Doctors and hospitals
A public system and private clinics run side by side. Residents join the public one and many carry private cover as well.
The practical questions
Living in Costa Rica
What people ask us before they visit: the land, the paperwork, and what an ordinary week actually looks like.
Before anything else
How to read this page
We are villagers, not lawyers. This page is here so you arrive with the right questions and a sense of the shape of things.
Costa Rican rules on residency and property move. Anything with a number attached is worth checking with a Costa Rican attorney before you act on it, and we will happily point you at the ones people here have used.
The land
Can a foreigner own land in Costa Rica?
Yes. Costa Rica lets foreign buyers hold titled property in their own name, with the same ownership rights a citizen has. You do not need residency to buy.
Titled land is registered in the national property register, and a lawyer checks that register before you sign. That search is the heart of the whole purchase. It tells you who owns the land, what sits against it, and where its boundaries run.
The coast has one important exception. A strip of land measured back from the high tide line is public, and the band behind it is granted by concession rather than sold. So beachfront works differently from everywhere else, and property higher up the ridge is the land that carries ordinary title.
Amora sits on the ridge above Dominicalito, a ten minute walk from the beach. The six outer lots available today each carry clear title.
The paperwork
Staying longer than a holiday
Visitors from most countries arrive without a visa and are given a set period of stay at the border. The length of that period has changed more than once, so check it close to the date you travel.
For staying on there are several residency routes, and each one rests on where your money comes from. The common categories are a pension, a steady income from outside the country, an investment made inside it, and family ties to a Costa Rican.
Each category carries its own financial threshold and its own paperwork, and both get revised. An immigration attorney will tell you in one conversation which route fits you, and that conversation is worth having early.
Owning land here is separate from all of it. Buying grants no residency, and residency is no requirement for buying.
An ordinary week
How daily life works here
Schools
Public, private and bilingual schools serve this coast. Families here choose differently, and several teach at home.
Staying connected
Fibre reaches parts of the coast and satellite covers the rest. Remote work from here is ordinary now.
Food and shopping
Local fruit, fish and vegetables are cheap and close. Imported goods cost noticeably more than at home.
Getting around
The coast road is paved. The roads off it are not, so most households here keep something with clearance.
Spanish
English carries you through the towns on this coast. Spanish opens the rest of the country, and the neighbours.
Honest limits
What we can and cannot tell you
We can tell you how it went for the people already here. Which lawyer they used, how long things took, what surprised them, and what an ordinary month costs a family on this coast.
Tax is its own subject and it belongs to an accountant. Where you pay, on what, and how your home country treats it are three separate questions with three separate answers.
Some details of the legal structure are still being shaped. When you ask us about them, we'll tell you what is settled and what is still in motion.
Next step
Ask us the question you actually have
A person reads every message and a person writes back. You can also readabout the coast itself, or seewhat is available at Amora today.