My wife and I currently live in the United States with our two small children and are seriously considering a move to Costa Rica. We are in our early 30's and doing our research on Costa Rica and living as expats. We have so many questions(too many to ask in this post) but wanted to start here with others that live there now or who are planning to live there. We are currently trying to figure out a timeline for this process, if others could share theirs that would be great. We have noticed several people who have already retired and are living in Costa Rica but were wondering if there are others like ourselves who are not retiring, but would like to start a new life and possible careers there. As our post suggests, we are just scratching the surface of this process and figured that there might be others here who could give us some advice.
Scratching the surface
Unless you own your own business, working in Costa Rica is a real problem. They have some stringent restrictions about non-citizens taking jobs away from the native Ticos. If you have a business and employ people, you need to know that their labor laws are very different. You can contact some friends of ours at the Community Action Alliance actionalliancecr.com/ for a lot of insight. They're a great group!
My daddy used to tell me, "You'll never get rich working for wages, son." That's triple-true here in CR. If your income stream isn't coming from outside the country you are probably going to have to live a very simple life to get by because wages are very low for most work. You could find a niche, however, it's possible, and if you do it as a business you could take advantage of the low wage levels to hire and train workers for your enterprise.
If you have a skill that would allow you to telecommute via Internet then that's another good way to get your income up.
If you can afford to, try coming down for 3 months and see what you think before selling off the household. As for a timeline, figure roughly a year if you are planning on moving everything and getting residency. It just takes longer than you think to get everything set up ahead of time and to make the move, etc.
If you are risk-takers then leave it all behind (you'll need the cash) and step off the cliff. 
I sometimes think that would have been the better route for us!
Casey - A Dull Roar - Moving to, Retiring in, and Living with Costa Rica
Hi, I've been here for 25 years now. My son was born and raised here. This is paradise for children.
I think it would be smart to come and try it before. You have to realize by yourself if you have the capabilities to adapt to a different culture. It can be paradise or hell, depending on what you are expecting and willing to accept. I'm pretty positive that your kids will love it. They adjust easily.
My son attends a bilingual international school in the Montezuma area and he loves it. You can have a look at it at futuro-verde.org
Having another child here would be your free ticket to your residency.
Good luck and let me know if I can be of any help. Gi
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