that is becoming politically involved. You are not permitted to vote in any Costa Rica election but you can work.
You cannot move to Costa Rica and start working. Well you can but if you do, you can get into some serious trouble and will be deported loosing anything that you have bought or business you have established while living in the country.
This has happened to too many Expats to list. Foreigners, usually from North America, come down and buy property or a business and begin working without getting the right paperwork taken care of ie., residency visa. They are caught by immigration, usually because they have upset a Costa Rican in some way. The Costa Rican turns them into immigration and they are kicked out of the country and not allowed to return for 10 years.
You do not want this to happen to you.
If you would like more information on how you can get the right type of residency, please email us.
I want you to know that you can’t just fly in and start working, You CANNOT work in Costa Rica!!!!
Filed under: Business in Costa Rica, Living in Costa Rica, Moving to Costa Rica, Working in Costa Rica
When you say “You CANNOT work in Costa Rica!!!!”, does that include blogging, and making a living off the internet?
My article was directed more to people that want to come to Costa Rica and work in the tourist industry or banking or retail. I get so many calls like this each month that I felt I needed to put this out.
There are MANY people that make their living on the internet. But you do want to be living in the country legally. Something that you should check into, or let us do for you is what is required to live in the country legally. CR frowns on perpetual tourism and have been saying for years that they are going to put a stop to it.
We do have a solution to this issue.
So, if I understand correctly, Teaching ESL/EFL is one of the possible legal jobs for an Ex-Pat in CR? Hypathetically, if you are there, can you apply to let’s say Berlitz and get a job as an ESL/EFL teacher? (Especially if you are one now in the US? OR what is the correct route to do this?
Thanks (and love this site and it’s info)
JMS
You CANNOT work as a teacher without a work visa. Many of the schools will hire you without it but it is definitely illegal. My advise would be… If you get a job with a school as an ESL teacher, tell them that you want for them to apply for a work permit for you or you will not take the job. Most will not but there are some that will.
The trouble with working in one of these schools is that they are always on the radar for the immigration police and raided a LOT!. If you are caught working on a tourist visa (this is what you come into the country with) you will be deported immediately and not be able to return to Costa Rica for 10 years.
What documents does immigration require if I move to Costa Rica from Mexico (I am a US citizen living in Mexico for many years) and want to sell real estate and work for a real estate company in San Juan? Please advise as I am considering moving there and want to work in real estate as I do here in Mexico. Thanks!
Hi, I’m a Canadian living in the US, researching the possibility of moving to Costa Rica, to play online poker professionally.
Do you have any info on the legalities of this, or is there someone or somewhere you can recommend I can find all the answers I will have?
Thank you.