COSTA RICA OFFICE

Geography: This Central American country lies between Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south. Its area slightly exceeds that of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. It has a narrow Pacific coastal region. Cocos Island (10 sq mi; 26 sq km), about 300 mi (483 km) off the Pacific Coast, is under Costa Rican sovereignty.

Languages: Spanish (official), English

Ethnicity/race: white (including mestizo) 94%, black 3%, Amerindian 1%, Chinese 1%, other 1%

Religion: Roman Catholic 76.3%, Evangelical 13.7%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.3%, other Protestant 0.7%, other 4.8%, none 3.2%

Government: Democratic republic.

Cost of Living
Despite having one of the highest standards of living and being one of the most expensive countries in Latin America, purchasing power is greater in Costa Rica than in the United States or Canada. The country is really a bargain compared to most places.

San José's prices are the second lowest of any city's in the Americas; the cost of goods and services is among the lowest of any city's in the world. Corporate Resource Consulting firm that compares costs of goods and services rates San José among the least expensive cost-of -living cities in the world and second to Quito, Ecuador in the Americas. San Jose's cost of living, ranks close to the middle when compared to 118 cities worldwide. The cost of living in Guatemala City or Pamama City is about 14% higher than in San José.

Housing in middle-class Costa Rican neighborhoodsis substantially less than what it does in the U. S. Hired help is a bargain with a full-time maid costing only a couple of hundred dollars per month. Utilities-telephone service, electricity, and water- cost about 30% of what they do in North America. Bills for heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer can cost hundreds of dollars in the States. You never need to heat your home or apartment because of Costa Rica's warm climate. You need not cook with gas, since most stoves are electric. Public transportation is also very reasonable. San José and its surrounding suburbs occupy a very small area. A bus ride across town or to the suburbs usually costs from 25 -50˘. Bus fares to the provinces cost no more than $10 to the farthest part in the country. Taxi travel around San José is also inexpensive.

A gallon of regular gasoline of gas costs about $1.75, making Costa Rica's gasoline prices among the lowest in the Latin America. Only oil-exporting countries like Mexico and Venezuela have cheaper gasoline. However, you don't really need a car because public transportation is so inexpensive here. If you must have a new car, remember that new cars can be very expensive due to high import duties. Because of this, Costa Ricans keep their cars for a long time and take good care of them. We recommend buying used cars since they are usually in good mechanical condition and their resale value is excellent. Food, continuing education, entertainment (movies cost a little over $3.00) and, above all, health care, are surprisingly affordable. Both new and second-hand furniture are priced very low. You'll find more about these benefits later on.

When you have lived in Costa Rica a while, learned the ins-and- outs and made friends and contacts, you can cut your living costs more by sharing a house or apartment, house-sitting in exchange for free rent, investing in high-interest yielding accounts in one of Costa Rica's many banks or private finance companies (many pay over 30% annually in dollars), working full or part-time (if you can find legal work), starting a small business or bartering within the expatriate community, doing without packaged and canned imported brand-name foods and buying local products, eating in small cafes or sodas instead of expensive restaurants, or buying fresh foods in bulk at the Central Market like Costa Ricans do. You can also save money by learning Spanish so you can bargain and get lower prices when shopping.If you take lessons from the locals and live a modest tico lifestyle, you can save a lot of money and still enjoy yourself. By not following a U.S.-"shop-till-you-drop" mentality you can live reasonably.

Taking all of the aforementioned and personal life-styles into consideration, the minimum needed for a decent standard of living for a single person ranges from $900 to $1200 monthly. You can indeed live for as little as $30 a day excluding housing. Some single people scrape by on considerably less and others spend hundreds of dollars more, again depending to what one is accustomed.

A couple can live well on $1200 per month, and live in luxury for $2000. Couples with husband and wife both receiving good pensions can live even better. Remember, two in Costa Rica, can often live as cheaply as one. Any way you look at it, you will enjoy a higher standard of living in Costa Rica and get more for your money. Consider that the average Costa Rican earns only $300-$450 a month. Costa Ricans earning under $500 monthly are considered to be lower class; those earning from $500 to $2000 are part of the middle class with anyone making more than $2,000 being upper class. So, you can see a foreigners with a decent income can have confortable lifestyle if they so desire.

www.infocostarica.com/pictures/places/.

Health
You are unlikely to encounter any serious diseases in Costa Rica. Sanitary standards are high and the health system is excellent. During the past two wet seasons there have been several outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease dengue but so far there have been no reported cases of the more serious hemorrhaging dengue. No vaccinations are required to enter Costa Rica as epidemic diseases have been all but eradicated throughout the country. Infectious hepatitis, a serious problem throughout Central America, is reported only rarely in Costa Rica.

Several private hospitals in San Jose offer emergency medical services to foreigners are reasonable prices: Clinica Biblica (avenida 14, calles central & 1, tel. 223-6422) also has a 24-hour pharmacy. Costa Rica's Social Security system (the Caja) offers a medical insurance assistance program for foreigners needing emergency medical assistance. The coverage can be bought at travel agencies, language schools or through tour companies.

Clinica Biblica: http://www.clinicabiblica.com
Hospital CIMA: http://www.hospitalsanjose.net/coorporacion.htm

Schools
Everything in San Jose makes clear that Costa Ricans are a highly literate people : the country boasts of 93% literacy in those 10 years or over, the most literate population in Central America. Many of the country’s early fathers like the first president, Jose Maria Castro, were former teachers who were concerned about the education in Costa Rica. In 1869, the country became one of the first in the world to make the education both free and obligatory, funded by the state’s share of the great coffee wealth. In those days only one in ten Costa Ricans could read and write . By 1920 the 50% of the population was literate and by 1970s 89% were able to read and write.

Apart from public schools, there are many private schools, where more well-to-do families usually send their children. There are several North American schools, like Marian Baker School, Country Day School, International Christian School and several others. There is also the German school- Humboldt- the French school- Franco Costarricense- and the Japanese School- Escuela Japonesa. The explosion of private Costa Rican and foreign schools has lessened over-crowding in the public schools and has provided an alternate educational system for those who can afford it.

European school: http://www.europeanschool.com/index.html
Lincoln High: http://www.lincoln.ed.cr/
British School: http://www.infoweb.co.cr/britsch/
Colegio Humbolt: http://www.humboldt.ed.cr/

Work Visas
The company that hires the candidate will be responsible for this, is fairly easy to obtain it if the company is already on board with the immigration laws.

You will have to provide a copy of your passport and they will then need to specify to the government the type of job you are hired for and comply with the rest of the requirements. This process usually takes about 2 – 3 weeks.

Pictures
http://homepage.fcgnetworks.net/egaides/costarica.htm
http://www.bildungsservice.at/faecher/geo/
http://www.infoweb.co.cr/galeria/
http://centralamerica.com/cr/maps/mapcosta.htm