Costa Rica Digital Nomad Visa (Law No. 10008)

Costa Rica's Law No. 10008, the Ley para Atraer Trabajadores y Prestadores Remotos de Servicios de Carácter Internacional (2021), created a dedicated visa category for remote workers and digital nomads, implemented through the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (DGME) with a promotional microsite run by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT). Applicants must show at least $3,000/month in income ($4,000 with dependents), pay a $100 fee and submit twelve months of bank statements; the permit runs for one year, is renewable for a second, and exempts foreign-earned income and imported work equipment from local tax and duty.

DGME-sourced approval counts, reported by Costa Rican outlets Delfino.cr and Revista E&N, show 114 visas approved in 2022, a peak of 317 in 2023, and a decline to roughly 158 in 2024 — a fall of about 50% in approvals on a 60% drop in applications. (El Financiero separately cites a higher cumulative total of 949 approvals against 1,225 applications, a figure that appears to include dependants rather than primary applicants only, and the two counts have not been reconciled in public reporting.) Costa Rica's national tourism chamber, Canatur, has estimated each nomad contributes around ₡15 million to the local economy per six-month stay.

The scheme is notable for multi-year, government-sourced tracking that lets outcomes — including a downturn — be observed rather than assumed. Costa Rican press attributes the 2024 decline to safety perceptions, cost of living, housing shortages and competition from other Latin American nomad-visa programmes, an honest caveat on a policy whose early growth had been read as unambiguous success.

Read the full analysis: https://www.visitcostarica.com/digital-nomads/requirements