Look... here's my 2 cents... since I have already gone through the Residency process.
One; you are looking for a Residency Service. Their job is to walk your Residency Applications through the process. Forget the word 'Relocation'... that can mean many things to many people. In the US it can mean a moving company.
Two A; Find out ahead of time how much the Residency Service will charge you, per person. If it is more than $3,500 (US) per person... then it is too much. It really isn't a lot of work for them... maybe 3 or 4 days total to do the whole thing, if you add up the various bits of time. Once they turn in your completed Application... they don't do anything else... you will wait for Migracion to do their job. Make sure you ask what is included in the Residency Fee... because there will be extra costs... like the application fee to the Gov't of CR; mailing of anything, translation fees, etc. I had to also go to a Lawyer in CR, with the nice lady from my service, for a final document... and that was extra fee too. Just get an idea of what the final cost should be... again... more than $3,500 sounds high per person. It could be more now... I did this over 5 years ago.
Two B; once you have spoken with a Residency person, ask for references; or look for testimonials.
Three; Then... ask the Residency service for a list of what documents they need from you. (actually, they should be asking you for the documents... but it could take some time to procure them... so start immediately)
It will most likely include some kind of Gov't issued Birth Certificate, a copy of the Info Page from your up-to-date passport, perhaps photocopies of Gov't issued ID's and or Driver's Licenses, and a Criminal Background Report from either your local Police, or your country's National Bureau of Criminal Investigations. In the USA, it is called the FBI. Usually, if a person has never committed a crime or worked in classified Governmental security work... their Fingerprints do not exist. You will need to find out where, in your country of origin or residence, you can go to get fingerprinting accomplished (usually a police station). Those fingerprints must be passed on to your country's equivalent of Federal Police (like the FBI in the USA) in order for them to carry out you criminal background check. That organization may want many of the same documents that the Residency service needs... so get Extra Copies of everything. You'll also need an extra 'set' of fingerprints (not a copy) to include with your Residency Application here in CR. The police in your country will not give their 'set' of prints back to you. You can get fingerprinted here, if you need to; in San Jose.
Four; All of those documents need to have a thoroughly prepared Spanish Translation; and most likely, some kind of Apostille stamp from The Costa Rican Consulate or Embassy in your country. The Consulate or Embassy will not do the Spanish Translation for you... All the documents will need to be translated into Spanish before you go to the embassy/consulate to get the Apostille. Once all of the documents are translated and have the Apostille stamp from the CR Consulate... you will need to send them or take them to your Residency Service.
Five: In the mean-time, you should get an application for Residency from the service you have decided to use; and start filling it out. Hopefully, you can do it in Spanish, or the Service can give you one that is in English or French... and then, hopefully, the service can translate your answers into Spanish for the Actual Application that they will take to Migracion; along with All of the other Documents that you gave them. My service sent it to me in an e-mail, I filled it out and e-mailed it back to them. They spoke English and Spanish and did all of the translations. They had a person in the US; and a person in CR.
Six; Once your Applications are turned into Migracion (your service should do this for you) you will have to wait for 3-6 months to get a 'notice' that the applications have been Accepted for Processing Only. If your tourist visa 'stamp' on your passport expires before you get that notice... get out of CR before it does; and then return. When you do get the notice, it does not mean that you have Residency... only that your application is 'officially' in the process of being reviewed. The notice, your service should email it to you, is called 'Expediente' It is usually about 2 pages.. make copies of it!! Because once you have that document... you won't have to leave CR when your Passport tourist visa 'stamp' expires anymore... and keep a copy with your Passport.
Seven: You will wait for another 8-12 months to finally get a notice, usually an email, that your application has been officially Approved!! That notice is called 'Resolucion' ... make copies of it! and you will then be instructed by your Service to go to a local CCSS office (the Caja, national healthcare system) to officially join the Caja system. I used a lawyer to take me there... he assisted me in opting out of paying into the CR pension system (nobody tells you that... it saved me $200/month) and he had me itemize my expenses so that I could possibly lower my monthly Caja payment. That lawyer cost me only $100... he was with me for about 2 hours. We did it in San Ramon.
After you join the Caja (you'll have a receipt from them saying that you have now joined/paid month #1) you can take that receipt and your Resolucion document and valid Passport; and go to get your ID (DIMEX). Usually, you can go on-line and make an appointment to get your Costa Rican ID via a Banco de Costa Rica (BCR), or a Correos de Costa Rica... they will advise you what to do.
I actually did the entire process from here in CR... my Residency Service liaison in the USA did everything for me via email; and I had mailed him, while I was in the states, all of the documents that he needed. He took care of the Spanish translations, and then went to the Consulate for Apostille. He then mailed it all to his partner here in CR so that she could finalize the documents package to go with the Application. She took me to the Police here in CR for fingerprinting; and we had two sets of my finger prints made... she then mailed one set back to the USA for her partner to give the the FBI for doing my criminal background check. She took me to get passport sized photos to go with the application (across the street from the Police) and then to a lawyer’s office to do a final document. I was in San Jose doing this with her for only 1/2 day!!!
She took my application, once my Criminal Background check was finalized in the US, translated into Spanish, and then had the Apostile stamp... and sent back to CR... to Migracion. So basically... the guy in the US made two trips to the Consulate; and the woman in CR made a trip with me to the Police in SJ, the lawyers office, and then she went to the Migracion office... the service really didn't do that much... but it was excellent that they worked on both the US end, and the CR end... it would have been hard for me to do that because I was already living here in CR.
My service was not Lawyers and didn't charge 'legal' fees. The process does not require a Lawyer unless you have strange circumstances. The Residency Service is, in general, helping you to accumulate all of the needed documents including any/all financial documents that you need depending on the ‘type’ of residency that you are applying for. And then, they turn it in to Migracion on your behalf.
If you live close to a CR consulate or embassy... you should work on these documents right now... especially the fingerprints and criminal background check; because your Residency Service is going to be asking you for this.
Don't forget... you'll have to renew in 2 years... A service is not needed... and you can do the renewal at a BCR bank instead of the Migracion office. BCR allows you to make an appointment on-line. It was very easy.
I hope this helps.
Pura Vida
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