Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Costa Rica: How to Apply
Costa Rica · Americas
Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Costa Rica
What a U.S. citizen needs for a investor, golden and entrepreneur visa to Costa Rica: the requirements, the exact document checklist with its authentication routing, where to file, what it costs and how long it takes.
- U.S. passport status
- Visa free
- Visa-free days
- 180 days
- Document route
- Apostille
- Translation
- Required
- Short-stay fee
- None
- Schengen area
- No
What Costa Rica specifically requires
The inversionista category, at a threshold that has been the subject of temporary incentive legislation; confirm the figure currently in force.
- Entry status for a U.S. passport
- No visa needed; up to 180 days at the officer discretion
- Official portal
- Migracion Costa Rica
- Where to file
- At the consulate with jurisdiction over your U.S. state of residence.
- Biometrics
- Fingerprints and a facial image are collected for most visa categories.
- Passport validity
- Valid for at least six months beyond your intended departure, with at least two blank pages.
- Fees
- No tourist fee. Residency applications run roughly 250 dollars in government fees plus about 123 dollars for the DIMEX card, with attorney fees of 1,500 to 2,500 dollars effectively unavoidable.
- Processing
- 8 to 18 months for residency, filed inside Costa Rica
- Document route
- Apostille
- Translation
- Required into Spanish by an official translator recognised by the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Your document checklist
9 documents. 4 need authentication: 1 federal through the U.S. Department of State and 3 state-issued through a Secretary of State. Route: apostille. All authenticated documents then need certified translation.
- Passport No authentication needed Identity, nationality and the physical book the visa is placed in. How to get it. Renew early. Processing times published by the U.S. Department of State move with demand. Specification. Most countries require validity of at least six months beyond your intended departure. A significant minority require six months beyond entry, and some long-stay visas require twelve to fifteen months. Two blank visa pages is the common minimum; some countries require four. Lead time. Weeks; check current published processing times What goes wrong. Insufficient remaining validity is the single most common reason a traveller is refused boarding at a U.S. airport, before they ever reach the destination.
- Visa application form No authentication needed The core filing. Almost always country-specific. How to get it. Download or complete it on the official portal of the country you are applying to, or the outsourced visa application centre it uses. Never pay a third party for a form that is free. Specification. Usually signed within days of the appointment. Many systems generate a barcoded PDF that must be printed at full size and unmodified. Lead time. Same day What goes wrong. Consular jurisdiction is determined by your U.S. state of residence. Filing at the wrong consulate is an automatic rejection, not a transfer.
- Passport-format photographs No authentication needed Every application. How to get it. Check the destination specification before you sit for them. The U.S. passport photo standard is not universal. Specification. Schengen states generally require 35 x 45 mm with the face occupying 70 to 80 percent of the frame on a light grey or off-white background. The United States uses 2 x 2 inches on pure white. China requires 33 x 48 mm on white. India requires 2 x 2 inches on white. Taken within the last six months in almost all cases. Lead time. Same day What goes wrong. Glasses are prohibited in an increasing number of systems, including U.S. passport photos, and cause automatic rejection.
- Proof of funds No authentication needed Evidence you can support yourself without working illegally or becoming a public charge. How to get it. Three to six months of bank statements, sometimes stamped or certified by the bank, plus pay slips or a benefit award letter. Specification. Most Schengen states apply a published per-day minimum. Long-stay categories set an annual or monthly figure, often indexed to a local benchmark. Lead time. 1 to 10 days What goes wrong. A large deposit shortly before filing looks like borrowed money and frequently triggers a refusal. Season the balance for several months.
- FBI Identity History Summary (police clearance) U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications (federal) Apostille Translate after authentication Required for essentially every long-stay, work, study, residence and citizenship application. Short tourist visas rarely ask for it. How to get it. Order directly from the FBI electronically, or through an FBI-approved Channeler, which is usually faster. The mail route requires fingerprints on form FD-1164. Specification. Typically accepted for three to six months from the issue date, and some authorities count from the date of the apostille rather than the date of issue. Lead time. 1 to 10 days to obtain, then federal authentication What goes wrong. A state police clearance is not a substitute and is routinely rejected. Consulates want a federal record covering all fifty states.
- Certified birth certificate Secretary of State of the issuing state Apostille Translate after authentication Identity, nationality and proof of family relationships for dependants and family-based applications. How to get it. Order a certified long-form copy from the vital records office of the state or county of birth. Specification. Many authorities require issuance within the last three to six months even though the underlying facts never change. Lead time. 3 to 20 days What goes wrong. Hospital souvenir certificates are never accepted.
- Certified marriage certificate Secretary of State of the issuing state Apostille Translate after authentication Spouse and family visas, dependants on a work or study visa, and joint financial evidence. How to get it. Certified copy from the county clerk or state vital records office that recorded the licence. Specification. Usually within three to six months of issue for visa purposes. Lead time. 3 to 20 days What goes wrong. A church or celebrant certificate is not a civil record and will be rejected.
- Travel or health insurance No authentication needed Mandatory for the Schengen area and for a growing number of long-stay categories. How to get it. Buy a policy that names the destination, states the coverage limit and includes repatriation of remains. Specification. Schengen requires a minimum of 30,000 euros of medical cover valid throughout the zone for the whole stay. Long-stay categories often require full local-standard cover with no deductible and no waiting period. Lead time. 1 to 3 days What goes wrong. A credit card travel benefit almost never satisfies the Schengen requirement because it does not name the traveller and the zone.
- Power of attorney Secretary of State of the issuing state Apostille Translate after authentication Required wherever a local lawyer or agent files on your behalf, and for property and company matters. How to get it. Your local representative supplies the exact wording. Sign before a U.S. notary, then authenticate. Specification. Often limited in time, sometimes to 90 days. Lead time. 1 to 5 days What goes wrong. Sign nothing until the receiving lawyer has approved the draft. A re-executed power of attorney means a second apostille.
- 1 Confirm the programme still exists on the terms you read about This is not a joke. Several major programmes have closed or changed thresholds in the last three years and a great deal of promotional material has not been updated.
- 2 Engage local counsel and complete due diligence Source-of-funds documentation is assembled here and it is the longest stage.
- 3 Authenticate personal documents Police certificates, civil records and the power of attorney for local counsel.
- 4 Make and evidence the investment Usually into an escrow or a designated account, with the transfer routed so it can be traced from your name to the investment.
- 5 File and wait for the decision Government processing on these is often slow because of the due diligence involved.
- 6 Collect the residence card and maintain the investment Renewal depends on the investment still being in place.
Your action Documents and authentication Government processing
- 1 Obtain a certified original From the issuing authority. Photocopies, scans and souvenir certificates cannot be authenticated.
- 2 Notarise, if it is a private document Letters, affidavits, powers of attorney and diploma copies need a notary acknowledgement first. Government-issued vital records do not.
- 3 County clerk, in some states A handful of states require the county clerk to certify the notary commission before the Secretary of State will act.
- 4 Authenticate at the right level State-issued documents go to the Secretary of State of the ISSUING state. Federal documents, including the FBI Identity History Summary, go to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications.
- 5 Apostille or embassy legalisation Hague Convention destination: the apostille ends the chain. Non-member destination: the document then goes to that country embassy or consulate. For Costa Rica the apostille ends the chain.
- 6 Certified translation Translate the document together with its apostille or legalisation certificate. Doing this first means paying twice. Required into Spanish by an official translator recognised by the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- 7 File with the right consulate Jurisdiction is by your U.S. state of residence. Bring originals plus a full copy set.
The two expensive mistakes. Sending a federal document such as an FBI Identity History Summary to a Secretary of State, which cannot authenticate it. And translating before authentication, so the apostille certificate is not inside the translation and the whole set has to be paid for twice.
How a investor, golden and entrepreneur visa works, anywhere
Residence granted in exchange for capital or for building a business. The category has changed more than any other since 2023: the European Union has pressed member states hard on investment residence, Portugal removed the real estate route, Spain abolished its programme entirely in April 2025, Ireland closed its programme, and Greece raised its thresholds sharply. Anything you read about golden visas written before 2024 should be treated as historical. What has grown instead is the entrepreneur and startup route, which asks for a business rather than a purchase.
The core requirements
- A qualifying investment, held
- Real estate above a threshold, a fund subscription, a capital transfer, government bonds, or job creation. The investment usually has to be maintained for the whole period of residence, and selling it ends the status.
- Proof of the source of funds
- The most demanding part of these applications by a distance. Expect to document the origin of the money through tax returns, sale contracts, employment history and bank records going back years.
- Clean background and enhanced due diligence
- Police certificates from every country of residence, and in most programmes a commercial due diligence report commissioned by the government.
- A business plan, on entrepreneur routes
- Assessed on substance: market analysis, financial projections, job creation and often an endorsement from a designated body.
Where it goes wrong
- Relying on outdated information. Spain abolished its investor residence route with effect from 3 April 2025; Portugal removed real estate in October 2023; Greece raised thresholds to 800,000 euros in prime areas; Ireland closed its programme.
- Assuming residence by investment leads to citizenship. Usually it does not, because citizenship requires presence and these visas do not.
- Underestimating source-of-funds documentation. It is far more demanding than any other visa category.
- Buying property before confirming it qualifies. Greek rules now require a minimum 120 square metres and prohibit short-term rental of a qualifying property.
- Ignoring the transaction costs on a property purchase, which can be a tenth of the price again.
Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Costa Rica: common questions
Do I need a visa for Costa Rica as a U.S. citizen?
For a short visit, no visa needed. But that is not what this page covers. A investor, golden and entrepreneur visa is a separate authorisation, and every country requires one for this purpose regardless of what your passport allows for tourism. U.S. citizens enter Costa Rica visa-free, and the maximum permitted tourist stay was increased to 180 days. The officer records the period actually granted and may give less, so check what you received. Costa Rica requires proof of onward travel and is one of the countries where airlines enforce it strictly at check-in.
Which of my documents need an apostille for Costa Rica?
For this route we count 4 documents that need authentication: 1 federal and 3 state-issued. Costa Rica is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille is the whole chain. The routing rule that catches people: your FBI Identity History Summary is a federal record and must be authenticated by the U.S. Department of State, while birth and marriage certificates go to the Secretary of State of the state that issued them.
Do my documents need to be translated for Costa Rica?
Required into Spanish by an official translator recognised by the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Translate after authentication, never before: the apostille or legalisation certificate is itself part of what the receiving authority reads, so it has to be inside the translation. Doing it the other way round means paying for the same translation twice.
How long does a investor, golden and entrepreneur visa for Costa Rica take?
8 to 18 months for residency, filed inside Costa Rica On top of the decision itself, budget for the parts people forget: appointment availability, document lead times, and authentication. Four months to two years. Panama qualified investor is among the fastest at 30 to 90 days; European programmes routinely run past a year.
What does it cost?
No tourist fee. Residency applications run roughly 250 dollars in government fees plus about 123 dollars for the DIMEX card, with attorney fees of 1,500 to 2,500 dollars effectively unavoidable. The investment itself, plus government application fees that can reach five figures per family, legal fees, due diligence fees, and in property cases transfer taxes and notary costs that can add 8 to 12 percent to the purchase price.
Where do I actually apply?
At the consulate with jurisdiction over your U.S. state of residence. The official portal is Migracion Costa Rica, run by Direccion General de Migracion y Extranjeria. Use it directly rather than a third-party site: the forms are free, and paid intermediaries frequently charge several times the government fee for the identical product.
Is there anything specific to Costa Rica I should know?
The inversionista category, at a threshold that has been the subject of temporary incentive legislation; confirm the figure currently in force. Costa Rica residency is filed inside the country rather than at a consulate, and you may remain lawfully while the application is pending, which is a real advantage. The trade-offs are speed and cost: Migracion is slow, a Costa Rican attorney is effectively required, and enrolment in the Caja social health insurance system is compulsory once residency is granted, costing roughly 7 to 11 percent of declared income. Costa Rica is also the most expensive country in Central America, which surprises people.
Official sources for Costa Rica
- Direccion General de Migracion Residency categories and filing.
- Association of Residents of Costa Rica A membership organisation created specifically to help foreign residents with the process.
Verified Sep 7, 2026 Primary sources: www.migracion.go.cr, www.migracion.go.cr
Email this checklist to yourself
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This resource is provided free by Federal Apostille as an educational tool. It is not legal or immigration advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by using it. Visa rules, fees, processing times and entry requirements change frequently and often without notice, and individual circumstances change the answer. Always confirm current requirements with the official government source and the specific embassy or consulate that has jurisdiction over your place of residence before you book travel or file an application. Every figure on this site carries the date we last verified it and a link to the primary source.
