Thread: thinking of moving there (or costa rica :D )

hi all,
just came on this forum as im suddenly and rapidly thinking of moving to either panama or costa rica. Reason being im a young american guy and have a child with a young german girl and we are finding out that america is really not friendly with letting her come in, so when one door closes another better one opens and this idea has popped up!

if anyone would be so kind i would appreciate comments on what people think, how is it to live there with a young family? what is the visa situation like (ive heard the 180day visa thing, whats happening there, still valid and recognized?).Someone can easily rent a house on a tourist visa? Ive heard David is nice but we are wanting probably to be by the seaside...is it reasonable to find low priced yet decent (by 'western standards') housing there?

ya, would just appreciate any info someone might think is relevant for me!
thanks alot!!
Peter

you should do your own homework before you ask everyone else to do it for you . this and many other forums arw full of info . the answers you need are long and my/our point of view might not be right . and after you have done a month of research , get on a plane and come down and look at the areas that interests you the most .

IMO, the big questions are town vs rural and weather/beach requirements. I think that many people err on the side of being too remote without social life.

Originally Posted by jonr

IMO, the big questions are town vs rural and weather/beach requirements. I think that many people err on the side of being too remote without social life.

I agree , also unless you are willing to live in a gated community then panama is a country that you need to be able to entertain yourself . I live rural and just love it , others need the big support you get in places like the city or boquete . another thing , people decide far to quick on where they want to live , if for example they visit the coast , they say it is too humid , so they then visit boquete for example and find the cooler less humid area good . I found the coast humid also for the first month , now i never notice , I have met people who have moved from the boquete area after a year because they were sick of the rain , 20 ft in one yr is ok if you are a duck . LOL . there are so many things that must be looked at before one decides where or even if they should move to panama , if you have children that is the biggest prolbem on where to live , the public school system here sucks , a grade 12 here will be about a grade 8 in the states , so you can not do that to your kids future . good private schools are in the city but they are not cheap , just read a story in the new visitor paper about a new school opening at between $8000 - 15000 a yr . and then you are limited to living in the city , also working here is almost next to impossible unless you have the loot to start a company and they also limit what type of company you can own . one needs to do a ton of homework and many visits before he / she knows if panama is right

thanks for the replies! you all have valid points, and the point is that yes infact i am moving very fast, but thats the situation. without getting into to many details ill be moving there with my 1 year old child and her mother who is from germany because we could not arrange visa stuff for the US fast enough so we figured we might as well just pick a 3rd party!

looking now into boquete, does anyone live there that can give me a first hand impression? do many foreigners come there with children? we would like to live in the country, but near a town and boquete seems to offer this.

and of course yes, i need to simply search through the forums and have a look, but of course appreciate any comments!
thanks!

a german person does not need a visa for the us, this all sounds incredibly stupid, but maybe i am missing something. only reasonable problem you could have is that she or both of you are convicted criminals. the us has 20 million illegal immigrants presently in the country, you can leave the country undetected and come back like nothing happen. do you seriously think your child and mother of that child are at risk of anything?

oh yes, we've looked into it 100% now. she doesnt want to be 'illigal', we could go for legality but that would take several months now at the minimum. (and yes, it is is incredibly stupid, american immigrations laws are just...somehow mean, but i guess they have to be)

BUT, as i knew, when one door closes something better comes up and now im really excited about the idea of moving to panama and boquete is looking very nice! so im sure this all in the masterplan

so i would mostly like to har from people that live there with children, what are your experiences? (small children, no school needed yet) i would like to assure her that its quite safe.

thank you!

so the idea is to move three people to a country to live and work illegally on tourist visas?

several months? it will take several years to become legal in panama.

Originally Posted by petergus

oh yes, we've looked into it 100% now. she doesnt want to be 'illigal', we could go for legality but that would take several months now at the minimum. (and yes, it is is incredibly stupid, american immigrations laws are just...somehow mean, but i guess they have to be)

till we figure out the next step yes.

as ive understood its legal to do your own work from there (im a web designer, connections with my company in the US will carry on as usual)

ive also read that living there 180 days you can rent and everything fine, and if need be exit for some days to the neighboring country to renew.

for sure you are thinking outside the normal box. moving to a third world country since the paper work process in the us is a bit too cumbersome. any paper work in panama takes 15-20 as much time as compared to the us and there is no such thing as good faith here. you have never even been to panama and you want to move a one year old kid here, amazing.

Originally Posted by petergus

till we figure out the next step yes.

as ive understood its legal to do your own work from there (im a web designer, connections with my company in the US will carry on as usual)

ive also read that living there 180 days you can rent and everything fine, and if need be exit for some days to the neighboring country to renew.

ya, for atleast 180 days
maby we dont like it and can get access to the US by then (sorry, the paper is not just cumbersome, she simply CANNOT enter for atleast 6-10 months, there were no crimes, they wont give her a visitor visa, VWP also denied, so only option is getting married, and like i said, long process)

funny, im carrying on a similar conversation in another forum, you both seem to have the idea its a crazy idea...maby it is, but maby it isnt?? (by the way, im thinking Boquete)
is it really so unreasonable and scary just moving to a far off place and getting a reasonably nice house in the hillside by a nice sounding town and just live there and see what life is like in another world? like really, that was the american way 100 years ago, there would be no america if noone did that! what im proposing sounds sooo much easier.

and p.s. i do appreciate all your input here, and will take it into account, just would like to give the full picture before the panel

i have never heard about a person being denied the VWP in my life. panama seems less abusive then. go for it, but lower your expectations a bit.

Originally Posted by petergus

maby we dont like it and can get access to the US by then (sorry, the paper is not just cumbersome, she simply CANNOT enter for atleast 6-10 months, there were no crimes, they wont give her a visitor visa, VWP also denied, so only option is getting married, and like i said, long process)

they have a new thing called ESTA, and you have to tell them you've been denied a visa (B2) (its all in the computers and they HATE LIEING) so that ESTA was rejected, some say maby in several months you can try again.
yup, after that whole fiasco i was like....im back to my original stance of not liking america. i mean some great things here, i traveled the world, everybody know politics just suck.

do you think im expecting to much to get a decent 2 bedroom house (in boquete. small, but separate with some nice yard, garde, or nature) for 800$ or less? im expecting also to much to think one can live thus somewhat thrifty but comfortable for about $1600 a month?