Move to Costa Rica
Three phases to land and settle: the week before you fly, the week of arrival, and the first month. Print it, check things off as you go, and tap through to the residency track, the notary, or the neighbourhood scouting when an item needs a partner.
Guaria · Costa Rica relocation punch list
Printed on 2026-09-29 · guaria.polsia.app/relocate · guaria.polsia.app/relocate
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Documents that need apostille chains, wires that need their beneficiary banks to clear before the flight, and a SIM/hardware setup you can land ready to use. Choose your neighborhood before you commit to a rental.
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Apostille your birth, marriage, and academic records
Six-month window from issuance — anything older gets rejected at filing. Two certified copies plus four regular photos per record, notarised bilingual.
Book the ICA-certified departure medical
Required within the 90-day-pre-filing window for the investor and pensionado tracks — chest X-ray, HIV panel, and the standard bloodwork panel.
Pre-stage the residency-qualifying capital wire
Route through a BCCR-recognised institution (BAC, BCR, Banco Nacional). Source-of-funds traces clear faster when the destination account is already open.
Flag your home-country accounts for travel + add Costa Rica
Prevents ATM denials on day one and keeps the recurring wire from triggering a fraud hold.
Confirm your phone is factory-unlocked for Costa Rica bands
Bands 4 (AWS) + 28 (700 MHz) for the best ICE/Kolbi reception. Ask your carrier to release the IMEI lock, or grab a cheap local device as a SIM test bed.
Compile your medical records + current prescription list
Bring a printed bilingual summary, an extra 90-day supply of any maintenance medication, and copies of the latest imaging.
Scout your target neighborhood — short-term rentals, commutes, weekend noise
Spend three nights in a short-term rental inside the zone you want to land in. Weekday commute and Saturday-night noise read very differently from a Zoom walk-through.
Confirm school acceptance + reserve a transporte seat
Central Valley schools fill February–March for August start; Pacific-coast schools run on calendar-year admission. Hold one seat at the bus stop, not the school.
Confirm electricity + water service at your target address
ICE/CNFL covers the Central Valley fully; Pacific and cloud-forest zones are sometimes radio-read-only and need an on-site activation visit.
The in-person intake week — customs, your local SIM, the colones + USD cuenta, school intake, and the first utility walk-ins. Most of these have no online equivalent.
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File the customs declaration + collect the temporary resident stamp
The DIMEX application starts here, not finishes — keep the stamped page; DGME needs it at biometrics.
Email DGME for your DIMEX pickup window
Biometrics appointment sits 30–90 days post-arrival — the earlier you book, the earlier the residency card prints.
Walk into BAC or BCR and open colones + USD cuentas
Bring your passport, the residency stamp, a proof-of-address (the rental contract works), and two local references if asked.
Pick up a Kolbi or Liberty SIM at the airport or a San José retail store
Prepaid packs (5 GB + national minutes) run about CRC 6,000. Pasa datos carries unused data over for one billing cycle.
Complete the school intake interview + buy the uniform and PE kit
Bring the original birth certificate + apostille, the vaccination card (translated), and two passport photos per child.
Visit the nearest ICE/CNFL office for the electricity account
Estimator runs on the first bill — a small condo averages around CRC 18,000/month, more if air conditioning runs heavy.
Activate water service through AyA (or the local ASADA)
Outside the metro it is an ASADA cooperative, not AyA. Your Guaria agent or landlord will know which; the deposit is one cycle plus a meter read.
Residency and healthcare registrations post-approval, autopay + recurring wires, and school placement finalisation so month twelve is mechanical.
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Schedule CAJA registration at your local EBAIS clinic
Your assigned EBAIS is mapped to your address — find it on the CCSS directory. Bring your DIMEX, passport, and rental contract on day one.
Complete the CAJA enrollment medical at the assigned EBAIS
Vitals, bloodwork, and the chronic-condition intake. CAJA runs roughly 9–11% of declared income, month-to-month after that.
Schedule the residency fingerprint at the DGME office
A digital ten-print + palm scan. Sunday and Monday mornings open before noon — book the first slot to skip the queue that fills the rest of the week.
Pick up the DIMEX card at the DGME office
Bring the receipt from your biometrics appointment + your passport. The card is functional on the spot; portal credentials follow by email within a week.
Register with your home-country consulate
Citizens-only services (emergency renewal, voting abroad, consular notarisation) require an in-person registration separate from the CAJA enrollment.
Set up autopay + paperless billing for electricity, water, internet
ACH debit from the colones cuenta avoids the surcharge credit-card autopay carries; paperless is the path to lower kWh pricing on a few ICE plans.
Lock in the recurring wire from your home-country account
A monthly deposit lets the rental autopay and the CAJA contribution both pull from the same source, and keeps the wire path warm for renewals.
Finalise bus route + after-school programme at the assigned school
Most routes are annual contracts — confirm directly with the school, not the bus operator, to lock both the cost and the schedule.