Costa Rica Digital Nomad Visa 2026: Rules, Income and How to Apply

Guides · Costa Rica

Two years, no tax on foreign earnings and a queue that has emptied out — but the small print on residency and on your spouse is where most people get it wrong.

The Costa Rica digital nomad visa is open, legally unchanged since 2022, and used by far fewer people than you have probably read. It lets you live in the country for a year, extend once, and pay no Costa Rican income tax on money you earn abroad. It is not residency and it will not lead to a passport. This guide sets out the rules, the money and the paperwork as they stand in September 2026.

What the Costa Rica digital nomad visa actually is

The formal name is Estancia para Trabajador o Prestador Remoto de Servicios. It was created by Ley 10008, published on 1 September 2021, amended by Ley 10208 in April 2022, and governed since 8 July 2022 by Decreto Ejecutivo 43619. Nothing in that package has changed.

Estancia means stay, not residence, and that one word decides most of what follows. You get up to one year. You may extend once, for one more year, so 24 months in total. To qualify for the extension you must have spent at least 180 days inside the country during the first year. Several guides print 183 days. The statute says 180.

It is not a residency track. The time you spend on this permit does not count towards permanent residence or citizenship. You may ask to change migratory category while the permit still runs, but you start that clock from zero.

The income test and the proof behind it

You need US$3,000 a month if you apply alone, and US$4,000 a month if you bring family. The law lets a spouse or another family member help make up the higher figure, so it works as a household test rather than an individual one.

Watch one error that is repeated everywhere. The national tourism board’s own landing page for remote workers says families need US$5,000. Its requirements page on the same site says US$4,000, and so do the law and the regulation. Use US$4,000.

Proof means bank statements covering the last twelve months plus a sworn declaration. A certification from a public accountant or notary works instead, and only that certification needs an apostille. The income must come from abroad and must be able to continue while you are outside your home country. Amounts are converted at the central bank selling rate.

The law asks for an average monthly income over the year. Some 2026 write-ups claim immigration now tests each month separately. No official text supports that, so treat the stricter reading as unconfirmed rather than as settled practice.

Fees, filing and how long it takes

The application is US$100 a head, and every dependant pays the same. Payment goes by international transfer to a Banco de Costa Rica account held for the finance ministry, one separate transfer per applicant, and the US$100 has to arrive net. Add roughly US$15 for the receiving commission.

The DIMEX card, the identity document issued to foreigners here, costs a further US$90. Two charges are not published as fixed figures: an amount under article 251 of the migration law, stated in your approval, and a one-off guarantee deposit. Budget about US$205 a person, then expect those two on top. Colón figures in this series are converted at ¢450 (about US$1) to the dollar, the reference rate on 23 September 2026.

You file online through the immigration department’s Trámite Ya platform. The other route is in person, at the Gestión de Extranjería counter in La Uruca, San José, after booking a slot through the appointments portal. One tracker reports that the online route now shows as suspended. We could not verify that, so check the page yourself or telephone the department first.

The statute gives immigration 15 calendar days. Within five days it may issue one single written list of missing items, and you then have eight business days to answer it. Real waits run longer and no official figure exists. Once approved, you have three months to collect your DIMEX card.

The benefits, and the one everybody gets wrong

The headline benefit is full exemption from Costa Rican income tax. You are in no case treated as a habitual tax resident, and money received from abroad is not counted as Costa Rican-source income. The regulation goes further and frees you from filing duties before the tax office altogether.

Here is the part almost every guide misses. The tax exemption does not extend to your family group. A spouse who wants it has to qualify as a principal applicant in their own right. Read that twice if you are moving as a couple.

Three smaller benefits are real and useful. Your home driving licence stays valid for the whole stay. You may open savings accounts in the national banking system, though the law says savings, not current accounts. And you may carry in a computer, phone, tablet, camera and one sound device as luggage, with no import tax and no prior procedure.

The limits are firm. You may not take paid work or provide services inside the country. Doing so cancels the status and every benefit, and you repay the waived taxes with interest and penalties. A false document costs the waived taxes plus a fine of 25 percent.

Who actually uses it, and what is still unclear

The take-up is small and falling. Immigration data analysed by the tourism school at the Universidad Hispanoamericana records 683 applications in total from 2022 to 2024. Of those, 589 principal permits were approved, an approval rate of 86 percent, alongside 396 permits for dependants.

In 2024 there were 158 approvals, roughly 60 percent down on the year before. Delfino.cr reports applications falling by about half year on year and blames the global remote-work market rather than anything Costa Rica did.

That matters because you will read the opposite. One English-language outlet wrote in December 2025 that the scheme had already brought thousands of remote workers. Fewer than 600 principal permits were issued in three whole years, and no reliable 2025 or 2026 count has been published.

Family means your spouse or common-law partner, children under 25, children of any age with a disability, and older adults who live with you. Each needs their own medical policy of at least US$50,000 covering the whole stay. Ask immigration in writing about the two unpublished charges and about the online route, and keep the reply.

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