The True Cost of Moving to Costa Rica

It had always been a dream of mine to live somewhere warm and tropical, far from the cold winters of Alberta, Canada, so when I was given the opportunity to move to Costa Rica for a year, I jumped at the chance.

I had never visited Costa Rica before and wasn’t quite sure what to expect, even after hours of “surfing the web” for information. I was pleasantly surprised and almost instantly fell in love with the country. A year didn’t seem long enough to experience all the wonders Costa Rica had to offer, so I decided to sell my home in Canada and move here.

There are so many websites, articles and forums dedicated to the subject of “Moving to Costa Rica”, and I read hundreds. I was seeking answers to “what I should and should not bring or ship here.”

My endless hours of research resulted in confusion, frustration, and eye strain. Thankfully, I found The Association of Residents of Costa Rica (ARCR) website and started reading the forum posts. This was a huge help, and after reading the good advice of several posters, I sat down and made a list of what I could and couldn’t live without.

I submitted my list of “Things I Can’t Live Without” to three international moving companies. After receiving their quotes, all

around $5,000.00 plus shipping and calculating the taxes, insurance, and duty I realized that I could actually live without or replace the many of the items here for much less.

For example if a product with a CIF value (new cost + insurance + freight) of US$500 is being imported to Costa Rica, the Customs Import Duty is approximately 5%. The consumption tax for the category is approximately 15%. Based upon these figures we would be landed with a bill of $187.89 on only one item. [$25 import duty + $ 78.75 consumption tax + $5.00 Law 6946 + 79.14 sales tax].

When people move to Costa Rica they assume they can bring their car into the country with minimal expense. The reality is very different. To import a car you need to estimate that you will be paying 53% on the value of the car, plus shipping costs.

There was a time that I couldn’t imagine a life without the icemaker in my fridge, the big screen TV, and my shoe collection (a close second to Amelda Marcos), but life is much simpler here. I discovered that I could live without a different pair of shoes for every outfit (and an outfit for every pair of shoes), the TV’s and stereos, my deluxe range and the endless supply of ice.