My Future Plan:)

Hello. I am not sure about the motor home, it would be the first one (or the second one)  around here. I think there aren't any places that service or give  camping facilities for motor homes, I could be wrong. My advice would be to have a SUV or an automobile and camp out if you want to save on lodging. I have a parking lot in Palmares where you can park an 18 wheeler or a small car for $60/mo,

You would need to register the MH and pay duty and taxes within 90 days of it arriving here ....and this could be quite expensive. Also it's not the type of vehicle for everyday driving so you would probably require wheels of some sort.

Leaving it empty at any time, would make it very vulnerable to theft.

Some additional info on living here legally if you decide to move here.

Even if you leave your motor home with someone it could be stolen or the stuff inside could be stolen if the people you leave it with don't watch it 24/7. But maybe you can find someone who is home all the time to watch it.

That said, people tend to be negative on these forums so if there's a will there's a way, is what I always like to say. Just go into it with eyes wide open and do your due diligence.

Just off the top of my head, a van might be a better option than a motor home. Scale down and it will become easier.

Many people have lived here for years, leaving every 90 days. Even some attorneys say it's not illegal though soome people such as those at that "other" forum say it is not legal and oh my god, don't even think of mentioning it there!

But the fact is people do it all the time. Technically if you do it more than a few times they can bar you from coming back in the country but it rarely happens, in fact out of the dozen people I know who have done it - for 10 years or more - not one has ever been blocked. While some insist doing this is illegal, some say the law is murky and technically it's not illegal at all. In any case, people do it for years at a time.

So do your research and talk to people and you can find a way to accomplish what you want, more or less.

I just wanted to add that I couldn't find the confirmation article I was looking for online that talks about the Perpetual Tourist law being murky. So I'll take that part back.

But I will still say that lots of lots of people do it and no one I know has had any problem over the past 20 years, and no one I know knows of anyone who's been deported or blocked from coming in Costa Rica for being a "perpetual tourist".

In fact when you become a resident you have to go out of the country every 90 days to renew your driver's license privilege in Costa Rica. We have gone out 3 times now and each time they have never asked for any proof of residency application, they just let us in and stamp it 90 days to be in Costa Rica.

While this can be stamped for less than 90 days depending on the border agent, it's never happened to us. 

So the point is we've gone in and out of Nicaragua time and time again and never have they questioned it. So at least at the Tablillas border they don't seem to care if we're "perpetual tourists" or not, in spite of all the "Don't even THINK about it!" warnings at that other forum... LOL.

Thanks very much for your help I was thinking about a van it sounds a better option .

Not quite that simple:  " In fact when you become a resident you have to go out of the country every 90 days to renew your driver's license privilege in Costa Rica". Not so. At that point you will not be a resident, but are still considered to be a 'tourist' and 'in the process' so the choice is yours, 'to drive or not drive'. Many while waiting. decide to forgo driving until after they have their cedula in hand, and are legally permitted to do so.

kohlerias wrote:

Not quite that simple:  " In fact when you become a resident you have to go out of the country every 90 days to renew your driver's license privilege in Costa Rica". Not so. At that point you will not be a resident, but are still considered to be a 'tourist' and 'in the process' so the choice is yours, 'to drive or not drive'. Many while waiting. decide to forgo driving until after they have their cedula in hand, and are legally permitted to do so.

Oh, I see what happened - I didn't write clearly.
I didn't mean "when you become a resident", I meant "When you decide to start the process of becoming a resident...". And I should have added, "IF you want to legally drive while in that process..." AND I should have then added, "IF you want to be covered by insurance and not break any law..."

That is, some choose not to leave the country to renew their license while going through the residency process. However, if you do that, you are not legally driving  and if you do drive you can get a ticket and other possible bad things can happen, including your insurance is no good in the case of an accident.

Why do you have to leave the country every 90 days? what an inconvenience. and it has to be for 3 days if i'm not mistaken...

That is Cosevi law.  You are allowed to drive on a foreign license for 90 days after your last stamp in your passport irregardless of the number of days that the immigration officer writes.  We made four runs while our application was in progress and all four times we crossed in and out the same day.  The 3 days is for shopping exemption only.