Do you know which jobs are NOT recommended by the Costa Rican Ministry of Labor and Social Security?

There are jobs that will not be approved by Immigration for foreigners. That means even if they have employer’s social security, even if they have a signed contract, and even if the employer supports them with all the necessary documents and requirements, and even if the immigration department receives the documents and payments corresponding by the law, the MTSS will not allow them to obtain a work or residence permit to perform this job.

Any residency process that involves labor issues and is not of categories that enjoy condition of free work permit (libre de condición), will be transferred to the Labor Migration Department of MTSS to issue the respective analysis.

The MTSS recommends or not to the DGME to grant the residency or permit to the applicant. For this purpose, the MTSS issues an annual report mentioning all the positions and jobs based on which foreigners will not be able to regularize their immigration status in Costa Rica, since it is considered that this prohibition prevents the work displacement of Costa Rican citizens.

This prohibition includes both physical and legal employer-dependent jobs as well as independent workers.

Below is a complete list of all these jobs for the period from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023 which contains 240 jobs: