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When you become a pensionata and you need to deposit your SS check do you notify SS to deposit it directly into your CR bank or can yo just transfer it yourself from your own USA account to a Costa Rican account. As usual ism getting different versions. Danishlis
my attorney for the pensionado said we did not have to deposit into a costa rican account, but I get different versions too. I have also been told only two banks in costa rica can be used for direct deposit by the states, It is like renewing your drivers license from having your passport when you got it to renewing it with your cedula. everyone tells you something different. and things change here from time to time without notice,,,still love it here
If you are able to open an account at either Banco Nacional or Banco de Costa Rica, you can arrange for your Social Security to be deposited there each month, but that is not mandatory. You can move money to your account here by international wire transfer, by writing a check on your U.S. bank, or by withdrawing cash from ATMs here.
The financial requirement for [i]pensionado[/i] temporary residency is that you have a guaranteed lifetime income of $1,000US or more [u]and[/u] that you convert $1,000US to colones each month that you are in the status of a temporary resident. [u]There is [u]no requirement[/u] to have a Costa Rican bank account[/u]. In fact, it is becoming increasingly difficult to even open a bank account here until you have your residency [i]cedula[/i] in hand.
So, to meet the $1,000US conversion requirement, you can withdraw U.S. dollars from an ATM and walk into the bank and convert them to colones. It doesn’t have to be done all at once, and Immigration will not be too concerned if you don’t convert exactly $1,000 each month as long as you convert $12,000 to colones during the year.
The “proof” requirement is either that you have receipts stamped by the bank teller which show your name, your passport number, the date of the exchange, the amount exchanged, and the exchange rate or else you must obtain a letter from the bank which lists all those conversions. What will not suffice is to withdraw colones at an ATM from your bank in the U.S. where, of course, the account is denominated in dollars. The ATM receipt will not show your name, the exchange rate, etc. That’s why you have to take your dollars inside, to the teller, to convert them to colones.
It has been reported elsewhere that Immigration is no longer checking [i]pensionados'[/i] proofs of their currency conversions, but it would be a mistake not to have them just in case.
Thank you again, David. I had forgotten that we had to convert dollars to collones monthly. We have, of course, but have not been keeping the receipts.
Our SS checks are direct deposited here in CR and we usually withdraw collones from the ATM. Do we need to keep the ATM receipts as proof of conversion and is that sufficient?
[quote=”Danishlis”]When you become a pensionata and you need to deposit your SS check do you notify SS to deposit it directly into your CR bank or can yo just transfer it yourself from your own USA account to a Costa Rican account. As usual ism getting different versions. Danishlis[/quote]
I’ve lived in Costa Rica for five years and never opened an account in a Costa Rican bank.
My SS funds are deposited in my U.S. bank and I withdraw in colones as needed at an ATM. I have never had a problem in doing this.
As I understand the system:
If you have your SS check deposited in a Costa Rican account it has to be deposited in a dollar account then, if you use colones, the dollars must be transferred to your colon account and then withdrawn as colones.
[quote=”VictoriaLST”] . . .and we usually withdraw collones from the ATM. Do we need to keep the ATM receipts as proof of conversion and is that sufficient?
[/quote]
Your ATM receipts are NOT SUFFICIENT for proof of “dollar-to-colon” conversions because they do not identify you and they do not show the exchange rate. If Immigration accepted ATM receipts, you could show them your own, mine, or anybody else’s. How would they know?
That’s why you must withdraw dollars from the ATM and take them to the bank teller to get colones and a detailed receipt for the conversion.
I have a dollar account at BNCR and I have a debit card.
My ATM (BNCR) receipts show my name and the exchange rate, they show also the “cuenta cliente” account number and the balance on the account.Luckily I don´t have to deal with immigration stuff 🙂
Victoria, have you received your [i]Comprobante expediente[/i] or your [i]cedula[/i] yet? I know just recently you had to leave to renew your tourist visa.
David,
Thanks for your informative insights! My wife and I will be filing for Costa Rican legal residency, next month. I currently have a private bank account at BCT. Like many others, I have also been receiving conflicting bank deposit and withdrawal information.Finca, the ‘serious’ paperwork is finally Apostilled. Now the atty wants new social security letters and evidently can’t find my letter of intent to live in a foreign country, although he has my husband’s and we got them at the same time. Not the first time paperwork as been mislaid. Sigh. Another trip to the embassy I guess.
i’ve renewed my cedula 4 times and never once did they ask for the proof of conversion. last year, however, they did make me get a letter from the embassy verifying my SS income, and i had to take that to the migra before they would give me my cedula. i also went with a bundle of receipts, the spreadsheet, etc. and they had no interest in that at all. but. . . after 8+ years here, i know better than to NOT save the receipts. and no, an ATM receipt will not suffice. the receipt must have your name on it, and either cedula # or passport #.
[quote=”DavidCMurray”]
Your ATM receipts are NOT SUFFICIENT for proof of “dollar-to-colon” conversions because they do not identify you and they do not show the exchange rate. If Immigration accepted ATM receipts, you could show them your own, mine, or anybody else’s. How would they know?That’s why you must withdraw dollars from the ATM and take them to the bank teller to get colones and a detailed receipt for the conversion.
[/quote]Along with the ATM receipts we provide our monthly statement and the withdrawals correspond to the receipts.
Problem solved. but the problem never really existed. He glanced at the stack of statements and the stack of withdrawal slips and nothing more.
The reason I asked was that there is no need to show [u]past[/u] receipts, since you haven’t been approved as yet…so no need to panic.
As far as I am aware, if you have applied as Pensionado, it has [u]been reported that you are not now required to show the conversion[/u]….but, please, check with your lawyer.
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