Very few residents register at their consulates
Only a small minority of the
European and North American
foreigners who live in Costa
Rica are registered in their respective
countries’ consular services.
As there is no obligation that foreigners
have to report on their native country
consulate, many of them do not declare
their presence in Costa Rica. Likewise, a high
number of these foreigners lives in the
country without a residence or work
permit, which forces them to leave Costa
Rica every three months to renew their
tourist visa.
At the U.S. Embassy, only estimates are
managed when it comes to knowing the
number of U.S. residents who are currently
in Costa Rica.
“People from the United States do not
have to register at the Embassy when they
arrive at the country, and many of them do
not. We have seen estimates that range
between 20,000 and 50,000,” indicates an
Embassy speaker to “Paseo.”
According to off-the-record figures,
more than 60,000 U.S. citizens are now in
the country, most of them at the Central
Valley. However, due to the increase of U.S.
tourists in Guanacaste and Jaco, many real
estate projects, hotels, casinos and other
tourism-related activities are now managed
by U.S. residents.
Many persons who work in real estate
agencies in Guanacaste and the Central
Pacific zone have recently arrived in the
country; they do not speak Spanish, and
they do not really need it for their job, as
the real estate market is targeting the United
States.
From all the other foreign “communities” present in Costa Rica,
Italians are the ones with the highest
number of legal residents.
“There are 3,630 Italians registered at
the Embassy, and this number has been
growing over the last few years,” the
Consulate says.
The great majority, about 2,800, are
concentrated in the Central Valley.
However, estimates from this same service
speak of 15,000 and up to 25,000 Italians
who actually live in the country. Many of
them do not have legal documents to work
or live in Costa Rica.
The Embassy knows that thousands of
Italians go to Nicaragua or Panama every
three months to renew the arrival date to
the country, so as to stay here as “tourists...”
