Costa Rica´s Best Guide Online Magazine

THE NEW PENSIONADO LAW By The Editor

The New Pensionado Law 9996 to Attract Foreign Investors and Pensioners. The Project to attract foreign investors and pensioners - File 22 156 is an initiative which was proposed by the past Government of Costa Rica and which was aimed at contributing to the post pandemic reactivation of the Costa Rican economy and would have an effective term of 5 years from the moment the Law is published and has the option to extend up to a decade. It reduces from US$200,000 the amount required to "This project was presented to be able to give benefits, to be able to contribute, to be able to attract new capital to the Costa Rican economy”.

qualify for Residency under the Inversionista Resident program, down to US$150,000. The previous Law said the following for the Investors and their Dependents category of residency applicants: Article 87.- For the application for temporary residence as an investor, the interested foreign person must demonstrate their investment with a capital of not less than US$ 150,000 (one hundred and fifty thousand dollars) according to the official sale exchange rate determined by the BCCR, and whether in real estate, registrable assets, shares, securities and productive projects or projects of national interest such as sustainable tourism infrastructure. In those cases where the investment is regulated by special laws, it will be analyzed individually. The new bill

establishes that this will apply to all those persons who are authorized to enter our country under the immigration categories of Investors, Retired Residents or Rentista Residents. Former President Alvarado had pointed out that “This project will help the economic reactivation of our country, since for more than four decades our country has granted certain benefits to attracting investors, rentiers and pensioners; Due to what our country is currently living under COVID and what is happening worldwide, this project was presented to be able to give benefits, to be able to contribute, to be able to attract new capital to the Costa Rican economy”. While the Law was approved in the Legislative Assembly and posted in La Gaceta, the official new laws newspaper on

158

COSTA RICA ´ S BEST GUIDE MAGAZINE