Costa Rica · visa route
Emigrating to Costa Rica
No treaty with the Netherlands at all — not for tax, not for the AOW, not for healthcare — and exactly that makes the sum different from what the brochure says. The card is achievable: a pension of 1,000 dollars a month, a file of three apostilled documents, lodged in Costa Rica within the 180 days of your tourist stay. But the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW and your pension, usually without tax credits; whoever goes alone gets the AOW at the married rate; and as a resident you compulsorily pay into the Caja, on top of your own policy. And the incentive law of 2021 every brochure waves around closed on 14 July 2026. This page shows how it really works.
€ 399 one-off · 32 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- Residence as pensionado — 1,000 dollars a month, lodged in Costa Rica
- The clock
- 180 days as a tourist to lodge; then months of waiting
- Note
- No treaty: the Netherlands keeps taxing without credits, and the Caja comes on top
Last updated: September 2026
The journey
Five phases, from the pension statement to the two hundred metres
A route with a simple income test and a long waiting time: 180 days to lodge, six months' validity for certificate and police certificate, and then months until the card. Plus three times no treaty — tax, AOW, healthcare — and a law the brochures still mention but which has been closed since 14 July 2026. This plan works with the rules of now.
- 1
Orientation
Three cards, an income test in dollars, and three times no treaty
Pensionado with 1,000 dollars, rentista with 2,500, inversionista with an investment — temporary for two years, permanent after three. In this phase you learn what the absence of every treaty does: the Netherlands keeps taxing AOW and pension without tax credits and Costa Rica doesn't tax your Dutch income; the single AOW goes to the married rate; and there is no CAK but a compulsory Caja on top of your own policy. And you read why the brochures lag behind: the law of 2021 closed on 14 July 2026.
- 2
Your right of residence
A pension statement, a certificate and a police certificate — apostilled, translated, at most six months old
The income test is literally in the law; the documents are the work. The statement from the SVB or your fund, your birth certificate and a certificate of conduct, each with apostille and officially translated in Costa Rica, and the certificate and the police certificate not older than six months at lodging. You lodge in Costa Rica itself, as a tourist within the 180 days, for 200 dollars for the change of category — and then you wait months for the decision. Partner and children go along as dependientes on one pension.
- 3
Closing the Netherlands
No exemption to apply for, but a policy before deregistering and the married rate
The familiar list, but the step of the wage tax exemption is missing: without a treaty the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW, your pension and your annuity, without contributions but usually also without tax credits. Costa Rica taxes only its own income. Further: the own policy accepted before you deregister, because there is no CAK and the Caja only comes after the card; the SVB in time, with the AOW at the married rate for whoever goes alone; and the pension statement that names the amount you really get.
- 4
The move
Duties and VAT on the household goods, the car you don't take, and a chip for the animal
By sea container to Limón or Caldera, five to eight weeks. Since 14 July 2026 the one-off exemption of the law of 2021 is closed: the household goods pay import duty and VAT on the customs value, and the car the tax stack customs adds up to a good seventy percent of the value — count on selling and buying again. The pet needs a chip, the vaccinations, a deworming within fifteen days and an examination within two weeks, on one certificate from the NVWA.
- 5
Arrival in Costa Rica
Fingerprints, lodging, waiting — and then the card, the Caja, the driving licence
In the first weeks the fingerprints at the ministry and the file at the DGME, then the receipt that keeps you legal until the decision. As soon as the card is there: to the Caja in the same week, because article 80 requires an uninterrupted affiliation from the grant; the bank, which only opens with the card; and the driving licence, which is converted without exam. Whoever buys stays away from the two hundred metres along the coast: public or concession, and a foreigner only gets that after five years. Renew after two years, permanent after three.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Costa Rica journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 3.2 of your plan
Know where you pay tax: the Netherlands keeps taxing, without tax credits
- Lead time
- one good conversation with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours
With most destinations on this site this is the step of the wage tax exemption. Not here. Without a tax treaty the Netherlands has the right to tax, and it does so on everything that comes from the Netherlands: your AOW, your occupational pension, your government pension, your annuity. The SVB and your fund keep withholding, and there is no exemption to apply for.
What does fall away are the national insurance contributions and the Zvw contribution: you're no longer insured, so you pay only tax. But against that stands something most people don't see coming: whoever lives outside the EU isn't a qualifying non-resident taxpayer and usually has no entitlement to the tax part of the tax credits. So you pay the rate without the general tax credit and without the elderly person's credit. Have a tax adviser work that out net, with your return as a non-resident taxpayer alongside.
This is step 3.2 of 32. The other 31 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
See all 32 steps for Costa RicaWhat it costs
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 4.800 – € 11.600
Where does that difference come from?
- The first months€ 2.800 – € 6.500
- The lawyer, the DGME fees and the DIMEX€ 1.100 – € 2.800
Below you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 1.400 – € 3.600
- De verhuizing
- € 500 – € 1.200
- De eerste maanden
- € 2.900 – € 6.900
Every item, one by onePer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- The change of category from tourist to resident€ 150 – € 250
- The lawyer, the DGME fees and the DIMEX(estimate)€ 1.100 – € 2.800
Almost everyone has the file lodged and followed by a Costa Rican lawyer: market prices of 1,000 to 2,500 dollars per file, for a couple usually one file with a surcharge. On top the deposit at the DGME on lodging, the fees for the DIMEX after the approval — different per category — and the post. Family members ride along on the same file but each count for their own fees and card.
- Apostilles, police certificate and official translations(estimate)€ 150 – € 500
The pension statement, the birth certificate and the police certificate each get an apostille from the court (€ 27 per document, 2026 rate); a couple adds the marriage certificate. The translation is done in Costa Rica by an official translator of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at dollar rates per page. And because certificate and police certificate may be at most six months old, the top counts on doing it over once.
De verhuizing
- Flights(estimate)€ 500 – € 1.200
One way from Amsterdam to San José, direct in a good eleven hours or with a connection in Madrid or the United States. The spread sits in the season and the luggage: whoever travels with extra suitcases because the container comes later pays the top.
De eerste maanden
- The first months(estimate)€ 2.800 – € 6.500
Deposit and rent paid in advance — in Costa Rica usually one month's deposit, in dollars — furnishing what didn't come along, and the months in which you still run double. Moreover the waiting months for the DGME, in which you live without a Costa Rican bank account and on your Dutch policy. The rents vary: the Central Valley is affordable, Escazú and the coast of Guanacaste charge the American rate.
- Bank, phone and the first counters(estimate)€ 60 – € 250
- Homologating the driving licence(estimate)€ 40 – € 150
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 3 to 6% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 7.500 to € 15.000.
The transfer tax of 1.5 percent on the higher of purchase price and fiscal value, the registry stamps, and the notary who executes and registers the deed. The twenty percent discount on the transfer tax from the law of 2021 closed with that law on 14 July 2026.
Note: buying isn't simply allowed here
The first two hundred metres from the high-water line belong to the state: the first fifty metres public and not to be owned, the next hundred and fifty only in concession from the municipality. A foreigner who hasn't lived there five years yet doesn't get that concession, and neither does a company that is more than half foreign. Outside that you buy anywhere in your own name.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
Rates checked on 11 September 2026.
Your complete, personal cost picture — with your route, your documents and your deadlines — you get in Vertrekklaar.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in Costa Rica, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsThe departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Costa Rica: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Costa Rica really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Read on
The knowledge base on Costa Rica
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 2 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 2 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
- 2 min
The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 2 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 10 min
Partner comes along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you come along without a job of your own. Administratively you're then no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and when "just staying registered" is allowed after all.
Updated 9 September 2026
- 2 min
Stopping allowances on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Housing allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance and child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run gets a reclaim months later — this is what you arrange per allowance.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 6 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
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