Both Tom and I have now been notified that our residency application has been approved. Now we just have a bit of clean up work to do and then we will be able to go to immigration and get our cedulas!! The cedula is the identity card that all residents have and allows you to open up a bank account as well as get the residency rate to enter national parks. I’m sure there are many other benefits but those are two I know of off the top of my head. The biggest benefits for us will be that we will be able to join the national health plan which is one of the reasons we moved to Costa Rica. Before we can be issued our cedulas, we will have to pay for two airplane tickets that will take us out of the country in the event we are deported. I am not planning on that happening 
We also will have to go visit our nearest medical clinic in Hone Creek and get signed up for the national health plan. The system here is heavily geared toward preventive medicine so, once we join, we will have to make an appointment for a complete physical. Then you are expected to go back at least once a year to ensure good health. For this we will pay around $60 a month for the two of us. Not a bad deal!!
Residents!!! (Well, almost………….)
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Costa Rica Dog Lover 
Congrats on getting your residency!!
I guess the airplane tickets are actually the so-called “security deposit”, eh? Deposit… like you are ever going to see that money again!
I hope you have shorter lines at your local CCSS clinic than we do at the San Isidro hospital. Waits can be long, especially for certain surgeries, but the doctors are good and we all have the private medical sector to fall back on. Far better than paying $1000/month in the U.S., plus deductibles and co-pays!!
Hi Casey!
We actually are still waiting but it is close. When we went to get our CCSS cards, Tom got his immediately but we had to submit all sorts of paperwork for mine and it is now in San Jose for verification. Since everything closes down for Christmas, we won’t be able to get to immigration now until mid January. But it is on the horizon.
The wait in our little clinic isn’t too bad. I went with friends one day just to check out the process and they waited about fifteen minutes. I know that it can be up to an hour though. They were really pleased with the doctor and the treatment though. I don’t know how the Limon hospital is – hopefully I won’t need to know anytime soon 🙂