AFTER months of panic among foreignershere and abroad hoping to retire inCosta Rica, legislators have scrapped acontroversial proposal to increase themonthly income requirement for retireesto $3,000.The proposal was part of a bill tooverhaul the country’s immigration laws.The bill remains, and may be discussedon the Legislative Assembly floor byApril, but lawmakers have decided not toinclude any changes to financial requirements,said Federico Jiménez, aid toSocial Christian Unity Party legislatorCarmen Gamboa.The rejected proposal would haveeliminated the rentista residency category(which allows people who can prove amonthly income from abroad of $1,000 toapply for residency) and required retireeswishing to apply in the pensionado categoryto prove a pension of $3,000, insteadof the current $600.Potential residents denounced the proposedfinancial requirements as impossibleto meet.“(Legislators) thought it would helpthings. But then they realized it wouldn’t,”Jiménez told The Tico Times. “Therewill be no changes.”
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