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I have read numerous articles about the various types of residency in Costa Rica and have paid particular attention to the “reforestation” option.
One company in particular seems to truly understand and know what is going on with this option including potential changes that may be taking place with regards to how the government looks upon this program.
Does anyone have first hand information on the investment in reforestation projects to gain citizenship and in particular has anyone dealt directly with Great Sunrise Enterprises S.A? I have spoken with the president of GSE several times and have had my attorney contact the law firm that represents GSE in Costa Rica. All seems to be legitimate i.e. 100K investment and due to certain “grandfather clauses” your receive full CR citizenship with the right to work yourself in your own business or for anyone else in CR.
With the price of teak you could even make money on the investment 10-15 years from now depending on how old the trees were in the reforestation project you bought into. It looks pretty good compared to how the DOW and other markets have performed over the last 12 months. Just wondered if anyone had first hand experience or knew of someone who had.I looked into the teak option at one time and spent a bunch of time reviewing the possibility of doing so. I didn’t however look deeply into the company you’ve mentioned. It requires a big upfront investment and the rules seemed to be a bit in flux as to the residency/citizenship angle.
It’s a long term play and requires not only patience but additional investment (forester/pruning) while you’re waiting for the trees to mature. It’s not as simple as planting them and waiting for the money to come rolling in 10-15 years down the road. A first cull cut can be done earlier but will result in lower quality/priced teak.
As for buying standing trees it’s a gamble unless you’ve hired a qualified forester to do a complete review of the quality and care that’s been given to the trees. A mixed farm with teak and native trees is best in many situations and will hedge your investment against possible insect/disease loss.
With that large an investment possibly available to you, you might look into another available residency status or targeted business investment area that would meet your needs and provide a shorter term return.
Do your homework on this one… and be very careful!
Edited on Mar 05, 2009 11:13
First off, I don’t pretend to be an expert on teak, or anything else!
First, you may get permanent residency, not citizenship.
As I read their ‘spiel’ you would get
” Investor receives 1 hectare (2.47 acres) of land registered in his or her name.B. Investor receives full ownership of the valuable teak trees planted on his or her land.
(1,100 trees at time of planting).That is lot of money 1 Hect or land! It usually is in the middle of nowhere.
We were offered a 1 Hect. for $6,000 yesterday.A friend bought into a similar project, and he frequently has to travel down to the Osa peninsular to ‘check’ on what is being done.
Consider this carefully as there are many abandoned teak farms here, that failed due to their location.
Check out the cost involved in purchasing your own already established teak farm, if you are really serious.What I’m trying to determine is if anyone has received full CR citizenship through GSE and through the reforestation program. For 100K vs. 65K per person (we have a family of 8) you can receive full CR citizenship including the right to work your self in your own business or at someone elses. Whether the teak farm makes any money or not is not real important to me. Based on the conversations I have had with the attorney’s representing GSE everything seems to be very legitimate and the tree farm that they have secured this program with is approved by the government of CR. It just seems like the least expensive route to full CR citizenship and if the tree farm makes any money down the road that would obviously be a plus. Hope this clarifies my reason for asking if anyone has used GSE or the reforestation option to citizenship.
pauldthomas, is your objective to obtain Costa Rican legal residency or Costa Rican citizenship? There’s a difference. Do you plan to renounce your U.S. citizenship?
And does your answer apply only to yourself or to your entire family of eight?
And is it your expectation that a single investment in some reforestation project will, indeed, be a cheap and easy path to either for the entire family?
If you’re hoping to extend this benefit to the entire family, are we talking about yourself, your legal spouse and your six minor children, or are there adult children and/or their spouses included in the group? Or your parents or siblings?
Edited on Mar 08, 2009 11:19
My objective is to gain legal residency but also to be able to work in a business that I start up in CR. I do not plan to renounce my US citizenship.
The answer applies to my entire family of eight.
The information I have gathered from GSE (www.gsecostarica.com/node/4) and the CR law firm that represent this company and the specific plantation (Oro Verde) that has the approval of the CR government to offer this program tells me that for a one time investment of 100K, myself, my wife and my minor children (up to a certain age) will be given permanent residency status and legally can work in CR either in their own company in CR or for anyone else.I have had numerous contacts with Keven and GSE as well as my attorney who speaks fluent spanish and has talked to the law firm that represents GSE and Oro Verde. GSE due to privacy will not give out their client list so my hope was to find someone who might have had direct experience with GSE and or the re-forestation residency program.
You may wish to visit this website, if you haven’t done so already, http://www.fincaleola.com They have a forum, where you may find more info about this GSE company.
Did you find out where exactly this plantation is located in Guanacaste? A friend has some teak on his property in Guanacaste, and it isn’t doing good at all. We are planning to plant a few hects, as well but our conditions are different from his, although we, too, are in Guanacaste. We have already planted thousands of native species which can be obtained from ICE, at no charge.
I realize that you are more interested in the residency aspect rather than the reforestation.A statement from this site, is:
“Reforestation is, in the simplest terms, causing a forest to occur again.This can be done by letting deforested land go fallow for several years or by replanting native species in open areas or adjacent to remaining forest”.
Teak is not native to Costa Rica, so really they are not ‘reforesting’ but planting teak for resale.
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