Last week, my friend Isabela (her real name) called me and asked if my new maid, Ginger (not her real name), could leave my house to go babysit for guests in one of Isabela’s rental condos. Seems the wife was giving birth RIGHT NOW and someone needed to go watch the two year old.
Sure, no problemo! A taxi comes, takes Ginger. I end up doing my own laundry. As horrible as that is, I figure things could be worse.
Later, Isabela and I are chatting. I’m wondering, didn’t this woman know she was having a baby, like asap? Wouldn’t this be an odd time to take a vacation? Having never given birth, I’m not exactly sure how anxious or not I’d be, but it seems like giving birth on vacation in a foreign land would be a tad nerve-wracking.
Isabela listens and chuckles. She tells me this particular condo is nicknamed The Maternity Ward. That there have been 15 babies born there in the last 18 months! I’m stunned.
This, she explains, is the Baby Back Door: when a baby is born in Costa Rica, that baby is a citizen. Which makes the parents and the rest of the family citizens. Not just residents, like us, but actual citizens. With all the rights of citizenship: you can work, you can vote, you get a Costa Rican passport, you have dual citizenship with your country of origin.
And you get all these rights immediately. For a young couple moving to Costa Rica, with no pension, no nest egg, no Google stock bought at $85 and sold last Thursday… for a young couple needing an income, this is the most sensible way to go about it. Move here, give birth, gain citizenship, earn a living. Simple.
I guess this is how people have been doing it all over the world, including in the U.S., for years. Duh.
We get our cedulas [SAY-doo-lahce, I.D.s] next month. We are officially rentistas [wren-TEE-stahce, basically we are renting residency]. This is a temporary residency, like pensionado [pen-see-oh-NAH-do, someone with a pension] or one of the investor residency visas. Not as temporary as the "perpetual tourist" who has to leave every 90 days for 3 days – what a pain that is. But temporary nonetheless. We can’t work or vote, but can otherwise enjoy our lives here. Still U.S. residents with all those obligations (read IRS and draft). You can divorce your country of origin, but only after you are a citizen of your adopted country.
Here’s the main problem for young people without deep pockets: to qualify for rentista, you have to have money in a bank (in your home country, like ours, or in a Costa Rican bank, just has to be approved by migración) to prove solvency. For us, it was $60,000 which equals $1,000 a month for 5 years. As of 12 August 2006 (days after we applied for residency), the law changed and that amount is now quite a bit higher. Today, a family of four has to deposit $180,000: $60K for each adult and $30K for each minor child. What young family has $180K to let sit in the bank? Our old family couldn’t have done that! Too bad I don’t have a uterus. No, wait, that’s a good thing.
In three years, we can switch to permanent residency which will allow us to work and take our required monetary deposit out of the bank. Still, we won’t be citizens. Since we aren’t birthing any babies here and Hal won’t let me marry anyone else, gaining citizenship will require passing a test, in Spanish, on Costa Rica’s history, government, geography, the whole nine yards. Not sure I could ever pass that test.
Costa Rica’s newest citizens have been planning this vacation for over a year now. They knew they wanted out of the U.S., knew they wanted Costa Rica, knew they wanted at least one more child. They researched their options, stumbled onto the Baby Back Door idea, got pregnant, rented the condo to arrive 8.5 months into the pregnancy, got here and boom: baby and citizenship in one swell foop. What can you say, but mazel tov!
Well Sally,
You are the only other person I know who ever used that Stoopnaglian expression, ‘one swell foop’!
Thank heavens there’s something serously wrong with you after all.
I was truly worried about your sanity (that you had some), but now I’m relieved…
¡Puro Espunerismo!
Paul M.
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No worries on the sanity issue, Paul…. completely without…
Sally
You know we stayed in the maternity ward for five weeks. No babies here either. Three is plenty. Still – would be an easy way to change our status – just not sure we could ever handle four.
Jen
Jen, what’s one more???? You already have the toys and, from what I remember (and those memories are hazy) that’s the hardest part… right?
Tha baby back door is possible in very few countries, which base their citizenship status on the so called jus soli (law of the earth, or law of the place of birth). Usually countries that needed immigrants, like USA are (or were) jus soli. The old European countries never were – they were and are jus sanguini (the law of the blood – or the law of the citizenship of parents = blood relatives). But even USA doesn practice pure jus soli any longer: the baby gets a citizenship, but baby’s parent’s dont. Wait till Costa Rica smartens its laws, too.
It’s probably inevitable that Costa Rica will change this. But judging from the time it takes to get anything done here, it seems like it will be quite some time… thank you for the education, too!
Dear Sally, such a great wealth of information you are! LOL
I had no idea that this went on. I have a question on the subject of the residency. I have only been told that I would need to put $60,000.00 in the bank as you said, and allow to withdraw $1,000 per month….was informed that I must leave the “investment” in the bank for 5 years. Maybe this is something that has changed since I last checked on the laws. Can you tell me where you saw this…or where I can get a good update on the laws? Maybe ARCR has it online…i’ll check. Thanks for always keeping us entertained 🙂
“Baby Back Door”, what a fabulous post!
You sumed up a very mind taxing subject and made it really entertaining. A miracle.
We were planning on a sibling for India anyway, the citizenship would just be the icing on the cake!
Cindy, I had no idea either… I’m not sure on the $1,000. I was told we could also. That we have to withdraw $12,000/year, change into colones and keep that receipt, so we could prove that we were taking our dollars and spending it in the local currency. I’m not sure if that is still the case or if we have to leave the entire $60K in place for the whole five years (or three… in 3, we will apply for permanent residency). The law is very unclear, they are changing it, they say some parts will be repealed, others strengthened… in this case, we are just sitting tight, waiting to see what happens.
Gracias, Teri.
Chris, the more the merrier!!!
Sally, thank you for the info. My oldest daughter is PG here and we thought they just got residency. Being able to get work papers would be awesome for them. Hope it works for the Honduran dad as well. Also wondering if you were still interested in signing up for the plant workshop next weekend, if so just drop me a line. Thanks again for the info, Robbie
That Baby Back Door thing is incredible. Great info.
When the time comes for Zane to have a sibling… just pick your foreign locale!
Hmmmmm… wonder if it works in Belize? lol. (that’s our dream destination)
Full citizenship for the family? I thought it was permanent resident status, but either way it’s a good deal. We’ve known about this for some time, but hadn’t heard of the Maternity Ward. Not surprised though – it makes total sense.
Robin, I don’t know about Belize… have you visited Lee in Belize in the Expats Abroad column? She’s here: http://caribbean-colors.blogspot.com/. She probably knows. Do you read any other Belize blogs you like? We were in Belize once… on the island of San Pedro. Unbelievable.
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Hi Arp, My info is citizenship, but you are right: either way, it works out! The total package.
Can anybody say for sure if its residency or citizenship?My daughter was born on sat.and I could use some help with the details.thanks
It sounds like you need professional help on this one. Call Javier at http://www.residencyincostarica.com or ARCR.net. It will cost you money for the service but I can guarantee you it will be the best money you ever spent if you want citizenship in Costa Rica!
So… where’s this baby-having condo located?
The links are in the story for Isabela’s condo… but you better hurry, they are putting restrictions on the baby back door. As well as every backdoor. Geez, you’d think Costa Rica didn’t like having gringos in town!
What type of restrictions? Where can I find out more about the baby back door policy?
The immigration laws are changing and I haven’t kept up with them since we already have our rentista status. Your best bet is to contact a residency expert – try http://www.residencyincostarica.com. It’s a brother/sister team. The brother lives in the states, the sister lives here.
I believe you are mistaken about “Jus Soli” en Costa Rica. In fact, Costa Rica is one of the few countries in the Americas that does not have “Jus Soli.” The following link is one source (Americas Quarterly) for this information. See the sixth paragraph. Also, I do not believe there are any nations which grant automatic citizenship to the parents of the child.
Sorry, I forgot the link for the source: http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/2112
Hi Ty, They may no longer allow it — I believe it was changed recently. And I don’t know if that law has gone into effect. But it used to be so because I know PLENTY of people who got in thru the baby back door!