Visiting
Costa Rica's November 2025 visa guidelines put New Zealand in the first group: no visa, with the officer at entry setting the stay at up to 180 days. The stay cannot be extended, except when fewer than 90 days were granted, and then only by up to 90 days. We found no source saying a visitor may work remotely.
- The guidelines list a valid passport, and the stay cannot run past its validity.
- They also list a return or onward ticket and proof of more than US$200 for each month of your stay.
- The Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau are treated the same for New Zealand passport holders.
Sources: Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería, SafeTravel (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand). Checked 16 October 2026.
Staying a year or longer
The digital nomad stay is for remote workers and service providers paid from outside Costa Rica. It lasts up to one year and can be renewed once if you spent at least 180 days in the country in the first year. The income test is more than US$3,100 a month. The stay does not lead to permanent residence.
- With family members, plan for more than US$4,100 a month. The figure can combine your income with a spouse's or another family member's.
- Pensioner residence asks for a lifetime pension of more than US$1,100 a month. Rentista residence asks for income of more than US$2,600 a month.
- Both are written for pensions and passive income, so check whether salary or freelance fees would count.
More detail
The test is set in US dollars, so its New Zealand dollar value moves with the exchange rate. The Costa Rica Tourism Board's page quotes a higher family figure, which is not in the law.
The investor category lists a minimum of more than US$160,000 under Law 9996. That law's benefits are limited to people who opted in within five years of it taking effect, a window that closed in July 2026. We found no text that ends the minimum with the window.
Confirm the current requirements, fees and filing method with the immigration authority (DGME) before you apply.
Sources: Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT), Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (DGME), Procuraduría General de la República. Checked 15 October 2026.
Documents, fees and timing
You show your income with 12 months of bank statements or a certificate from a public accountant or notary, apostilled if issued abroad. You also need health insurance for your whole stay with at least US$50,000 of cover. The law gives immigration 15 calendar days to decide, and the application fee is US$100.
- You also send the signed application form (and a family form), proof of the US$100 payment and a copy of your passport. Documents not in Spanish need a translation by a registered translator or notary.
- We found no police certificate listed for this stay. For family members, birth and marriage certificates need an apostille.
- Costa Rica is listed as an apostille country for New Zealand. The Department of Internal Affairs charges NZ$37 per certificate and aims at 15 working days, or 5 working days for NZ$120 extra.
More detail
New Zealand Police send vetting results straight to the visa authority and give you no copy. A Ministry of Justice criminal record check aims to answer within 20 working days.
The 15 days pause if immigration asks you once for missing documents. You then have eight working days to send them.
The US$100 payment is made to Banco de Costa Rica. The sending bank and the receiving bank (US$15) can deduct charges, so you may need to top up the full amount. A US$90 document fee follows at accreditation. After approval you have about three months to arrive and register your biometrics for the DIMEX identity card. We found no guarantee deposit amount, so it is unknown.
Apostilles use form BDM460, and a New Zealand notary public is needed where a copy must be notarised. Neither the Police nor the Ministry of Justice page says whether a criminal record check needs an apostille, so ask the Authentication Unit.
The latest immigration page we could read, from August 2025, said digital filing was disabled until further notice and applications were made in person by appointment. We could not confirm the current filing method, so check it with DGME. We found no processing times for residence in Costa Rica, so they are unknown.
Sources: Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT), New Zealand Government (govt.nz), New Zealand Police, Ministry of Justice (New Zealand), Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (DGME), Procuraduría General de la República. Checked 15 October 2026.
Tax
Costa Rica taxes income earned in Costa Rica, whatever your nationality or residence. Digital nomad beneficiaries are fully exempt: they are not treated as tax resident and their foreign income is not Costa Rican-source. The exemption does not pass automatically to family members. Outside that status, whether remote work done from Costa Rica for a foreign payer is taxable is an open question for a Costa Rican adviser. A year away does not by itself end New Zealand tax residence.
- In Costa Rica you are domiciled if you spend more than 183 days there in the fiscal period, continuously or not, counting arrival and departure days.
- You become a New Zealand tax resident after more than 183 days in the country in any 12-month period. You stop only if you have no permanent place of abode in New Zealand and are away more than 325 days in a 12-month period.
- Until then, New Zealand taxes your worldwide income, including income not brought into New Zealand. You can claim a credit for foreign tax you paid.
More detail
Costa Rica's tax authority counts a trip abroad of up to 30 continuous calendar days as days in Costa Rica unless you prove tax residence elsewhere with a certificate. It does not count a longer absence.
A home you can call yours, even rented out, can count as a permanent place of abode, as can family and economic ties. You file an IR3 with the IR1261 overseas income summary, due 7 July unless you have a tax agent. If you leave permanently, file an IR3 or ask for an assessment, and tell your bank so the right non-resident withholding tax is deducted.
Costa Rica appears in none of Inland Revenue's lists of double tax agreements, information exchange agreements, or agreements signed or under negotiation. It is also not among the eleven countries on Work and Income's list of social security agreements.
The KiwiSaver government contribution needs you to live mainly in New Zealand. After living overseas (outside Australia) for over a year, you can withdraw most savings, but not government contributions.
A student loan stops being interest-free from the day after you leave if you become overseas-based, which means spending 31 days or fewer in New Zealand in a 184-day period.
If you already get NZ Super, you may be able to keep it overseas, at a rate based on the months you lived in New Zealand between ages 20 and 65 out of 540, if you apply at least six weeks before leaving.
We found no official source for Costa Rica's current personal income tax rates, so they are not covered here.
Sources: Inland Revenue (New Zealand), Work and Income (Ministry of Social Development, New Zealand), Procuraduría General de la República. Checked 15 October 2026.
Setting up
New Zealand's reciprocal health agreements cover only Australia and the UK, so nothing covers you in Costa Rica by default. As a digital nomad you need insurance for your whole stay with at least US$50,000 of cover. SafeTravel advises comprehensive insurance that includes medical evacuation by air. After approval you have about three months to arrive and register for the DIMEX, the identity document for foreigners, by appointment through the immigration call centre (1311) or the Banco de Costa Rica.
- SafeTravel says medical services in Central and South America can be limited.
- Digital nomads can open savings accounts at Costa Rican banks, subject to anti-money-laundering checks, so expect to explain the source of your income.
- A valid home-country licence can be used while you hold the status. For a visit, we found no rule for a New Zealand licence, so check it before you drive.
- SafeTravel warns of home invasions, so check how a building is secured.
More detail
Renewing the DIMEX for a second year is done in person and needs proof of at least 180 days in the country.
Before you leave New Zealand, update Inland Revenue and your bank if you become non-resident. If you get NZ Super, contact Work and Income at least six weeks ahead.
We found no official figure for Costa Rican health scheme contributions, so that cost is unknown.
Sources: Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora), New Zealand Government (govt.nz), Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT), SafeTravel (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand), Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (DGME), Procuraduría General de la República, Inland Revenue (New Zealand), Work and Income (Ministry of Social Development, New Zealand). Checked 16 October 2026.
Living in Heredia
Heredia is in the Central Valley, where the national weather service's 1961 to 1990 normals give the western valley an average maximum of 26.7°C. The dry season runs from December to March and the rainy season from May to October. SafeTravel advises increased caution across Costa Rica and asks for particular caution in San José. We found no official source for rents or other living costs in Heredia, so they are unknown here.
- SafeTravel warns of armed robbery, home invasions, carjacking and significant petty crime.
- Earthquakes are frequent, tsunamis are possible, and volcanic activity has closed airports in the past.
More detail
The western valley has around 148 rain days a year, against 163 in the eastern valley.
The weather service gives the eastern valley an average maximum of 21.9°C, and the western valley a mean height of about 1,100 m. April and November are transition months, with a short break in late June and another in July and August.
The gap is 19 hours while New Zealand is on daylight time (27 September 2026 to 4 April 2027) and 18 hours otherwise.
Sources: Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN), New Zealand Government (govt.nz), SafeTravel (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand). Checked 16 October 2026.
Other places we looked at
The research also looked at Escazú and Tamarindo, for contrast. The Escazú hills mark the southern edge of the Central Valley. Tamarindo is a beach town in Guanacaste. We found no official source for rents in either place, so they are unknown here.
- Escazú: SafeTravel asks for particular caution in San José and does not name Escazú.
- Tamarindo: SafeTravel says earthquakes are frequent and tsunamis are possible in Costa Rica, and asks for vigilance at beaches and other popular tourist destinations. It does not name Tamarindo.
Sources: Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN), SafeTravel (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand). Checked 16 October 2026.
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