Moving to Costa Rica as an American: The U.S. Checklist

The general relocation guide is moving to Costa Rica. This page covers what is specific to U.S. citizens, in the order you will need it.

1. Pick the residency category first

Every other step depends on it. Americans apply under the same categories as everyone else, and nearly everyone files in Costa Rica during a tourist stay of up to 180 days.

If you are unsure, pensionado vs rentista covers the common U.S. cases, such as a Social Security benefit under $1,000 plus portfolio income.

2. U.S. documents: FBI check and apostilles

This is the part that cannot be done from Costa Rica. For U.S. applicants, D.JUR-220-05-2024 fixes the rules:

• FBI Identity History Summary, based on fingerprints. State or local police checks are refused. The FBI charges $18; approved channelers charge about $50 to $100.
• Apostilled by the U.S. Department of State, not by a state. The FBI report is a federal document, and a state apostille on it is a defect that gets the file rejected. The federal apostille is $20 per document and takes about five weeks by mail.
• Valid six months from the FBI's issue date, not from the apostille. Order it last.
• Birth and marriage certificates come from state vital records and are apostilled by the Secretary of State of the issuing state. Birth certificates are accepted even if older than six months.
• SSA Benefit Verification Letter for pensionados is also a federal document, apostilled by the U.S. Department of State.
• Official translation into Spanish in Costa Rica, including the apostille page.

Since July 2024 defective documents are rejected without appeal; only omitted documents get ten working days. The sequence that avoids an expired check is in FBI background check for Costa Rica, and state-by-state apostille fees are in apostille documents for Costa Rica.

Consular registration. Since 1 July 2025 the application must include a certificate that you are registered with your embassy in Costa Rica (D.JUR-220-05-2024). U.S. citizens register through the State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) and request a letter from the U.S. Embassy in San José. Confirm the embassy's current procedure when you arrive; we could not load the State Department's STEP pages when writing this.

3. Social Security payments abroad

According to USAGov's page on Social Security abroad (updated 16 January 2026), most U.S. citizens can keep receiving Social Security while living outside the United States, but not every country permits payments. The Social Security Administration's Payments Abroad Screening Tool is the place to check your situation for Costa Rica before you move.

What to set up:

• Check eligibility abroad in the Payments Abroad Screening Tool on ssa.gov.
• Decide where payments go. SSA pays electronically, either to a U.S. financial institution or to a bank in a country with an international direct deposit arrangement. Keeping a U.S. account open avoids having to change payment details during the move.
• Watch for SSA questionnaires. Beneficiaries abroad receive them every one to two years to confirm eligibility; per USAGov, if you do not respond, SSA may stop your payments. Keep your mailing and email contact details with SSA current.
• Get the Benefit Verification Letter from your my Social Security account before you leave if you are applying as a pensionado; it is the pension proof in your residency file.

We could not load ssa.gov's own international pages when writing this; the summary above is from USAGov, the U.S. government's information site.

Medicare does not follow you

Medicare.gov states plainly that Medicare usually does not cover health care while you are outside the U.S. The exceptions it lists are narrow: certain situations involving a foreign hospital closer than the nearest U.S. hospital able to treat you, some care on cruise ships near a U.S. port, and related doctor and ambulance services. Medicare drug plans do not cover prescriptions bought outside the U.S. Medicare.gov notes that some Medigap policies cover emergency care abroad.

What that means for a move:

• Plan your care in Costa Rica around CAJA. Pensionado, rentista and investor residents must enroll in CAJA before Migración releases the DIMEX card (Reglamento arts. 183 and 184). A pensionado declaring $1,000 pays about $100 a month in 2026. See CAJA for residents.
• Consider private insurance for faster access to private hospitals, and get quotes before you cancel U.S. coverage; private underwriting is stricter than CAJA's.
• Decide about Medicare Part B deliberately. Whether to keep paying premiums for coverage you would use mainly on visits to the U.S. is a decision to make with full information. Ask Medicare or a benefits counselor what dropping and later re-enrolling would mean for you before you change anything.

How public and private care work in practice is in our healthcare guide for expats.

4. U.S. taxes keep going

The IRS is direct about this: U.S. citizens living abroad are subject to tax on worldwide income and must report it, wherever they live. Three points from the IRS page for citizens abroad:

• The filing obligation continues after you move.
• An automatic two-month extension to June 15 applies to citizens living abroad on the regular due date, for calendar-year filers.
• Benefits such as the foreign earned income exclusion are only available if you file a U.S. return.

Costa Rica's own treatment of your income is a separate question. Our guide to U.S. taxes for Americans in Costa Rica sets out the questions to take to a cross-border tax professional, which is where this belongs.

5. Banking and FBAR, briefly

Keep at least one U.S. bank account open through the first year; you will use it for Social Security deposits, U.S. bills and transfers while a Costa Rican account is set up. Opening a Costa Rican account is simpler once you hold a DIMEX card. Our banking guide covers the practical side.

On the reporting side, the IRS explains that a U.S. person with foreign financial accounts whose combined value exceeded $10,000 at any time in the calendar year files a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR, FinCEN Form 114). It is filed electronically with FinCEN, not with your tax return, and is due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15. Whether and how it applies to you is a question for your tax professional.

6. Voting from abroad

Moving abroad does not end your interest in U.S. elections, but the procedure for voting from outside the country is set by federal and state election authorities, and we could not load the State Department's voting page when writing this. Rather than summarize a procedure we could not verify, we suggest one step: contact your state election office before you move to confirm how you will register and receive ballots from Costa Rica, and check again before each election year.

7. Pets

Costa Rica does not quarantine dogs and cats arriving from the United States when the paperwork is in order: a microchip placed before the rabies vaccination, a rabies vaccine at least 30 days old at travel, and an international health certificate completed by a USDA-accredited veterinarian within 14 days of departure and endorsed by USDA APHIS. Airline rules for size, cargo and snub-nosed breeds are often the harder constraint. The full process is in bringing pets to Costa Rica.

8. Shipping your household

Law 9996 gave new pensionado, rentista and investor residents a one-time exemption from import duties on household goods and vehicles. Its window closed to new applicants on 14 July 2026, and no extension had been published as of September 2026. Plan as if the exemption is not available. Without it, duties on used furniture and electronics are high enough that most relocators rent furnished or buy locally. Costa Rica runs on 120V/60Hz, like the United States. Quotes, transit and customs are covered in shipping household goods to Costa Rica.

9. Driving

Your U.S. driver's license is valid in Costa Rica for as long as your tourist stamp is, up to 180 days. Once you receive residency, you have three months to convert to a Costa Rican license at COSEVI, with a medical exam, your DIMEX, your U.S. license and a small fee; no road test is required for North American license holders. Importing a car means full duty, which is why most people sell at home and buy locally.

A 12-month timeline

A single pensionado applicant, filing in Costa Rica. Durations follow the timelines published on this site for 2026; the only fixed legal clock in the table is the FBI check's six-month validity. Month 12 is not the end of the process: pensionado files take 8 to 14 months from filing to card.

Where the file lands on this table depends mostly on Migración's queue, which is outside anyone's control; see how long residency takes. What you do control is the order of the U.S. documents, and that is where most delays start.

Getting help

You can do all of this yourself; no law requires an attorney to file. If you would rather not, Meridian's program fee is a flat $3,750 per application, covering the assessment, document preparation, representation by licensed Costa Rican attorneys, every office visit, DIMEX pickup and CAJA enrollment, with government and third-party costs billed at cost and an approved-or-you-don't-pay guarantee. Every fee is itemized in how much residency costs. The first step either way is the assessment.

Sources and legal basis

1. Ley General de Migración y Extranjería, Ley 8764, arts. 33, 81, 82, 89, 133, 251–253, 255. Official text, Poder Judicial.
2. Reglamento de Extranjería, Decreto Ejecutivo 37112-GOB, arts. 183–184. Official text, TSE.
3. DGME Resolución D.JUR-220-05-2024-JM-ABM (FBI fingerprint check, federal apostille, six-month validity from issue, consular registration at filing from 1 July 2025, defective versus omitted documents), Alcance 109 to La Gaceta 106, 12 June 2024. DGME Directrices Generales de Visas, 17 November 2025 (180-day stays).
4. Ley 9996 and Decreto 43926 (incentive window closed 14 July 2026); Ley 10008 (digital nomad). See the cost guide for sources.
5. FBI, Identity History Summary Checks; U.S. Department of State, Requesting Authentication Services and Form DS-4194.
6. USAGov, Getting Social Security benefits if you are living outside the U.S., updated 16 January 2026 (payments abroad, screening tool, questionnaires, direct deposit). SSA, Payments Abroad Screening Tool (could not be loaded when this page was written).
7. Medicare.gov, Travel outside the U.S. (general rule, exceptions, drug plans, Medigap).
8. IRS, U.S. citizens and resident aliens abroad (worldwide income, automatic two-month extension, foreign earned income exclusion); IRS, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) ($10,000 aggregate threshold, FinCEN Form 114, due dates).
9. CAJA 2026 bands: see the CAJA guide for sources. Pets, driving and shipping practice: as set out in moving to Costa Rica. Processing times: Investing Costa Rica, May 2026.