Shipping Household Goods to Costa Rica

I know this has been covered before But!

1. I have gone through the posts and would really like a recommendation for who to use. Seems the recommendation for "shippingcr.com" and Michael is no longer in business.

2. My Wife is a Costa Rican Citizen as well as 2 of my 4 kids and would like to know if we can ship in her name and not have to pay Full import taxes?

3. What type of Residency would be better for me  - Pensionado or something else? I meet all of the income requirements.

Thank all of you and Here's for a Happier New Year!!

As the spouse of a Costa Rica citizen, you should apply as 'First degree relative status with a Costa Rican Citizen (through marriage to citizen or having a Costa Rican child) OR may apply after three years in another status.- This way as soon as you have a cedula you can legally work...if you so desire. This will allow you to gain Permanent Residency or Costa Rican citizenship much quicker

Years ago there was a provision that a Costa Rican citizen returning home was not required to pay duties, etc on used furnishing, however I don't know whether that is still in place. Contact a lawyer to be sure.

I recommend Charles Zellerfor transporting your goods, if he is still in business.

Hi there! We used Pablo Arias at international Relocation Partners. He's amazing. Start to finish. We've used him twice loved him so much.

@MW5ROTORHEAD

Hello,

I shipped a 20' container last fall 2021 from Southern CA. to Santa Ana.  I had nice furniture and art work so I opted for more high end packers at the point of origin. I was extremely happy with the company I chose. It is called International Relocation Partners. Pablo Arias was the person I spoke with after seeing him speak on many forums. He did a video walk-through with me to determine the size of container I would need. I was astounded at how much I was able to bring in a 20 foot container.  Because of Covid restrictions, and delays in shipping, it took quite a while. They picked my furniture up in late September and it was delivered in late January. Apparently the Christmas holidays delayed it as well. It all arrived without a scratch. The packers in the beginning and the delivery team in Costa Rica were all very professional. In Costa Rica the delivery team unpacked and removed all trash, assembled beds and anything else needed, including a massage chair that took a YouTube video to show assembly process. The entire cost was about $17,000, which included extra storage fees while waiting for a container in CA. That alone was $2;500.  Import fees and inspection fees, etc are included in that amount. You could have done it cheaper but I had several items crated and again used expensive packers at the point of origin. They did such an amazing job that the amount of packing materials to be removed was overwhelming. The Costa Rican crew removed a ton of boxes and packing materials. I just could not have been happier with this company. Furniture in Costa Rica is expensive and often the quality is not high. Electronics can be expensive as well. Much of the furniture in Costa Rica is imported from China. We were happy we made this choice. We had debated just buying all new household goods in Costa Rica, but for us having an entire household including our kitchen, good beds, linens, art work, large pots for plants, and televisions, etc. turned out to be economical.  We bought plenty of insurance to cover our household goods, but we never had to make any type of claim.

Debbie Hug

@debbiedhug do you need to pay tax on all items shipped to Costa Rica?

Yes, anything that passes through Costa Rican Customs is liable to be charged Customs duty and maybe sales tax. We learned the hard way that even free or gift items get the duty treatment. If you don't have a receipt that shows the retail cost, Customs will permit you to make a declaration, but you cannot lowball the number too much.