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Costa Rica signs law to attract digital nomads

357 points by tomduncalf 5y ago

881128-13-5995 5y ago
herytomakg0@gmail.com pubilc bank (6803968627) 881128-13-5995 Herytom Agas
chx 5y ago
We have been collecting digital nomad visas at https://travel.stackexchange.com/a/158462/4188 https://travel.stackexchange.com/a/158462/4188 there are a lot post-covid.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  Thank you so much for sharing this.
- bane 5y ago
  Thailand is coming close to a digital nomad visa.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
  The permission to be there is one thing, but the lack of taxation is what makes it really attractive. Do any of the others also offer that?
noodlesUK 5y ago
I’m surprised that this excludes digital nomads from local income taxes. You’d think tax revenue would be a big incentive for them to attract people, and most countries have anti double taxation laws.
- nikanj 5y ago
  The people will still bring in plenty of money into the local economy
  - read_if_gay_ 5y ago
    And they can always tax again later.
  - loceng 5y ago
    And they have to compete with other countries.
  - drclau 5y ago
    This ^^^. It’s essentially cash flow towards the country, part of which is spent locally. It’s pretty much tourism on steroids. And, to make it work, they need to make it very attractive.
    - silvestrov 5y ago
      and it's tourism in the off-season.
      - toastal 5y ago
        I think it's more like a steady drip feed. I moved abroad, and I spend less than a tourist once I figured out how locals generally do it, but still considerably more than a local because I want to eat foods from other countries and get a nice coffee most days.
- merrywhether 5y ago
  It’s possible that this means no employer taxes either, which shields the employing company from having to set up a local tax entity, which is otherwise a huge barrier for US FAANG-type employees as I understand it. I know that I can’t work from any other countries currently, and I’m curious if these types of visas/arrangements would remove that barrier.
  - tomduncalf 5y ago
    This would be interesting if it is the case - you remain a tax resident in and employed by a company in your home country, but you live elsewhere. No idea if such a thing is possible. International tax laws are beyond me!
  - tomatocracy 5y ago
    The other two big barriers which can apply are company taxation (if I am a director/senior manager of a company is there a risk that the Company could become tax resident in Costa Rica?) and regulation (is there a risk that I am doing something illegal in Costa Rica because either I or the Company don't have any local regulatory permission?). (There is also a company tax issue which I don't think this type of thing can solve, which is the risk of the tax residency or tax status of the Company in its home jursidiction or third countries relying on directors/senior managers physically being located in the home jurisdiction).
  - oflanac52 5y ago
    a new startup called "Remote", reached unicorn status, is solving this issue by having all these entities set up on behalf of their clients. If countries do stuff like this tho, it would actually undermine. really hope to see other countires follow suit.
- smallerfish 5y ago
  It's all about local jobs. The official unemployment rate is 20%, reality is likely significantly higher.
FBISurveillance 5y ago
> They will also be exempted from local income taxes, will be able to open local bank accounts and can drive in Costa Rica using their country’s license, among other benefits. With this kind of visas I've always been curious: Unless you're US or Eritrea citizen, does this mean you don't have to pay any income tax at all, given you loose your home country's tax residentship in 183 days after leaving?
- ucha 5y ago
  Tax residency is a very complicated matter but in general, you do not loose tax residency 183 days after leaving. In Spain, it takes 5 years before losing tax residency after you've left the country. In France, having your wife and children in France makes you resident even if you don't live there. In the UK, you can be resident by only spending 15 days in the country if some other conditions are met. On top of that you have to add the interaction between national law and double taxation agreements between countries.
  - tluyben2 5y ago
    > In Spain, it takes 5 years before losing tax residency after you've left the country. Do you have a reference? I have never heard about that (which can happen, spain has many rules) and I doubt anyone holds to those rules but it would be good to know. I had a business in spain and as a foreign tax resident I tried to do everything by the book; the locals laughed in my face for declaring taxes at all. The system is so complex and unfriendly (the fines are high and there is world wealth tax which has fines that are probably not even legal in the EU; there are legal cases going on about it) I doubt anyone can follow the exact rules, but I tried (and probably paid way too much because of it).
    - petre 5y ago
      I keep seeing news titles about football playes like Cristiano Ronaldo and celebrities like Shakira getting slapped with back taxes and suspended jail sentences in Spain. A complex tax system and unclear rules are just another opportunity for abuse by tax authorities. https://m.timesofindia.com/sports/football/top-stories/messi-contract-highlights-tax-burden-for-players-in-spain/amp_articleshow/80654335.cms https://m.timesofindia.com/sports/football/top-stories/messi...
Proven 5y ago
- Tax avoidance tips for HN readership: praise, recommend, adopt - News about avoidance by others: condemn, demand global government for global taxation
JohnJamesRambo 5y ago
I’m going to send this to my brother, he has been thinking of doing telemedicine and touring the US in an RV, maybe this is even better. Is the internet in Costa Rica as good as the article says?
- jborden13 5y ago
  It's very spotty
- alejo 5y ago
  Didn’t read the article, so if they are claiming 1Gbps or something like that then no. But as an engineering manager who travels to Costa Rica often to work for weeks from there (from all over the country) I can tell you that I rarely have connectivity issues.
- jamal-kumar 5y ago
  Hello -- Been in and out of this country as well as other regional countries a lot in the past decade and I can attest it's probably some of the best in the whole latin american/caribbean zone. Fibre to the home rollout across the country in places where you wouldn't expect it like the beach and the jungle. What's spotty isn't as much actually the internet access, but the electricity. I usually make sure I'm in range of 4g and keep good batteries for the two hours or so that the 4g towers have batteries. After that it's time to go eat a mango in a hammock or something until it comes back on. Being in central time zone also helps for doing stuff like calls when you're dealing with people on both east and west coast and in between like your brother may be considering.
- stevehawk 5y ago
  Make sure that he can do said telemedicine from outside of the country (per his contract or law). I know more than a few doctors that have tried to do it just to discover that for some reason it wouldn't work for them. For instance, they could read an x-ray and comment on it but per some rule it wasn't actually allowed to count as "official" and still had to be checked by a second radiologist. I can't recall what the blocking factor was, I just know it's kept him from buying a sailboat and taking off or buying a large house in Thailand.
xiphias2 5y ago
This looks to me like the first step to generally get rid of income taxes (taxing people for working instead of for using the resources of the country).
- deanclatworthy 5y ago
  Just because you’re a digital nomad doesn’t mean you’re not using resources. You’ll still need healthcare, repairs to the road you probably drive on, someone to take your trash etc.
  - xiphias2 5y ago
    This is what VAT and property taxes are for. When I went to Costa Rica to a hotel, I payed quite high taxes there. Also there's VAT on every other service that I took (like taxi and Uber, though taxis hate Uber in Costa Rica and go to great lengths to tell you that it's illegal). At the same time as I'm travelling, I'm still paying capital gain taxes to the country where I live officially, even though I get nothing in return from that country.
    - deanclatworthy 5y ago
      This concept is alien to me. Finland has income tax that everyone pays and it covers everything. There is still VAT when I buy an apple at the store, but it's not there to pay for the road repairs for the car I drive. We have seperate car tax. If you gain residency here, you are treated no different to a Finn. > At the same time as I'm travelling, I'm still paying capital gain taxes to the country where I live officially, even though I get nothing in return from that country. This is ludicrous and a fault of your own gov. I presume you are US.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - Aerroon 5y ago
        https://vm.fi/en/the-budget https://vm.fi/en/the-budget According to this, Finland's budget revenue for 2021 is estimated at €68.1 billion. €14 billion of it (20%) came from income and wealth taxes. Your excise taxes alone are almost half of what income and wealth taxes bring in. VAT is 31% of the budget revenue. With numbers like these I don't think it's unreasonable to do away with income taxes and replace them with other forms of taxation.
miohtama 5y ago
How is Internet in Costa Rica?
- emmelaich 5y ago
  Patchy outside the main cities, but I'm sure it will improve. Also .. Starlink.
  - smallerfish 5y ago
    That's out of date. They ran fiber down the Pacific coast when the highway was paved, and it doesn't cost that much to get a connecting line run to your house (source, did this a few months ago, have reliable symmetric 75Mb). Power is a larger concern - in rainy season we've been having outages several times a week, though most are short. That will vary based on location. In any case, if renting a house, check for fiber & check whether they have a generator or a few UPSes at least.
    - desdiv 5y ago
      Suppose you have a reliable generator system and your own house's power has reliable uptime. Would the internet still function during power outages? (The upstream telco equipment might lose power during an extended outage.) Another HNer mentioned Costa Rica's internet connections during power outages, hence my question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28169281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28169281
      - smallerfish 5y ago
        I guess it depends on where you are and how wide the outage is. Most of our power outages are extremely local (we're in the middle of the jungle and trees come down during heavy rain), and usually resolved within a couple of hours. So far our internet has been consistently up, as long as we've been able to keep power on at the network cabinet and router. There's also good LTE (as a fallback) in many villages that cater to tourists, but coverage is spotty as you get more remote.
      - 5y ago
cinquemb 5y ago
Interestingly enough, also has no covid restrictions [NO test, NO quarantine, NO vaccine]: https://www.travelinglifestyle.net/countries-without-covid-travel-restrictions-no-test-no-quarantine/ https://www.travelinglifestyle.net/countries-without-covid-t... Would be great to see more remote friendly + no covid restriction places esp as other countries double down.
- pavlov 5y ago
  Genuinely curious why you think this no-test-no-vaccine regime is a good thing for remote workers. I’d feel much safer living in a country whose healthcare system isn’t constantly at risk of being overwhelmed by uncontrolled Covid spread.
  - cinquemb 5y ago
    It's just my preference to not want to live in fear (i've long left the US) and have more freedom in practice (due to lack of ability for government to enforce or government practices). There are plenty of other countries that are increasingly catering to the opposite for those who want to feel safe over everything, plus will make it easy to meet up with friends from other places in the world who are also working remotely. I live in a country with less than 10% vaccination rate now, and there is plenty of hospital capacity to cater to non-covid related things, esp for ones that see more expats than not.
    - yosito 5y ago
      I also prefer not to live in fear, which is why I wear a seatbelt in a car, a harness and a rope while climbing, and get a vaccine when there is a pandemic. Not living in fear doesn't have to mean pretending that life has no risks. It's about being aware of what the risks are and taking appropriate measures to protect yourself.
      - cinquemb 5y ago
        > Not living in fear doesn't have to mean pretending that life has no risks. Ha, I faced more risks growing up when I had to avoid the local gangs walking to school as a kid than I do now. Most people never gave a shit about that (and still don't), esp those that didn't live there. I won't really pretend that people really care about my safety or the safety of others any more so than their personal preferences.
drno123 5y ago
We have a similar law in Croatia for a while; not sure how many digital nomads are currently working from Croatia. https://croatianomad.com/ https://croatianomad.com/
- benjaminwootton 5y ago
  I just returned from Dubrovnik and Hvar. Would be a great place to spend a year or two working remotely!
- lostmsu 5y ago
  The link you posted does not explain the law. It is effectively an ad.
beckman466 5y ago
> “Tourists who stay for longer periods of time redistribute their money in the value chains generated by tourism,” Segura said. Well that's not true. All this will do is further commoditize the housing market and price locals out of the very neighborhoods they grew up in. Digital nomadism aims to turn the whole of the global south into a company town for the benefit of the owners of Intellectual Property in the global north (plus the politicians who helped create these horrific Intellectual Property systems and laws), as well as the privileged knowledge laborers who work for them. In other words; without access to the firewalled and 'IP protected' networks of scientific knowledge (the sum total of all human progress) the global south is perpetually blocked from growing, and has become a plaything of the global north elite, to be used and abused and plundered at will.
- cblconfederate 5y ago
  But that's already happening. In addition the global north currently brain drains the rest of the world who reared and educated their most precious workers. If anything this will allow them to go back, with all the positives that brings
- yosito 5y ago
  That's quite a narrative you're asserting. Curious what facts you have to support it.
- mensetmanusman 5y ago
  Think of the big picture, more income in these locations means more local spending on infrastructure and schooling, it is a long process, but it is possible. Studies have found that income inequality decreases with improved worker mobility.
- mc32 5y ago
  These well-to-do nomads tend to live in well to do immigrant ghettoes. They don’t compete with the housing stock locals use. In the north people always tout the benefits of having immigrants come in —especially the high income highly educated. But here you’re doing the opposite and saying high income immigrants are bad for the locals. Is that the case only in one direction? If you want someone to blame for the poor economy, blame local politicians corruption and graft endemic locally. Compare Argentina to New Zealand. One has many more resources and many more people, both in the south but one has corruption and the other doesn’t. One does well and the other perpetually defaulting and getting nowhere. Before you blame it on the past dictatorships keep in mind past dictatorships in s Korea, Taiwan, Japan even, have not kept those countries from becoming economic dynamoes. You do have to do the hard work of getting your house in order, instill education and entrepreneurship and a dream to succeed (corruption might favor incumbents for example).
morpheos137 5y ago
Something I have wondered about for a long time is how many "digital nomads" there really are in the world? Are we talking hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands? It seems to me that maybe the lifestyle is hyped online way beyond its actual likely prevalence. For taxonomic purposes I define a digital nomad as somebody who travels for an extended period of time and actively makes a living online while doing so. I would exclude independently wealthy people and tourists. There have always been rich travelers.
- yosito 5y ago
  I've lived the lifestyle for 10 years. By my estimation, there are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. But it's not a strictly defined concept. Some people consider themselves nomads because they have virtually no home base anywhere in the world and home is where they stored their stuff this week. Others consider themselves nomads because they travel 2-3 months a year. And there's a whole range in between.
- jamal-kumar 5y ago
  It only costs me like 150-200$ to fly from USA/Canada to Central America sometimes, and once you get there it's really cheap, so you'd be surprised! You do see people making proper bank out there living in stupid overpriced condos for sure, but I would fathom they're the minority. On the lower end of the income spectrum for digital nomads, you do see a lot of people who do stuff like corky little wordpress sites, copy writing, translation work or whatever on fiver.com making like what you'd make for that, who can't even write code and just outsource it to other people on fiver in India or whatever, living comfortably in cheap hostels and stuff on under 1000$/month. This is comparable to the middle class income in Costa Rica which is around 750$/mo. I don't even think people making this much money abroad are going to be paying taxes back home on what you would basically be making doing spongebob squarepant's job, which is interesting because as far as I know Costa Rica still doesn't even have an income tax despite measures to try and introduce them, which was met with widespread protest. Of note is that the people on this lower income tier of people who travel on a low budget while working are going to be on tourist visas. Costa Rica's tolerated this for many years now but I think they're pretty much officially encouraging more people in the higher income bracket to come through too.
jobigoud 5y ago
There doesn't seem to be an age limit on this which is interesting. Someone posted a worker visa website the other day and some of them had age limits like applicant has to be < 35 yo.
- standardUser 5y ago
  What I find more interesting is the idea that there would ever be an age limit for a visa (other than children). What could possible be the incentive to exclude people in their 40's and 50's, who likely have more money to spend then someone in their 20's?
  - sologoub 5y ago
    For regular work visas, the idea is to attract labor force that will be able to work a full career. In many places retirement terms are fairly generous and I’m guessing a lower level foreign employee who only worked the minimum years could be a net negative to the system.
    - vmception 5y ago
      They can do proof of stake, where some kind of wealth is directly or indirectly demonstrated. For example, the Cayman Islands had a pandemic program that required staying at certain bubble properties, which were like $10,000 per interval. Not sure what the interval was, but it was expensive and would accomplish the gatekeeping.
  - xwolfi 5y ago
    Money to spend, they care less than having young, cheap-enough, able to make children, might go back home easily in case of trouble immigrants. I immigrated in my current country at 26 and it was really easy and warm, and they did everything to quadruple my salary from the european country I came from. Now that I'm close to permanent residency and 33, I'm thinking of jumping again, but with a kid, an giganormous salary and a lot of money to be picky, I expect to be more a burden for the next country than an obvious cheap asset.
- 5y ago
arrty88 5y ago
Visiting this website made my iPhone get very hot.
bane 5y ago
I'm sure others who've spent more time in Costa Rica can provide more color, but I found it a very interesting place. There's generally an "enlightened" government in place with relatively low corruption. The government has prioritized important things like clean drinking water, food safety standards, power, and internet (sometimes at the tradeoff of roads). There's a national emphasis on preserving the natural ecology of the country, and there's no military. The budget for which goes into social programs, education, and health care. You can go from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean in a few hours, which is great. But be warned the coastal areas are both incredibly hot and humid. Fortunately, much of the country is at altitude and not nearly as hot thanks to numerous volcanoes which also feature a hot springs culture in certain areas. Because of the rain forests there's an impossible number of flora and fauna (and of course rain). All of this combines to make the country quite beautiful with some of the freshest tropical fruits you'll ever eat. The population is generally well educated, Intel used to have a chip fab there for a time and HP, Dell, Bayer, Bosch, IBM and more operate there. It's a heavily services oriented economy. Housing is affordable and the people are generally friendly enough. Food can be relatively basic, but is very filling and generally cheap. It's also fair to point out the downsides. Transportation around can be...rugged and the cities can be bogged down with traffic. The Capital city, San José...I didn't care much for...at least near the city center. It's also a very small country with a very small population (~4 million). This can be constraining for some outsiders. Overall though, I found it a fascinating and beautiful country and really did enjoy my time there. I would definitely go back given the chance. I also had a friend who lived there for several years and ran an consulting business to companies in the U.S. The timezone turned out to be rather advantageous and he was able to easy support U.S. East and West coast companies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
  What's the safety situation like?
  - pibechorro 5y ago
    I was there like 10 years ago, traveled across a lot of the country via public buses. It was one of the safest countries I visited.
qorrect 5y ago
Pura Vida! Just kidding, I really did not like Costa Rica. The exchange rate ( The colon is worth more than the dollar, really ??? ), the people were rude, power goes out a lot and internet was spotty at best ( on the Atlantic side ).
- jlmorton 5y ago
  > the colon is worth more than the dollar, really ??? I'm a little confused by this. The exchange value for 1 USD to 1 Costa Rican Colon is 1:621. But I'm even more confused why this is a problem for you. It's the purchasing power that is important, and Costa Rica is significantly less expensive that the United States for someone holding US Dollars. > the people were rude All 4 million of them? If you've written off an entire country as rude, it might be on you.
  - gotrythis 5y ago
    When we were there last year, a lot of restaurants were way more expensive to eat in than restaurants in Canada, and the conversion rate was 2 to 1 everywhere, so if you carried U.S. money, you lost more than the actual exchange rate.
    - jlmorton 5y ago
      That's because the base unit is essentially 1,000 colones, and if you're transacting in US dollars, most people will give you 1000 colones to 2 US dollars (500:1). If you change your money, then you'll obviously get a better rate. When I said "holding US dollars," I didn't mean literally holding US dollars. I meant Costa Rica is generally cheaper than the United States for people whose primary income, or wealth is in US dollars.
      - gotrythis 5y ago
        Right, what he said.
    - el-salvador 5y ago
matttrotter 5y ago
Does anyone know if Colombia has this type of digital nomad visa?
zebnyc 5y ago
To those of you look to take advantage of this, I would strongly recommend getting a high-rise / 4 wheeler. THey are probably twice as expensive as the low-ride sedans but you won't hate yourself while driving it. The infrastructure / roads were terrible especially around tourist destinations. Data point: Visited Costa rica around 2012 As a side note, is there good schooling in Costa rica? Asking for a toddler. Cheers
- el-salvador 5y ago
  Check the schools affiliated with AASCA: http://www.aascaonline.net/index.php/directory-of-schools/costa-rica http://www.aascaonline.net/index.php/directory-of-schools/co...
kragen 5y ago
This law as described would exclude most of the digital nomads I've met, because it requires "Proof of a stable monthly salary, fixed income or a average monthly income, during the last year." Most digital nomads I've met do contract work rather than working for a fixed salary. Most of the people I know who work for a fixed salary, even on programming and sysadmin jobs where they can WfH frequently, aren't free to just move to wherever they want to move to; they have to be able to go to the office at least a few times a month. Or did before the pandemic, anyway; maybe that will change.
- Overton-Window 5y ago
  > or a average monthly income, during the last year
studentrob 5y ago
Be aware drug trafficking is part of the culture there.
- reillyse 5y ago
  what are you on about?
  - studentrob 5y ago
    I know at least one person who joined a commune there and said it was part of every day life. Plus, just look it up. Drugs are "cheap and plentiful" there https://theculturetrip.com/central-america/costa-rica/articles/11-things-you-should-never-do-while-visiting-costa-rica/ https://theculturetrip.com/central-america/costa-rica/articl...
    - reillyse 5y ago
      You know where drugs are cheap and plentiful? The US, Europe, London, Russia, Africa, basically everywhere. To say "Be aware drug trafficking is part of the culture there." is extremely weird and probably racist. Why are you saying that? If you think, "Oh it's central America" is that it? Costa Rica is actually not in any of the traditional drug trafficking routes (say from Peru to the US) so that line of thought just doesn't go anywhere. I've spent a lot of time in Costa Rica and I've never trafficked any drugs nor have I witnessed this cultural drug trafficking. I imagine there is some sort of drug trafficking fiesta or holiday that I'm just constantly missing.
      - studentrob 5y ago
        Clarified in another comment, what I should have said is it's decriminalized, and therefore may have a different culture around recreational use that may or may not suit everyone.
- tzamora 5y ago
  I'm from Costa Rica and I'm not aware of that, drug trafficking like what? We as other countries in the planet has issues with illegal drugs yes is true, but never in any way this has influenced into our culture.
prawn 5y ago
Any decent real estate sites and recommended areas for people curious about what the living situations and pricing are like?

357 points by tomduncalf 5y ago

herytomakg0@gmail.com pubilc bank (6803968627) 881128-13-5995 Herytom Agas

chx 5y ago

We have been collecting digital nomad visas at https://travel.stackexchange.com/a/158462/4188 https://travel.stackexchange.com/a/158462/4188 there are a lot post-covid.

toomuchtodo 5y ago
Thank you so much for sharing this.
bane 5y ago
Thailand is coming close to a digital nomad visa.
tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
The permission to be there is one thing, but the lack of taxation is what makes it really attractive. Do any of the others also offer that?

noodlesUK 5y ago

I’m surprised that this excludes digital nomads from local income taxes. You’d think tax revenue would be a big incentive for them to attract people, and most countries have anti double taxation laws.

nikanj 5y ago
The people will still bring in plenty of money into the local economy
- read_if_gay_ 5y ago
  And they can always tax again later.
- loceng 5y ago
  And they have to compete with other countries.
- drclau 5y ago
  This ^^^. It’s essentially cash flow towards the country, part of which is spent locally. It’s pretty much tourism on steroids. And, to make it work, they need to make it very attractive.
  - silvestrov 5y ago
    and it's tourism in the off-season.
    - toastal 5y ago
      I think it's more like a steady drip feed. I moved abroad, and I spend less than a tourist once I figured out how locals generally do it, but still considerably more than a local because I want to eat foods from other countries and get a nice coffee most days.
merrywhether 5y ago
It’s possible that this means no employer taxes either, which shields the employing company from having to set up a local tax entity, which is otherwise a huge barrier for US FAANG-type employees as I understand it. I know that I can’t work from any other countries currently, and I’m curious if these types of visas/arrangements would remove that barrier.
- tomduncalf 5y ago
  This would be interesting if it is the case - you remain a tax resident in and employed by a company in your home country, but you live elsewhere. No idea if such a thing is possible. International tax laws are beyond me!
- tomatocracy 5y ago
  The other two big barriers which can apply are company taxation (if I am a director/senior manager of a company is there a risk that the Company could become tax resident in Costa Rica?) and regulation (is there a risk that I am doing something illegal in Costa Rica because either I or the Company don't have any local regulatory permission?). (There is also a company tax issue which I don't think this type of thing can solve, which is the risk of the tax residency or tax status of the Company in its home jursidiction or third countries relying on directors/senior managers physically being located in the home jurisdiction).
- oflanac52 5y ago
  a new startup called "Remote", reached unicorn status, is solving this issue by having all these entities set up on behalf of their clients. If countries do stuff like this tho, it would actually undermine. really hope to see other countires follow suit.
smallerfish 5y ago
It's all about local jobs. The official unemployment rate is 20%, reality is likely significantly higher.

FBISurveillance 5y ago

> They will also be exempted from local income taxes, will be able to open local bank accounts and can drive in Costa Rica using their country’s license, among other benefits. With this kind of visas I've always been curious: Unless you're US or Eritrea citizen, does this mean you don't have to pay any income tax at all, given you loose your home country's tax residentship in 183 days after leaving?

ucha 5y ago
Tax residency is a very complicated matter but in general, you do not loose tax residency 183 days after leaving. In Spain, it takes 5 years before losing tax residency after you've left the country. In France, having your wife and children in France makes you resident even if you don't live there. In the UK, you can be resident by only spending 15 days in the country if some other conditions are met. On top of that you have to add the interaction between national law and double taxation agreements between countries.
- tluyben2 5y ago
  > In Spain, it takes 5 years before losing tax residency after you've left the country. Do you have a reference? I have never heard about that (which can happen, spain has many rules) and I doubt anyone holds to those rules but it would be good to know. I had a business in spain and as a foreign tax resident I tried to do everything by the book; the locals laughed in my face for declaring taxes at all. The system is so complex and unfriendly (the fines are high and there is world wealth tax which has fines that are probably not even legal in the EU; there are legal cases going on about it) I doubt anyone can follow the exact rules, but I tried (and probably paid way too much because of it).
  - petre 5y ago
    I keep seeing news titles about football playes like Cristiano Ronaldo and celebrities like Shakira getting slapped with back taxes and suspended jail sentences in Spain. A complex tax system and unclear rules are just another opportunity for abuse by tax authorities. https://m.timesofindia.com/sports/football/top-stories/messi-contract-highlights-tax-burden-for-players-in-spain/amp_articleshow/80654335.cms https://m.timesofindia.com/sports/football/top-stories/messi...

Proven 5y ago

- Tax avoidance tips for HN readership: praise, recommend, adopt - News about avoidance by others: condemn, demand global government for global taxation

JohnJamesRambo 5y ago

I’m going to send this to my brother, he has been thinking of doing telemedicine and touring the US in an RV, maybe this is even better. Is the internet in Costa Rica as good as the article says?

jborden13 5y ago
It's very spotty
alejo 5y ago
Didn’t read the article, so if they are claiming 1Gbps or something like that then no. But as an engineering manager who travels to Costa Rica often to work for weeks from there (from all over the country) I can tell you that I rarely have connectivity issues.
jamal-kumar 5y ago
Hello -- Been in and out of this country as well as other regional countries a lot in the past decade and I can attest it's probably some of the best in the whole latin american/caribbean zone. Fibre to the home rollout across the country in places where you wouldn't expect it like the beach and the jungle. What's spotty isn't as much actually the internet access, but the electricity. I usually make sure I'm in range of 4g and keep good batteries for the two hours or so that the 4g towers have batteries. After that it's time to go eat a mango in a hammock or something until it comes back on. Being in central time zone also helps for doing stuff like calls when you're dealing with people on both east and west coast and in between like your brother may be considering.
stevehawk 5y ago
Make sure that he can do said telemedicine from outside of the country (per his contract or law). I know more than a few doctors that have tried to do it just to discover that for some reason it wouldn't work for them. For instance, they could read an x-ray and comment on it but per some rule it wasn't actually allowed to count as "official" and still had to be checked by a second radiologist. I can't recall what the blocking factor was, I just know it's kept him from buying a sailboat and taking off or buying a large house in Thailand.

xiphias2 5y ago

This looks to me like the first step to generally get rid of income taxes (taxing people for working instead of for using the resources of the country).

deanclatworthy 5y ago
Just because you’re a digital nomad doesn’t mean you’re not using resources. You’ll still need healthcare, repairs to the road you probably drive on, someone to take your trash etc.
- xiphias2 5y ago
  This is what VAT and property taxes are for. When I went to Costa Rica to a hotel, I payed quite high taxes there. Also there's VAT on every other service that I took (like taxi and Uber, though taxis hate Uber in Costa Rica and go to great lengths to tell you that it's illegal). At the same time as I'm travelling, I'm still paying capital gain taxes to the country where I live officially, even though I get nothing in return from that country.
  - deanclatworthy 5y ago
    This concept is alien to me. Finland has income tax that everyone pays and it covers everything. There is still VAT when I buy an apple at the store, but it's not there to pay for the road repairs for the car I drive. We have seperate car tax. If you gain residency here, you are treated no different to a Finn. > At the same time as I'm travelling, I'm still paying capital gain taxes to the country where I live officially, even though I get nothing in return from that country. This is ludicrous and a fault of your own gov. I presume you are US.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - Aerroon 5y ago
      https://vm.fi/en/the-budget https://vm.fi/en/the-budget According to this, Finland's budget revenue for 2021 is estimated at €68.1 billion. €14 billion of it (20%) came from income and wealth taxes. Your excise taxes alone are almost half of what income and wealth taxes bring in. VAT is 31% of the budget revenue. With numbers like these I don't think it's unreasonable to do away with income taxes and replace them with other forms of taxation.

miohtama 5y ago

How is Internet in Costa Rica?

emmelaich 5y ago
Patchy outside the main cities, but I'm sure it will improve. Also .. Starlink.
- smallerfish 5y ago
  That's out of date. They ran fiber down the Pacific coast when the highway was paved, and it doesn't cost that much to get a connecting line run to your house (source, did this a few months ago, have reliable symmetric 75Mb). Power is a larger concern - in rainy season we've been having outages several times a week, though most are short. That will vary based on location. In any case, if renting a house, check for fiber & check whether they have a generator or a few UPSes at least.
  - desdiv 5y ago
    Suppose you have a reliable generator system and your own house's power has reliable uptime. Would the internet still function during power outages? (The upstream telco equipment might lose power during an extended outage.) Another HNer mentioned Costa Rica's internet connections during power outages, hence my question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28169281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28169281
    - smallerfish 5y ago
      I guess it depends on where you are and how wide the outage is. Most of our power outages are extremely local (we're in the middle of the jungle and trees come down during heavy rain), and usually resolved within a couple of hours. So far our internet has been consistently up, as long as we've been able to keep power on at the network cabinet and router. There's also good LTE (as a fallback) in many villages that cater to tourists, but coverage is spotty as you get more remote.
    - 5y ago

cinquemb 5y ago

Interestingly enough, also has no covid restrictions [NO test, NO quarantine, NO vaccine]: https://www.travelinglifestyle.net/countries-without-covid-travel-restrictions-no-test-no-quarantine/ https://www.travelinglifestyle.net/countries-without-covid-t... Would be great to see more remote friendly + no covid restriction places esp as other countries double down.

pavlov 5y ago
Genuinely curious why you think this no-test-no-vaccine regime is a good thing for remote workers. I’d feel much safer living in a country whose healthcare system isn’t constantly at risk of being overwhelmed by uncontrolled Covid spread.
- cinquemb 5y ago
  It's just my preference to not want to live in fear (i've long left the US) and have more freedom in practice (due to lack of ability for government to enforce or government practices). There are plenty of other countries that are increasingly catering to the opposite for those who want to feel safe over everything, plus will make it easy to meet up with friends from other places in the world who are also working remotely. I live in a country with less than 10% vaccination rate now, and there is plenty of hospital capacity to cater to non-covid related things, esp for ones that see more expats than not.
  - yosito 5y ago
    I also prefer not to live in fear, which is why I wear a seatbelt in a car, a harness and a rope while climbing, and get a vaccine when there is a pandemic. Not living in fear doesn't have to mean pretending that life has no risks. It's about being aware of what the risks are and taking appropriate measures to protect yourself.
    - cinquemb 5y ago
      > Not living in fear doesn't have to mean pretending that life has no risks. Ha, I faced more risks growing up when I had to avoid the local gangs walking to school as a kid than I do now. Most people never gave a shit about that (and still don't), esp those that didn't live there. I won't really pretend that people really care about my safety or the safety of others any more so than their personal preferences.

drno123 5y ago

We have a similar law in Croatia for a while; not sure how many digital nomads are currently working from Croatia. https://croatianomad.com/ https://croatianomad.com/

benjaminwootton 5y ago
I just returned from Dubrovnik and Hvar. Would be a great place to spend a year or two working remotely!
lostmsu 5y ago
The link you posted does not explain the law. It is effectively an ad.

beckman466 5y ago

> “Tourists who stay for longer periods of time redistribute their money in the value chains generated by tourism,” Segura said. Well that's not true. All this will do is further commoditize the housing market and price locals out of the very neighborhoods they grew up in. Digital nomadism aims to turn the whole of the global south into a company town for the benefit of the owners of Intellectual Property in the global north (plus the politicians who helped create these horrific Intellectual Property systems and laws), as well as the privileged knowledge laborers who work for them. In other words; without access to the firewalled and 'IP protected' networks of scientific knowledge (the sum total of all human progress) the global south is perpetually blocked from growing, and has become a plaything of the global north elite, to be used and abused and plundered at will.

cblconfederate 5y ago
But that's already happening. In addition the global north currently brain drains the rest of the world who reared and educated their most precious workers. If anything this will allow them to go back, with all the positives that brings
yosito 5y ago
That's quite a narrative you're asserting. Curious what facts you have to support it.
mensetmanusman 5y ago
Think of the big picture, more income in these locations means more local spending on infrastructure and schooling, it is a long process, but it is possible. Studies have found that income inequality decreases with improved worker mobility.
mc32 5y ago
These well-to-do nomads tend to live in well to do immigrant ghettoes. They don’t compete with the housing stock locals use. In the north people always tout the benefits of having immigrants come in —especially the high income highly educated. But here you’re doing the opposite and saying high income immigrants are bad for the locals. Is that the case only in one direction? If you want someone to blame for the poor economy, blame local politicians corruption and graft endemic locally. Compare Argentina to New Zealand. One has many more resources and many more people, both in the south but one has corruption and the other doesn’t. One does well and the other perpetually defaulting and getting nowhere. Before you blame it on the past dictatorships keep in mind past dictatorships in s Korea, Taiwan, Japan even, have not kept those countries from becoming economic dynamoes. You do have to do the hard work of getting your house in order, instill education and entrepreneurship and a dream to succeed (corruption might favor incumbents for example).

morpheos137 5y ago

Something I have wondered about for a long time is how many "digital nomads" there really are in the world? Are we talking hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands? It seems to me that maybe the lifestyle is hyped online way beyond its actual likely prevalence. For taxonomic purposes I define a digital nomad as somebody who travels for an extended period of time and actively makes a living online while doing so. I would exclude independently wealthy people and tourists. There have always been rich travelers.

yosito 5y ago
I've lived the lifestyle for 10 years. By my estimation, there are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. But it's not a strictly defined concept. Some people consider themselves nomads because they have virtually no home base anywhere in the world and home is where they stored their stuff this week. Others consider themselves nomads because they travel 2-3 months a year. And there's a whole range in between.
jamal-kumar 5y ago
It only costs me like 150-200$ to fly from USA/Canada to Central America sometimes, and once you get there it's really cheap, so you'd be surprised! You do see people making proper bank out there living in stupid overpriced condos for sure, but I would fathom they're the minority. On the lower end of the income spectrum for digital nomads, you do see a lot of people who do stuff like corky little wordpress sites, copy writing, translation work or whatever on fiver.com making like what you'd make for that, who can't even write code and just outsource it to other people on fiver in India or whatever, living comfortably in cheap hostels and stuff on under 1000$/month. This is comparable to the middle class income in Costa Rica which is around 750$/mo. I don't even think people making this much money abroad are going to be paying taxes back home on what you would basically be making doing spongebob squarepant's job, which is interesting because as far as I know Costa Rica still doesn't even have an income tax despite measures to try and introduce them, which was met with widespread protest. Of note is that the people on this lower income tier of people who travel on a low budget while working are going to be on tourist visas. Costa Rica's tolerated this for many years now but I think they're pretty much officially encouraging more people in the higher income bracket to come through too.

jobigoud 5y ago

There doesn't seem to be an age limit on this which is interesting. Someone posted a worker visa website the other day and some of them had age limits like applicant has to be < 35 yo.

standardUser 5y ago
What I find more interesting is the idea that there would ever be an age limit for a visa (other than children). What could possible be the incentive to exclude people in their 40's and 50's, who likely have more money to spend then someone in their 20's?
- sologoub 5y ago
  For regular work visas, the idea is to attract labor force that will be able to work a full career. In many places retirement terms are fairly generous and I’m guessing a lower level foreign employee who only worked the minimum years could be a net negative to the system.
  - vmception 5y ago
    They can do proof of stake, where some kind of wealth is directly or indirectly demonstrated. For example, the Cayman Islands had a pandemic program that required staying at certain bubble properties, which were like $10,000 per interval. Not sure what the interval was, but it was expensive and would accomplish the gatekeeping.
- xwolfi 5y ago
  Money to spend, they care less than having young, cheap-enough, able to make children, might go back home easily in case of trouble immigrants. I immigrated in my current country at 26 and it was really easy and warm, and they did everything to quadruple my salary from the european country I came from. Now that I'm close to permanent residency and 33, I'm thinking of jumping again, but with a kid, an giganormous salary and a lot of money to be picky, I expect to be more a burden for the next country than an obvious cheap asset.
5y ago

arrty88 5y ago

Visiting this website made my iPhone get very hot.

bane 5y ago

I'm sure others who've spent more time in Costa Rica can provide more color, but I found it a very interesting place. There's generally an "enlightened" government in place with relatively low corruption. The government has prioritized important things like clean drinking water, food safety standards, power, and internet (sometimes at the tradeoff of roads). There's a national emphasis on preserving the natural ecology of the country, and there's no military. The budget for which goes into social programs, education, and health care. You can go from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean in a few hours, which is great. But be warned the coastal areas are both incredibly hot and humid. Fortunately, much of the country is at altitude and not nearly as hot thanks to numerous volcanoes which also feature a hot springs culture in certain areas. Because of the rain forests there's an impossible number of flora and fauna (and of course rain). All of this combines to make the country quite beautiful with some of the freshest tropical fruits you'll ever eat. The population is generally well educated, Intel used to have a chip fab there for a time and HP, Dell, Bayer, Bosch, IBM and more operate there. It's a heavily services oriented economy. Housing is affordable and the people are generally friendly enough. Food can be relatively basic, but is very filling and generally cheap. It's also fair to point out the downsides. Transportation around can be...rugged and the cities can be bogged down with traffic. The Capital city, San José...I didn't care much for...at least near the city center. It's also a very small country with a very small population (~4 million). This can be constraining for some outsiders. Overall though, I found it a fascinating and beautiful country and really did enjoy my time there. I would definitely go back given the chance. I also had a friend who lived there for several years and ran an consulting business to companies in the U.S. The timezone turned out to be rather advantageous and he was able to easy support U.S. East and West coast companies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica

tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
What's the safety situation like?
- pibechorro 5y ago
  I was there like 10 years ago, traveled across a lot of the country via public buses. It was one of the safest countries I visited.

qorrect 5y ago

Pura Vida! Just kidding, I really did not like Costa Rica. The exchange rate ( The colon is worth more than the dollar, really ??? ), the people were rude, power goes out a lot and internet was spotty at best ( on the Atlantic side ).

jlmorton 5y ago
> the colon is worth more than the dollar, really ??? I'm a little confused by this. The exchange value for 1 USD to 1 Costa Rican Colon is 1:621. But I'm even more confused why this is a problem for you. It's the purchasing power that is important, and Costa Rica is significantly less expensive that the United States for someone holding US Dollars. > the people were rude All 4 million of them? If you've written off an entire country as rude, it might be on you.
- gotrythis 5y ago
  When we were there last year, a lot of restaurants were way more expensive to eat in than restaurants in Canada, and the conversion rate was 2 to 1 everywhere, so if you carried U.S. money, you lost more than the actual exchange rate.
  - jlmorton 5y ago
    That's because the base unit is essentially 1,000 colones, and if you're transacting in US dollars, most people will give you 1000 colones to 2 US dollars (500:1). If you change your money, then you'll obviously get a better rate. When I said "holding US dollars," I didn't mean literally holding US dollars. I meant Costa Rica is generally cheaper than the United States for people whose primary income, or wealth is in US dollars.
    - gotrythis 5y ago
      Right, what he said.
  - el-salvador 5y ago

matttrotter 5y ago

Does anyone know if Colombia has this type of digital nomad visa?

zebnyc 5y ago

To those of you look to take advantage of this, I would strongly recommend getting a high-rise / 4 wheeler. THey are probably twice as expensive as the low-ride sedans but you won't hate yourself while driving it. The infrastructure / roads were terrible especially around tourist destinations. Data point: Visited Costa rica around 2012 As a side note, is there good schooling in Costa rica? Asking for a toddler. Cheers

el-salvador 5y ago
Check the schools affiliated with AASCA: http://www.aascaonline.net/index.php/directory-of-schools/costa-rica http://www.aascaonline.net/index.php/directory-of-schools/co...

kragen 5y ago

This law as described would exclude most of the digital nomads I've met, because it requires "Proof of a stable monthly salary, fixed income or a average monthly income, during the last year." Most digital nomads I've met do contract work rather than working for a fixed salary. Most of the people I know who work for a fixed salary, even on programming and sysadmin jobs where they can WfH frequently, aren't free to just move to wherever they want to move to; they have to be able to go to the office at least a few times a month. Or did before the pandemic, anyway; maybe that will change.

Overton-Window 5y ago
> or a average monthly income, during the last year

studentrob 5y ago

Be aware drug trafficking is part of the culture there.

reillyse 5y ago
what are you on about?
- studentrob 5y ago
  I know at least one person who joined a commune there and said it was part of every day life. Plus, just look it up. Drugs are "cheap and plentiful" there https://theculturetrip.com/central-america/costa-rica/articles/11-things-you-should-never-do-while-visiting-costa-rica/ https://theculturetrip.com/central-america/costa-rica/articl...
  - reillyse 5y ago
    You know where drugs are cheap and plentiful? The US, Europe, London, Russia, Africa, basically everywhere. To say "Be aware drug trafficking is part of the culture there." is extremely weird and probably racist. Why are you saying that? If you think, "Oh it's central America" is that it? Costa Rica is actually not in any of the traditional drug trafficking routes (say from Peru to the US) so that line of thought just doesn't go anywhere. I've spent a lot of time in Costa Rica and I've never trafficked any drugs nor have I witnessed this cultural drug trafficking. I imagine there is some sort of drug trafficking fiesta or holiday that I'm just constantly missing.
    - studentrob 5y ago
      Clarified in another comment, what I should have said is it's decriminalized, and therefore may have a different culture around recreational use that may or may not suit everyone.
tzamora 5y ago
I'm from Costa Rica and I'm not aware of that, drug trafficking like what? We as other countries in the planet has issues with illegal drugs yes is true, but never in any way this has influenced into our culture.

prawn 5y ago

Any decent real estate sites and recommended areas for people curious about what the living situations and pricing are like?