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Other Requirements
In addition to qualifying under one of the above categories (also see the checklist on page 00) there are a number of other requirements which are more or less common to all countries con- sidering potential immigrants. For example, you should be of good character, have no criminal record, be of sound mind and body, and so on. In addition, the United States will not take homosexuals, anarchists or communists.
The basic documents you'll require could include a character reference, and almost certainly a police certificate of no crimi–
nal conviction.
"Buying" a passport
A number of countries offer a different version of the "investment/business" category of application for residency and citizenship. The requirement is a simple cash payment to the government treasury, an investment in the country, or a com- bination of both. In a few cases it's simply an outright purchase of the passport from the government.
The countries where this facility is available include Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, and Tonga. The first two cost around $US50,000 and Tonga is quoted around $US25,000. In these three cases it's basically dead money, although for the Dominican Republic the requirement is the purchase of a government bond and purchase of property in the country.
Two other countries are more interesting although in the same price range of around $US50,000:
Costa Rica
The requirements are the purchase of property valued around $US25,000, and the purchase of a government, interest-bearing bond of about the same amount. The passport granted is not citi- zenship but what is known as "pensionada" status. This a kind of "retirement visa" which comes in the form of a passport, which allows you to live (but not work) in Costa Rica, and to travel to other countries as a Costa Rican national.
In theory, you're supposed to reside there at least six months of the year; in fact no-one's "pensionada" status has ever been revoked for failure to fulfil that requirement of residence.
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