Herman Duarte: You can meet up people from hundreds of countries here. It's like a cosmopolitan place. It's amazing. It's a place of freedom. Costa Rica is a country that has a lot to offer. And that's why millions of people keep coming over. In 4 to 5 minutes you can drive and be at the beach and then you drive another 4to 5 minutes and you're in a mountain. You can be in the Caribbean side, you can be in the Pacific. Which country offers you that?
Salman Siddiqui: Welcome to the Investment Immigration podcast by Uglobalcom with weekly in-depth interviews with the world's leading investment immigration professionals. Welcome to the Investment Immigration podcast by Uglobalcom. This is your host, Salman Siddiqui. In this episode, we are going to focus on Costa Rica. Not many people talk about the investment immigration options there, but it has plenty of options from what I'm hearing. And to understand the options that investors, entrepreneurs and even working professionals might have there. We have a very special guest on our show today. His name is Herman Duarte. He's the founder of the law firm Simple Legal Consulting in Costa Rica. Welcome to the show, Herman.
Herman Duarte: Thank you so much for inviting me. And I'm very excited to share a little bit about Costa Rica and the options that the country offers for immigrants from all over the world.
Salman Siddiqui: Thank you so much for joining us. And let's start with Costa Rica. As a country, we don't hear much about its investment immigration options. So could you please give us a brief overview of the kind of immigration options the country has and what kind of applicants usually apply?
Herman Duarte: Yeah. So, a general overview of Costa Rica is a country in Central America with a considered to have 6% of the biodiversity of the world. It's one of the few countries or only country in the world that doesn't have an army. So, this is a very interesting factor because the possibilities of a cup or a war are non-existent here. It's a solid democracy considered to be the most solid in Latin America with a qualified workforce. That's why you have technology companies coming over here to Costa Rica because they know that they can hire top workers. It's also a country that has great connections for flights, direct flights to Germany, direct flights to France, to London, to all the United States. And they're very interesting as well, tax incentives for investors that allows them to do business. And that leads us to the incentives to come here to Costa Rica. So, let's say that we could classify the type of immigrants into four big categories: Tourists; then we have the immigrants that are Knowledge immigrants; then we have the immigrants that are with capital; and then we have the humanitarian immigrants I refer to those persons that are seeking for refuge.
Herman Duarte: For instance, Costa Rica is well known as a human rights hub. Costa Rica is the home, for example, of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, just the equivalent of the European Court of Human Rights. It has a very solid tradition of being a welcoming place for immigrants, for refugees, just for you to give you a number. In a country of five million people in 2022, we receive 86,000 refugees' requests. That gives you an idea about the immigrant. That's a big number. The big number of the humanitarian reasons. We have all the crises with Venezuelans and Nicaraguans, lack of democracy that affects in a way. And talking about the other type of migrants just to give you like a solid number in 2021 and 2022, we had between 1.3 and 1.6 million of tourists coming over into Costa Rica. Costa Rica leaves out of tourism is very, very common to see bio sustainable hotel chains here in Costa Rica where a monkey will show up in the door of your suite and you will have the opportunity to immerse into interesting activities, whether it's some night tours, watching the wildlife, to other aspects.
Salman Siddiqui: And think not just tourists, but a lot of people from the US also come to buy properties there in Costa Rica. I know at least one example of a very well-established artist and they actually bought a house in Costa Rica, and they split their time between the US and Costa Rica. So, I think there's also a trend of people from the US.
Herman Duarte: Exactly. That leads us to the other categories, the migrants of knowledge, for example. Those people who have a very specialized knowledge and they apply for residency, or they become the manager of a company, they apply for residency and the migrants of capital in Costa Rica, they created a law that has a five-year window period to attract investors, dentists, and pensioners. Those people who are already, you know, like have worked all their life and now receive a pension of $1,000. The rent refers to people who receive a monthly rent of $2,500, and the investors refers to those people who make an investment, just like you said, for example, in real estate. It's not the only thing that you can invest in Costa Rica, but the minimum amount that they ask here in Costa Rica to give you a temporary residency for two years, that you can renew it for additional two years. And after three years you become a permanent resident with only $150,000, which contrasts to the half a million that Panama asked, or the €1 million that I think Spain asked. The million that the United States ask. I think those are the ranges, might be different, but Costa Rica really offers you a peaceful country, a country with a lot of biodiversity.
Herman Duarte: That's why you have Jack Dorsey that has invested here, the former CEO of Twitter. You have the celebrity couple, Tom Brady, who was married with Giselle, now Giselle has her mansion here. And you have so many people exploring the different areas of Costa Rica, for example, if the listeners get curious about Costa Rica, they can Google Santa Teresa Beach, which is a very interesting place; some people call it an Israeli colony. Predominantly Israeli people living there. It's really amazing, there’s really great food, hundreds of restaurants, and hundreds of experiences for people who are looking to heal. For some reason, this place has attracted a lot of energy healers, people that work with energy, healing, with meditation, with sound healing. Also, different areas of Costa Rica offer sacred plant medicine healing sessions. So, Costa Rica has been attracting a lot of people who are looking for ways to to raise the level of consciousness and at the same time to heal some trauma.
Salman Siddiqui: And that's what I want to know. How are they doing that. I'm sure a lot of our listeners want are so interested now that you've given that background about the kind of investment immigration visas and laws there are that enable such people to come there, buy property, and live there for long periods of time. So, let's talk about that. How are they doing that?
Herman Duarte: So, the general legal framework would be the Law 9996 and its bylaws, bylaw 43926. And this law states that investors, any person who has $150,000 and doesn't have a criminal background, can invest in seven things: in real estate; you can buy any property that you put it under your name. And you can buy it in real estate. You can, for example, buy vehicles as well as well, for example, a plane or a boat or a car that are worth $150,000. You put it under your name. That gives you residency automatically. It gives you residency if you buy, for example, real estate, but you don't want to put it under your name, so you will need to put it into a corporation. That corporation you will need to register before the tax authority. So, in this way you have an investment of the shares of a company that is an active corporation before the tax authority. So that's the third vehicle. What other vehicles securities? If you invest in securities in the stock exchange of Costa Rica with an authorized company that dedicates into doing this $150,000, you get residency, venture capital funds as well, projects of public interest. It could be like a concert, a festival or some project that the government has decided is of public interest because it will develop this area of the country and sustainable tourism infrastructure. Of course, the simple and the easiest way is to do it on real estate. But also, this type of investment allows you to obtain certain benefits. For example, once you get the approval, which will be taken around something between three to nine months, it varies because right now there is so many people applying for residencies, it might change the timeframe for the answers for benefits that you get. For example, three to import two vehicles tax free and two vehicles means planes, boats or cars. You can import them tax free.
Salman Siddiqui: This is something which I don't think any other country offers: invest in a boat or a plane and then get residency. That's really unique. But to add to that, I want to also know that, for example, you invest in real estate or say a plane, or whatever, then the card that you get, it's a temporary card for the first year and then it becomes permanent?
Herman Duarte: You get a car for two years that's a temporary residency, and then after two years, you can renew it again. You can renew it at Perpetual. You just have to show that you fulfil certain requirements. What are these requirements? Very basic things. You pay $128 for the ID card. If you can buy an investment of 150,000, you can pay $100. You have to show that you still have the investment, that the investment is still under your name. That's the other requirement. And you have to pay Social Security, which it varies depending on the amount, but it's something reasonable and allows you to enter into one of the best Social Security systems in the world. What other benefits do you receive? For example, you can import free of taxes the households of your goods. Some people have very distinguished paintings of millions of dollars. You don't have to pay for anything. You can import also professional equipment. And it's important to say that it’s a tax-free import only after you receive the approval. It's not when you apply. Sometimes there is confusion of this matter. Then you also get a 20% discount on the transfer tax on real estate purchases. So, for every purchase here in Costa Rica, the closing cost between notary fees and transfer taxes and fiscal stamps and other administrative costs that are mandatory, you can round it up around a 4%.
Herman Duarte: So, what it's saying that from that 4%, 1.5%, which represents the transfer tax, if you're going to get a 20% discount. And the other thing that is also interesting about this law is that it allows you to bring capital without any tax obligation. So, you can bring in $1 million, $2 million. I have clients who have invested several millions of dollars in buying different apartments because San Jose is a very interesting city for people who don't want to put the money in the bank. You want to put it to work. You want to have some real estate, some property. San Jose has so many like really good options of towers with amazing amenities, inspiring Alice in Wonderland and really, really great buildings that, you know, it's going to be full of tourists because tourists usually will come to Costa Rica. Those 1.6 million, 2 million people that come to Costa Rica, they come first to San Jose, stay two nights here. They pay $70, $80, $100 per night. And then they go to the beaches. So that's a little bit of the traffic you see here with Airbnb is quite a lot.
Herman Duarte: So, there's a lot of people that are getting like a return between the six to the 12% of their Airbnb's investment and allows them to also get residency. Like they say you have Costa Rica as a plan B, I get a lot of American people coming over because they feel exhausted from the political tensions that keep going. Europeans, although they are not the minority of people who come here, 94% of all the of the regulated immigrants, which is a number close to half a million people are from the Americas. The rest is from the rest of the world. But Europeans have been getting closer to explore moving here due to the ongoing tensions of the problem with Russia, the illegal aggression of Russia towards Ukraine. And it creates this incentive. You want to move to Costa Rica in a place without armies and without having any of those threats come over, you know, you will have top schools international. For bachelorette, for those people who have like very sophisticated lifestyles, you have all the brands of cars. If you want to buy a car here from Maserati, Ferrari to BMW, you know, to Toyota, all the brands you want.
Salman Siddiqui: Sticking to this point about how Americans are seizing opportunities in Costa Rica. So I want to understand, for example, here's a hypothetical situation, but say an American investor wants to build a hotel in Costa Rica near one of the fancy beaches that you mentioned. How can they go about it?
Herman Duarte: Very simple. First, you find a good theme. A good theme that involves environmental lawyers, involves good architects. It involves good lawyers as well. You find also the property that you want to work with. You proceed with a due diligence to make sure that the use of soil allows you to have a commercial use, that you will have access to water. Because in Costa Rica, if you don't have access to water, you cannot develop anything. You need access to water so you can get the construction permit and then you start working on all the aspects around the municipality. Here in Costa Rica, although it's a country of 52,000km, more or less, you have your provinces, and each province has a different district, if you want to call it municipalities. And each district has its own government that has its own rules. So, one of the aspects, the key aspect is to know if in that particular land, for example, you can have like a 10,000 meter piece of land, but it might be limited to only agricultural purposes. So, it depends to see if you if you have the proper land to do the project that you want. So that's why you also need a lawyer to carry on a due diligence. You will get involved and coordinate with architects, with engineers to do inspections of the property, topographers, to make sure that the land. What it says in the paper, because Costa Rica has a very modern public registry system that differs, for example, from the one of the United States, like almost all of the country is duly segmented in the public registry.
Salman Siddiqui: So the visa that they use is the same, right?
Herman Duarte: Yeah, it's the same because then you're an investor. What you need is to prove that you have either a company, either you have shares worth $150,000 of a company that is registered before the tax authority, which a hotel will be registered or that you buy. For example, you want to move here and you want to retire here in Costa Rica and you have an extra million dollars. You say, okay, I'm going to buy this land $150,000. Then that land, you put it under your name, we go to the municipality and the municipality will issue a certificate of what's the value of the land. And with that, we go to the migration agency to prove that you are an investor. And of course, we will need some other documents, such as your birth certificate, your criminal records of all the countries you have nationalities and the countries you have lived. The way I like working with my clients, I divide it into three steps to make it as simple as possible. That's the rationale of my firm. To make things simple, not be complicated is one, first, of collecting information, collecting all the evidence we need to prove.
Herman Duarte: Then the second stage is of applying. And then we wait for the resolution. If the tax if the immigration authority says, okay, there's something missing, then we fix it or I want something else, I want more information. Sometimes they ask for things. They give you another chance to get it. And then the last and final stage is once you have to go take the picture, right? The final documentation stage, that's the exact moment when you have to show that you paid the $128 for the ID card and you have to show that you are enrolled in the Social Security, etcetera. But it's important to start from the beginning. Collecting information because that's one of the key aspects of the application to make sure you collect all the important and relevant information for a successful application. Of course, for example, in a federal country, you need to bring federal criminal records. For example, the United States, if you only bring the criminal records of your local police, that's not going to work. You need to bring the federal FBI records. Yeah, just for example.
Salman Siddiqui: I see. Okay. And what about language requirements? Are there any language requirements that they have to meet?
Herman Duarte: Not in Costa Rica. That's a very good question. In Costa Rica, there are no restrictions for foreigners to own land. There is only one restriction for foreigners to own land, and it’s if it's beachfront. All beachfront is a concession, and a concession has to be owned by Costa Ricans. But the way you use it is to use a Costa Rican corporation, and that's the owner. That's Costa Rica. But the 51/49 ratio has to be fulfilled. But other than that, foreigners can own land and they don't require it's not required that they know Spanish. When is required to know Spanish? When you apply for nationality. So, applying for residency creates you a track for nationality. So first you apply for temporary residency, and you are a temporary resident for two years. Then you have to renew it for additional two years. But after you are temporary resident for three years, you can change your category to a permanent resident. So, now you only renew it for every three years. And depending on the place where you come from, if you are a resident for five or 8 eight years, then you can apply for nationality. You get it if you pass an English and Spanish test. Sorry, a Spanish test and civics social science- social studies test of knowing the country like they do in the States, like they do in Switzerland, like they do everywhere. So, and it's a difficult exam. I'm an immigrant myself for eleven years and I applied for nationality, and I passed it. But it was challenging. You have to study. It's an interesting, parallel economy on that exam, you know, like so many teachers and courses and books. Very interesting.
Salman Siddiqui: Of course. And so, I mean, just to understand the kind of processes are involved. So do you see a lot of people coming to Costa Rica for citizenship? I'm talking about the investment immigration side of things, the big investors. Or, do they come there to basically park their money in real estate or to buy, you know, some commercial activity there?
Herman Duarte: So, what I'm seeing from my practice and some other colleagues that are very good lawyers here in Costa Rica have a different perspective. But from what I'm seeing is that there is a lot of people coming over to invest in real estate. But some of them, they want to stay here eight months, you know, escape the winter and just hang out here. But then they go back to their cities, to their home places. But they want to have Costa Rica as a plan B. Some people felt quite trapped with the pandemic, you know, living in their golden cages, in their mansions. And people feel this need to connect with nature. So, I'm watching this a lot, but I'm also seeing a lot of digital nomads because another interesting capital immigrant that or incentive to bring capital immigrants here in Costa Rica are those who want to live here in Costa Rica, but not necessarily. Said the roots here. Those are the digital nomads. So, Costa Rica has a very interesting law. This is the Law 10,008 that pretty much invites any person who, for the past 12 months, have made over $36,000 that they can apply for a digital nomad visa.
Herman Duarte: And this gives them the benefit of no income tax, that you can open a bank account and that you don't have to pay for Social Security. Right. It's very easy to get it. You get it in three months, more or less, at least from my experience. That's what I'm, you know, like more or less getting. And a lot of people are coming over with this. Not a lot of young people from different ages; 60, 55, people who are like already working from home. But they say, okay, I don't want to work from home. I want to work from the beach. And fortunately, Costa Rica has very good, as I said, like very good connections for flights and also very a very cool timezone that connects quite well with the Americas. And you don't have to be, you know, like being at 1 a.m. in the morning in Europe and trying to connect with your people and back and forth. So you're getting a lot of these people very interesting characters from that is interesting. People who from people who make the bare minimum, which is 36,000 to people who make millions of dollars a year, are getting this type of.
Salman Siddiqui: Are you seeing this trend increasing? Because, you know, the digital nomad visa basically came out in many countries, especially after the pandemic, you know, and a lot of people got that option or those programs got a boost, especially after during the pandemic. But now the pandemic is sort of coming to an end or has ended according to many governments. So what are you seeing? Are you seeing that digital nomad visa still increasing or there's.
Herman Duarte: Still people coming to Costa Rica? Because because people, you know, Costa Rica fascinates people. The concept of essential Costa Rica, the concept of the green, of the natural of the wildlife attracts people. So people still come to Costa Rica. But without a doubt, Costa Rica lost a big chance during the pandemic because it was one of the few countries that didn't have all this very drastic restrictions. And they passed the law. But the law was inapplicable because of the lack of the bylaws, you know, the statute, how to apply it. It took more than a year. It was passed by the previous government, and the bylaws was only approved just after five, six months of the of the government in charge. So we had like almost. 15 month period that the law was enacted, but no one could apply. And it was sad because you get. Dozens of people play this game a digital nomad visa with all my family. Want to escape this imprisonment or this lockdown? I'm done with lockdowns. But you couldn't apply for it now. It's possible. And now it's fast. Another reality check that Costa Rica is facing is that even though you can get the approval very fast, there is a little bit of complications in the part of the delivery of the ID card because the system is saturated. So that's why a solution that has come up with is you're going to get first a digital ID and then you get your physical ID so you can do the different processes.
Herman Duarte: I want to open a bank account, etcetera, etcetera. So this digital nomad visa, one thing that is important to mention is like a visa is not a residency. A residency comes with the promise of perpetual that you're going to be able to renew it if you have seen the requirements. You're going to be able to renew it. But a visa is meant to be for 12 months that you can renew it for additional 12 months. No one has reached because the law is so new, no one has reached to the point of renewing it for the last 12 months. And then, okay, what's happening next? But what I'm feeling is going to happen is either these two things first, that the people who have living in Costa Rica for two years, that they want to renew it for a third time, they're going to allow it because they're bringing, you know, like fresh resources to Costa Rica. And you need to, you know, to keep the ball moving. Or the second that these people will be able to apply for a residency, for example, the rent this residency. You don't want to invest $150,000. You can apply for a rent this residency that you can pretty much deposit $60,000 in a bank.
Herman Duarte: And then the bank will issue a letter that you receive the $2,500 per month and then you get a residency. If you don't want to invest so much, the residency, the residencies, you know, I got involved in residencies by chance. I am an immigrant per se, and when I moved here to Costa Rica, I reached out to Fragomen, which is like a most important immigration law firm in the world, and they say my case was impossible, not possible to get. And I said, I'm a lawyer. I have to be able to make it. And I made it. I got my residency through through being a migrant of knowledge, showing that my knowledge will not, you know, like take away jobs for other people. So I will create jobs. And then once you become a permanent resident, you're free to move from that category per se and you can do whatever you want. The thing that's important to mention is that residents here in Costa Rica, they can create corporations and set up businesses and have those corporations working for them. So there's a lot of people who may invest in land, but they also feel like they are still productive and they can still do things and create things. It's such a easy place to do business.
Salman Siddiqui: And that's what I wanted to actually ask you next. For example, we talked about people who want to buy real estate. We talked about people who come as digital nomads and now somebody who's an entrepreneur or who wants to establish a business, a new business in Costa Rica. How do they go about it?
Herman Duarte: Well, if you want to set up a business in Costa Rica, you only need a corporation. You only need two partners. You can sign up with two partners and you can set up an LLC in a matter of a week that you can enroll it in 2 or 3 days in the tax authority. And then you have a business that you can work. If you work in a digital nomad setting, if you want to pay the taxes here, it's a progressive tax imposition that goes from five, ten, 15, 20, 25%, up to 30% for those people who make over $200,000 a year, more or less. It's a little bit different because of the exchange rate, but for the purpose of this conversation. But setting up a corporation here is not complicated at all. Like in a week you can have a corporation ready without any problem.
Salman Siddiqui: Do you see a lot of people doing that, coming to Costa Rica for that purpose, or is that for the other categories?
Herman Duarte: Yes, that's what the other categories because as a digital nomad, for example, you can get paid and you don't have to pay any taxes. You don't need any corporations, you can deposit directly in your bank account. Of course, it doesn't mean that you don't have to pay taxes on where the income is originated. But what Costa Rica government has saying is that they're not going to be playing detectives if you pay or not pay taxes, that's your problem. But Costa Rica is not going to charge you any tax for the income you bring here. Some people get paid $50, 200, 1 million, you know, a year and they can deposit in their bank account. And if the bank say, hey, where's this money coming from? They go, Hey, I'm a digital nomad. I have all in order. And the government gave me this benefit.
Salman Siddiqui: Let's see.
Herman Duarte: So, so they don't have to set up a corporation to do it.
Salman Siddiqui: So, we've covered how people can come by real estate by setting up a corporation, digital nomad. And we've also covered a little bit about how citizenship can be obtained if people want to do that, but I want to understand what kind of people. Costa Rica's government wants to come? What kind of investors is it looking for? Is it looking for them to invest in a particular industry or a particular sector? Are they looking, for example, for green technologies or green projects that the government wants to push?
Herman Duarte: That's a very good question. And I have to start with Costa Rica is a country with a tradition of non-discrimination and a tradition of welcoming and extremely friendly people. So, the type of immigrant that Costa Rica wants is an immigrant that will contribute, that doesn't have any criminal records. That's not going to put anyone on harm, and it doesn't restrict the investment on a particular type of real estate or any particular type of project. But if you invest, for example, in a mansion or a land that is worth $150,000, you get the right to get your residency. It also does promote, for example, sustainable tourism infrastructure. If you invest in sustainable tourism infrastructure, you're going to get residency. If you invest in projects of public interest, like, for example, in projects around forest regeneration, you know, bioconservation, conservation of turtles, those things, you will easily find like a declaration of residency. You can get you can get a residency as well. But Costa Rica will not be okay. If you are this type of person, you cannot come. There are certain restrictions for people with criminal offenses in the records that you need to pass ten years. Because some people have made mistakes. Costa Rica allowed them. But it must have to pass ten years. And the crime must not have been a violent crime or something too serious. You will have to bring a certification and everything. And that's a complicated thing. But the type of immigrants that Costa Rica are welcoming are those immigrants who, and this is the interesting thing about Costa Rica, you get to see very nice people, especially if you go live to in the beach. Santa Teresa, Tamarindo, Uvita Dominical, it's usual that you will meet business owners and there are people that are very accessible, very nice, very kind and people who want to give back to the community, which is great. There are very interesting projects here in Costa Rica, a lot of community building. You keep seeing more and more of people who want to live in certain communities. And I wouldn't say that there is a particular type of project, but of course there is another type of incentive. For example, there is the Free Trade zone regime that incentives the investment in technology companies. Like if you have like a technology company, you can set up a company, you can set up an investment here, and then you will be also income-tax free, you know, free of income tax. So, you export all your processes here. So, there are over 250 companies like Intel, Microsoft, Amazon, they have headquarters here as well for the Americas; Philip Morris, International, British, American Tobacco. Big corporations have their headquarters here because of the tax incentives, tax benefits. They don't have to pay income tax. And also, because you have workforce that is valuable for them, it's easy to find workers. Those are for the big multinationals. I have a couple of clients like that, but it’s not my niche per se. I prefer individuals. I like going with an approach of helping, you know, rather than to see them, okay, this is profit. Rather like helping. I'm here to help. I'm here to guide you through this process and I become their person to go to, to coordinate with architects, with constructors, with engineers, with accountants, and help them, you know, land in Costa Rica. And then they go, okay, let's buy land. Okay, let's do it.
Salman Siddiqui: Let's talk about the success stories among your clients. So, share with us like the kind of success stories that you've seen. I mean, could you give me an example of somebody who has moved with the entire family there and perhaps was easily, was able to buy property and you helped them through that process?
Herman Duarte: Yes. For example, I have these clients that they want to... most of my clients want a plan B, very few, like, want to move here. They just want to have it as a plan B because they love Costa Rica. But I have this client that bought a big property of 14,000m in the area of Cobano, which is a high appraisal company. And they also in this case they didn't want to apply for the residency per se, but first they decided to get a digital nomad visa. So, they have a digital nomad visa status, plus they have that investment, and they can change their status whenever they want. I have other people who have moved here as, again, as an investor because they felt that after all this, you know, crisis of the banks in the states, they felt that they wanted to put their investments in real estate. So, they bought 15 apartments in this $100,000, $150,000 apartment like studios, one bedroom, so they can put it to work with Airbnb. And they have like some people working and, you know, doing all the administration of their Airbnbs. I have other type of clients, for example, love stories of someone who moves here and then they get tired of going out of the country every three months because they get the entry stamp, and they fall in love and they want to live here. That's why they apply for the digital nomad visa to see how they feel. There's a lot of young people also coming over like that that I've seen. I have other people buying in areas like Santa Cruz, Uvita, Cabuya, that are places that the prices are not as high as Tamarindo and not as high as Santa Teresa, but they're going to get higher because it's a lot of real estate boom coming over. Like, say, I want to buy here, for example. Cobano is like one hour away from Tamarindo and it's very, very like very, very gentle. If you look at photos of it, it looks a little bit like, I don't know, like Southeast Asia. And you're not that far away from the Americas perspective. You keep seeing people who come here to set up a plan B, to set up a new lifestyle, and they managed to do it. Costa Rica is not Disneyland. This is also important. Like every other country in the world, has its pros and cons. What I always recommend to people for example, I get a lot of calls, I want to start my process right away and I say, have you been to Costa Rica? No. Okay. So first come to Costa Rica. Enjoy it for two weeks. And if you want to start, you count with me. But I need you to see the content first, because for me, the most important thing, happy clients and that the clients see me as their friend rather than someone who had a very strong sales pitch. And then they come here, and they find something different. People have to experience Costa Rica to see how it is and see if they like it. Some people love it. Like you see so many people tattooed here: Pura Vida like, a tattoo of Pura Vida, it is like the slogan of Costa Rica. Everyone who has come to Costa Rica, they were here. Pura vida, Pura Vida. It's like all good peace and love. Everyone says Pura Vida. So, it's a very chill lifestyle. If you are like a very, like, neurotic. Like what? Thanks. No, no, no. It's not going to work for you. Like, here, you have to chill. Take it easy. You know, Costa Rica, time is like everything is more relaxed. It's really nice place.
Salman Siddiqui: Okay, I'm convinced! Thank you for. For sharing the stories of your clients and how you've helped them. I want to also compare and ask you to compare actually with other options that are available in the region. For example, the first thing that comes to mind is Panama. People can also go there. They also get very good tax incentives there. So, what is Costa Rica offering, which is perhaps not available in other countries nearby?
Herman Duarte: Well, first thing, I love Panama and I have good friends from Panama, and it's a great country. But the weather is not as nice as in Costa Rica. Costa Rica has really nice weather. You can either have like cold atmosphere or the beach atmosphere, but you will never have that humidity that you feel in Panama City, where you have to be perpetually on air conditioner. Of course, there are hot days in Costa Rica, but that's different. I would say that the sensation of not having an army is something beautiful. You will not be facing the fear of being victim of military oppression. And that's something that makes Costa Rica so unique. It was abolished in 1949. It's a very unique characteristic in the world. Also, another thing that I find very interesting is the biodiversity and how you can connect with nature and connect with healers that help you, you know, feel better, feel in tune with yourself. I'm a very alternative lawyer in that sense. You know, I work with ayahuasca retreat centers, I work with psilocybin retreat centers, retreat practitioners. And I find that that's one of the most beautiful things you have in Costa Rica. You know, people who are here to help others and to share their gift. And I think that's a beautiful thing. And that's what makes Costa Rica so unique, the green nature and the kind nature of its people, which many countries have it. El Salvador have it, Nicaragua has it, Panama has it, Argentina has it. But none of them have the say of not having an army. Costa Rica is the most biodiverse country in the world, by the way.
Salman Siddiqui: Right. And you're saying that it's more stable as a country compared to so many other countries in the region...
Herman Duarte: Let's say. Okay, go to Peru, ask the next guest how many presidents Peru has had. Go to Chile, and the crisis with the Constitution. Go to Argentina and the exchange rate is crazy. Go to Bolivia, where the governor of Santa Cruz is imprisoned by the government. People say go to Paraguay. Paraguay is plan B, but Paraguay doesn't have the reputation of Costa Rica of adventure. You know, you can meet up people from hundreds of countries here. It's like a cosmopolitan place. It's amazing. It's a place of freedom. Costa Rica is a country that has a lot to offer, and that's why millions of people keep coming over. Shakira is here right now, and Jay-Z and Beyonce, you can see them in Santa Teresa in a bar. Mel Gibson and Tom Brady and Gisele and the Kardashians were here. Like all these celebrities keep coming over; Jack Dorsey from Twitter; Nosara is also a beach that has the ball moving. A lot of people investing in Nosara. And of course, this creates real bubbles. So, there are some other hot places to invest where you will not lose your legs or your eyes, you know, because they're not so expensive. For example, Costa Rica is a hub for people who love surfing, people who love birdwatching. You can find all types of birds in Monteverde, and you have a country where 4 to 5 minutes you can drive and you be at the beach and then you drive another 4 to 5 minutes and you're in a mountain and you can be in the Caribbean side, you can be in the Pacific. Which country offers you that?
Salman Siddiqui: Right? So we've come to the end of our podcast and thank you so much for sharing all those insights about Costa Rica. I'm sure a lot of listeners are really now gearing to go to Costa Rica after listening to you because you've really pumped everybody up that Kim Kardashian and Jack Dorsey is also there. Then why the hell are they in the other parts of the world? So, thank you so much for sharing all of that.
Herman Duarte: Thank you so much and hope you have a great day. And again, really appreciate you reach out to me, out of all the very nice and super incredible lawyers in Costa Rica. So, I felt extremely grateful and honored for this. And if any client wants to reach out to me, they can simply go on simplecr.com. It's a very simple website, simple.com and then they can reach out.
Salman Siddiqui: Okay then. Thank you so much. You've been listening to the Investment Immigration podcast by Uglobal.com. Join us again soon for more in-depth conversations exploring investment immigration opportunities from around the world.

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