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Expat Exchange - Where do expats deposit the USD $60,000 required for the Rentista Residency? Do those banks provide the required letter?
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Where do expats deposit the USD $60,000 required for the Rentista Residency? Do those banks provide the required letter?

By Betsy Burlingame

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In a discussion on the Costa Rica forum about the $60k deposit for the Rentista Residency, one expat in Costa Rica asked, "We are in the process of applying for our Rentista Residency for Costa Rica. We are working with an attorney in San Jose, CR. The attorney tells us that we need to deposit $60K into a Bank Account either in CR or the US and the bank must provide a letter to CR immigration with the exact required wording. The problem is that NO US bank will sign the letter required due to US laws that don't allow US banks to act as guarantors of the $60K. So our attorney tells us that we can set up a trust with them and they can provide the letter or we can go to a bank in CR to get the exact letter that immigration requires. We do not want to set up a trust with the attorney and many people on this site have advised against doing so. So the question is which banks in CR will provide the required letter with the exact wording necessary for immigration where it will be safe to open a bank account and deposit our US $60K required for Rentista Residency? We are not yet residents of CR, but are in the process of applying for Rentistas Residency. Any guidance or advice from those who have successfully achieved residency through the Rentista category would be greatly appreciated."

One member replied, "You have to set up a trust with the attorney. There is risk in everything I suppose, but we had to do that for our Rentista application. We used Outlier Legal, who many on this blog trust. Outlier Legal is now working on a complete investment arm for these types of accounts since there are so many, which would allow for some actual returns on our 'investment.'" Another expat added, "Please be aware that a second US$60,000 will be needed to be deposited, 2 years later for Rentista residency."

One expat offered this helpful list. He said: So the steps are:

  1. 1. Get a bank letter from your home country, yes, it must be with that exact wording
  2. 2. Open a bank account in CR
  3. 3. Get your first cedula
  4. 4. Transfer 60k in 2.5k monthly transfers
  5. 5. Renew your temporary cedula
  6. 6. Apply for permanent cedula

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About the Author

Betsy Burlingame Betsy Burlingame is the Founder and President of Expat Exchange and is one of the Founders of Digital Nomad Exchange. She launched Expat Exchange in 1997 as her Master's thesis project at NYU. Prior to Expat Exchange, Betsy worked at AT&T in International and Mass Market Marketing. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a BA in International Business and German.

Some of Betsy's articles include 12 Best Places to Live in Portugal, 7 Best Places to Live in Panama and 12 Things to Know Before Moving to the Dominican Republic. Betsy loves to travel and spend time with her family. Connect with Betsy on LinkedIn.


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