After years of waiting since the initial proposal, the new president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, has signed and published the official rulings for the Digital Nomad Visa in Costa Rica. They have made the requirements much easier than originally proposed, and the application process can be done online at tramiteya.go.cr.
The official requirements are:
To receive a monthly salary of $3,000 for a single person, or $4,000 if applying with dependents.
Provide one year of bank statements to prove income and a signed affidavit.
Obtain medical/travel insurance for a minimum of $50,000 for the entire stay, per person.
Pay the government filing fees of $100, $90, and one mystery charge that has not yet been released.
How You Can Prepare to Apply:
- Make sure that you meet the salary requirements and gather your bank statement documents.
- Find a travel/medical insurance company that meets the coverage requirements.
- Find a translator to translate your bank and insurance documents to Spanish.
What the Application Steps Look Like:
- Create an account on ¡Tramite YA!. Within 5 days you must select ESTANCIAS NÓMADAS DIGITALES (Follow these links: Nuevo Tramite > Trámites de ExtranjerÃa > Estancias > Estancias Nómadas Digitales. Then choose the first link for the primary applicant, and the other two for dependents under and over 25) and upload the application forms for the main applicant and one for each dependent. If you don’t submit this within 5 days of creating your account, you will have to create a new account again.
- Complete the other requirements listed on the digital platform, and click the red Iniciar Tramite button to begin the application process.
- After the complete application has been submitted, the DGME has 15 business days to approve, deny or contact you to clarify or correct anything.
- If anything needs clarification of correction, they will let you know within the first 5 days, and you will have 8 days to submit the corrections.
- Once this initial application is approved, you will have three months to make an appointment with Immigration, present your documentation in person, and pay the fees.
- Immigration will then provide you with documentation for a one year stay, extendable by another year if you spend at least 180 days in the country.
Stay tuned for more details! We will continue to post updates on the application process as we receive them or learn things in our own experience applying. This is a new process, so we expect even the Immigration office will be working out some kinks in these first few months, and there may be some changes and clarifications as time goes on.
Brilliant summary – thanks!
I do not find the ESTANCIA NÓMADAS on the Tramite website. Is it because it is not officially launched?
All I see is a Trámite de filiación or a Solicitud Prórroga de Turismo (which seems to require the filiacion one…) hence my question: are the applications steps mentioned above for US citizens only? Or for everyone, to your knowledge?
Yes, it’s just not launched on the site quite yet. On the Costa Rican Immigration website it says they will be adding the ESTANCIAS NÓMADAS option soon. I believe the visa is open to any nationalities that would normally be able to get a tourist visa in Costa Rica. Thanks for following, we’ll do our best to keep you posted on the launch!
Thanks for sharing these details. It’s the most comprehensive and accurate article I’ve found on what’s going on.
Thank you! I’m doing my best to stay on top of the details and developments. Many are posting articles like this is already something open and easy to apply for when it’s not quite there yet. Surely even when the applications are open on the online platform, there will still be a period of time where Migración has to work out some kinks internally.