Finally, after a year and eight months, I have received my residency here in Costa Rica. Though a bit time-consuming, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as it could have been. I found that if you hire the right attorney, things work out a lot faster. My guy has a connection in Immigration, which sped up my waiting time 4-fold.

Though it took me quite a long time to put all my documentation together, it only took about three months to get my residency approved after submitting my documents. Now with this "Cedula de Residencia" I am officially a resident and I don’t have to leave the country every 90 days. I still have to renew it once a year, but in 2 years I am eligible to apply for naturalization.

Once I get naturalized, I won’t have to carry around this crazy, bulky passport-looking document. I’ll get an ID card that looks much like a driver’s license.