Costa Rica Forum: Moving to CR

I'm afraid that you will have a difficult time finding work here. The law is that jobs must go to qualified Costa Ricans before they go to foreigners. Basically, there are a few ways foreigners get jobs here:

1. they teach English (pay is typically $5-7/hour)

2. they open their own business, but need to hire and pay other people (so they have a business but not a job)

3. they can have a their visa sponsored by a company (usually multinational), in the case they would have to meet one of the following criterion:

a. be in upper management of the company

b. have special scientific/technical background (usually advance degree level) that is not available in Costa Rica.

With knowledge of the type of environmental work you do, it is hard to say what the opportunities would be for you here. For instance, if you do PhD level ecological work there could be opportunities. If not, it seems less likely. There are a lot of network engineers in Costa Rica so I see that as being a difficult path to a work visa.

Also keep in mind, even if there were not these work restrictions, salaries are significantly lower here.

I have no idea how many people in my life I have tell the same thing...before you make the final move...please come to Costa Rica spend some times with us...get the answer to that many questions once you are here...you can have 10,000 answers and every body will said somenthing different...some good ...some funny...and some non sense advices...

I have hear the most and incredible reasons from people to move here...one lady...love the idea to move to Costa Rica ...because she can have her bathroom without walls...just open?...another one because Costarican dogs are more free than French dogs? I can wirite a book...

Some people will try to discourage to move....why?

Just get the most important things you may have ...place them in storage...buy a ticket and come to Costa Rica.... again once here...you can find about visas, houses, food, jobs...etc...

Just buckle up and enjoy the ride in PARADISE!

I'm not sure that providing a reality check is trying to discourage. It sounds as if burnthiscity and her fiance would like to move to Costa Rica and find jobs here that maintain their respective careers ("...will probably be a problem when looking for work"). That is not likely to happen without a company sponsoring a visa. And even with a company sponsoring you, getting a work visa can be quite a hassle as your sponsor has to convince the government that no one else in Costa Rica is qualified to do that job.

Now, if burnthiscity said, we want to move to Costa Rica and open a hotel, a restaurant, a surf shop, or an online business, the answers provided would be very different. These are all good options for someone with an entrepreneurial personality.

But by all means, if burnthiscity is interested in it, she and her fiance should spend 6 or 9 months here. In fact, I would encourage everyone in the US to spend some time overseas, particularly in a developing country.

Thank you for your replies! I recently spent 3 months on the Caribbean side of CR so I already know that I love it =) My fiance hasn't been there before though. Thanks for all your input, it's been very helpful. We'll definitely have to put more thought into this. Truthfully we haven't put much into yet, we just know that we want to move somewhere other than here (US). I suggested CR since I've already been there and know that we would both like it.

There are two website that I recommend you check out if you are thinking about moving here. I don't have the URLs but you can Google them:

The Real Costa Rica

Costa Rica Blogger

Both are written by people who really enjoy living in Costa Rica, but they give a balanced view (which is rare) of the realities and day-to-day challenges you would face living here.

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