Investing in Costa Rica as a Foreigner in 2026: The US$150,000 Threshold

COSTA RICA · INVESTING

Inland title is ordinary and the coast is restricted. Investor residency rests on one figure fixed in law, US$150,000.

Where This Fits

Investing in Costa Rica as a foreigner is usually described as unusually open. For most of the country that description holds.

The complications sit in two places. One is the coastline, and the other is the residency file.

Both are worth understanding before money moves. Neither is obvious from the marketing.

Ownership Inland Is the Easy Part

Costa Rica does not spread nationality conditions across its property law. It concentrates them.

The restrictions apply to the maritime zone, where land is held under concession rather than title. Away from that strip the ordinary registered-title system applies.

That is why so much foreign money has gone to the Central Valley and the inland hills. The paperwork there is conventional.

It also explains why beachfront deals generate most of the disputes. The rules there are not the rules elsewhere.

Anyone comparing listings should establish first which regime a property sits under. The price will not tell you.

The distinction is legal rather than scenic. A plot immediately behind the restricted band is ordinary titled land.

The Coast Runs on Different Law

The governing statute is Ley 6043, the maritime terrestrial zone law of 2 March 1977. It makes the first 200 metres of shoreline inalienable state property.

That strip splits in two. The first 50 metres from the ordinary high-tide line is the public zone, closed to occupation.

The next 150 metres form the restricted zone. Municipalities may grant concessions there, which are use rights rather than ownership.

Article 47 sets who may not hold one. A foreign national who has not lived in the country for at least five years is excluded.

Bearer-share companies and companies domiciled abroad are excluded too. So is any company whose capital is more than half foreign-held.

Concessions run for no less than five and no more than twenty years. The canon paid to the municipality takes the place of property tax.

Renewal needs the municipality’s agreement and, in tourist zones, the approval of the tourism institute. Arrears on the canon push the application back.

The residence rule catches more buyers than the ownership cap does. Someone arriving with capital but no residence history cannot hold a concession.

That is why concession property is often marketed through local structures. Shares in a company that holds a concession may not be transferred to foreigners.

The US$150,000 Threshold Is Settled

Ley 9996 took effect on 14 July 2021, aimed at investors, people living on private income and pensioners. Article 8 sets investor residency at a capital of not less than US$150,000.

The regulations that apply it, executive decree 43926, repeat the figure in article 4. The decree took effect on 23 February 2023 and has not been amended since.

Article 31 of that decree repealed articles 87 to 93 of the immigration regulations. Those were the articles that carried the older US$200,000 figure.

No higher number is left in force to fall back on. The investment is valued at the Banco Central de Costa Rica selling rate.

One date does matter here. Article 12 limited the law’s tax incentives to its first five years, which ended on 14 July 2026.

Those incentives covered household goods, two vehicles and a cut in property transfer tax. They are separate from the investment amount, which article 8 leaves standing.

Applicants who opted in before that date keep the incentives for ten years from the grant. Later applicants get the residency route without them.

The Six Ways to Reach the Figure

The regulations group the qualifying investments into six kinds. Amounts in different kinds may be added together to reach the total.

Property is the most used route. The title must be registered at the Registro Nacional in the applicant’s own name, not a company’s.

Notarial and accountants’ certificates are not accepted as proof for real estate. A municipal certificate of the property’s rated value is required instead.

Shares count only in companies that actually trade in the country. Inactive companies are excluded, and a notary certifies the holding from the company books.

For securities, the brokerage house must be registered with SUGEVAL, the securities regulator. For venture capital, the fund manager must sit on the same register.

Productive and national-interest projects need a letter from the government body for that sector. Sustainable tourism infrastructure needs a technical opinion from the tourism institute.

Every route except real estate also needs a certificate from a licensed public accountant. The status runs two years and renews on proof the investment has been held throughout.

How Company Profits Are Taxed

The standard rate on company profits is 30% of net income. Smaller companies pay less through a banded scale.

The reduced bands apply where gross income stays under 119,629,000 colones (about US$264,700). Figures in colones here use a rate of 451.86 to the US dollar.

That is the Banco Central de Costa Rica reference selling rate for 23 September 2026. The bank publishes it daily.

Within that ceiling the first 5,642,000 colones of net income (about US$12,500) is taxed at 5%. The next slice, up to 8,465,000 colones (about US$18,700), is taxed at 10%.

The slice up to 11,286,000 colones (about US$25,000) is taxed at 15%. Anything above that is taxed at 20%.

Micro and small firms registered with the economy or agriculture ministry get a further cut. They pay none of the profits tax in their first three years.

They then pay a quarter of it in years four and five, and half of it in year six. The relief runs from the first year of trading.

Territoriality Has Been Narrowed

Costa Rica taxes on a territorial principle. Only income treated as Costa Rican in source falls into the net.

Ley 10381 of 14 September 2023 narrowed that principle. It was passed to get the country off the European Union’s list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.

The law reaches passive income earned abroad in one defined case. The earner must be a company inside a multinational group.

That company must also lack adequate economic substance in Costa Rica. The categories caught are dividends, interest, royalties, capital gains and income from property.

A company outside a multinational group is not reached at all. The law also treats pure holding companies as having substance by definition.

The same applies where the main business is holding real estate. A group structure spanning several countries is the case that needs review.

What Investing in Costa Rica as a Foreigner Comes Down To

All three of the main questions now have answers. Inland title is ordinary, the coastal law is explicit, and company tax is a published scale.

The coastal rules are clear enough in law. They simply say something many buyers do not expect.

The investor figure is US$150,000, and has been since February 2023. What ran out in July 2026 was the tax package, not the threshold.

Read the country as three separate regimes rather than one. Treating them as one is what produces the expensive surprises.

Connected Coverage

• Costa Rica Property Guide for Foreigners
• Expats Retire in Costa Rica as Pensionado and Rentista Residency Rules Hold at $1,000 to $2,500
• Safety in Costa Rica 2026: What the Numbers Say and What Foreigners Actually Face

More: Costa Rica news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can foreigners own property in Costa Rica?

Inland, yes, on ordinary terms. The restrictions on foreign buyers sit in the coastal strip rather than inland.

What is the rule on coastal land?

The first 50 metres above the ordinary high-tide line is public land nobody may own, under Ley 6043. Foreigners need five years of residence before a municipality may grant a concession.

What is the investor residency threshold?

At least US$150,000, under article 8 of Ley 9996 and article 4 of executive decree 43926. The older US$200,000 rule was repealed in February 2023.

How are companies taxed?

Costa Rica charges 30% on net company profits. Smaller firms pay less through a banded scale that starts at 5%.