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>>Costa Rica News Digest<<
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TODAY'S CONTENTS
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*Feature Article:
Immigration CANNOT Deny Residency Based on Marriage


*New Digest

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FEATURE ARTICLE
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*Immigration CANNOT Deny Residency Based on Marriage
Meddling in Family Business and Spying Is Now Off Limits

It is with regular occurrence that marriages between Costa Ricans and

foreigners are registered at the Registro Civil. Many of these marriages,

according to the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería - Immigration

service - are marriages of convenience.

Although immigration officials are fully aware of this practice, they can no

longer investigate such marriages. Thus, foreigners who want to remain in

Costa Rica legally opt out for this type of relationship with Costa Ricans to

obtain residency.

South American and Caribbean nationals, as a group, are the largest users of

marriage of convenience. A Colombian for instance has many borders closed,

requiring a visa, which in many cases is from difficult to impossible to

obtain.

However, following a marriage to a Costa Rican and waiting out the required

time to obtain Costa Rican naturalization and a passport, they can then

travel freely to many countries. One such country is nieghbouring Nicaragua

and Mexico, requiring a visa for Colombians but not Costa Ricans.

The current "tie of hands" of the immigration service comes from a decision

by the Sala Constitucional (Constitutional Court) - Sala IV - after a recurso

amparo (an appeal) by Costa Rican, Rocío Cruz Pérez, in favour of her Cuban

husband, José Raúl Rodríguez Carrillo, whom she married in November of 2003.

Immigration denied the Cuban residency claiming the marriage was one of

convenience only to obtain a residency visa.

In 2004, the Immigration department denied 123 such other residency requests

and on the same groudns. And although the Constitutional Court decision is

for the Cruz/Rodríguez case, it obligates the Immigration department to

resolve the pending 180 other similar cases."

The court magistrates, in their decision, quantified the surveillance by

Immigration officials to be 'arbitrary' and 'illegitimate'. The Court says

that the state cannot reject a foreigner his residency application that is

based on a marriage with a Costa Rican national.

Marco Badilla, Director of the Immigration service, said he doesn't share the

opinion of the judges. "We can't disobey an order of the Tribunals, but will

act under protest", were the words of Director Badilla.

Badilla added in his comments that the decision by the Court leaves a sour

taste and literally throws out the window all the efforts by his department

to curb these types of residency requests.

One of the more popular ways to obtain Costa Rican residency, the "family

ties" option is perhaps the easiest and speediest way. Once married to a

Costa Rican, a foreigner has to only present a notarized birth certificate

and an criminal report from his home country to the immigration office and

wait out the the months it takes for the process. In less than three years,

the foreigner can become nationalized.

Once the marriage is registered, a foreigner now cannot be asked to leave

Costa Rica. Many use this method when they are confronted with migratory

problems and "tie the knot" to simply evade being deported.


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NEWS DIGEST
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*Man Takes Women For a Ride

In an early morning operation in Los Guidos de Desamparados, agents of the

Sección de Fraudes del OIJ (Fraud Squad) arrested a 60 year old man for

defrauding more than 10 women, who were only looking for love.

The man, whose named was not released by police, used a popular morning

newspaper to place ads for single women over 40 who were looking for their

"media najarna" - better half - and were economically stable.

According to the police investigation, dozens of women replied to the ad,

looking for their 'amorcito'. "Don Juan" as he referred himself, would then

woo the women and once their women were in love with him, he would then begin

to propose business partnerships, like importing clothing, cosmetics, shoes,

etc, from other countries like Panama and Colombia.

All the women who made formal complaints, told of how they opened their

pocketbooks to this charmer, making him personal loans and without any type

of record or written agreement.

The scoundrel played his victims right to the end, promising to take the

woman along for the buying spree. His 'modus operandi' was to pick up the

women, ready for the journey ahead, but needing to make only last stop in

downtown San José. Of course, he would pick a location that had difficulty

finding parking parking close by and would ask the women, always being the

gentleman, to wait for him in front the location while he parked the car,

never to return.


*The Cold Is Back in San José

After a few days of warm weather, the cold spell is back. But, it seems only

in San José.

Yesterday afternoon, in Alajuela west of the airport, the weather was sunny

and hot. Meanwhile, a short drive into downtown San José, a it was partially

cloudy and cold.

In, San José temperatures were the low teens Celsius last night. The

Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) - the weatherman - says it will be

like that for a couple of days more. The IMN says a cold front from Mexico is

the cause.

ICT Website Warns Sex Tourists
The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) - the tourism board - has added

to it's website (www.visitcostarica.com) a warning to sexual abusers and

exploiters of minors.

The banner on the right hand side of the ICT website make it clear that

sexual abusers will be "prosecuted and imprisoned" and one only needs to call

911 to make a report. The banner slogna says, "It's a law. It's a promise."


Tourims Minister, Rodrigo Castro Fonseca, says that the battle against 'sex

tourism' is not the most important cause by the ICT, but the only cause to

protect the children from becoming victims of sexual exploitation.

Similar posters have been in full display at the airport and at land border

crossing points. The posters warn visitors of the effect of sex tourism and

that if they their stay in Costa Rica could be longer than they had come for,

courtesy of the Costa Rican penal system.


*Leaders Protest EU Banana Tariffs

Following a meeting Panama City, Panama, Latin American ministers met to

draft a joint declaration rejecting the European Union (EU) proposals to

increase banana import tariffs in 2006.

The agreement is expected to be signed today (Wednesday) by the presidents of

the seven countries - Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica,

Panama and Nicaragua - in the Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

The EU is to switch to a zero-tariff policy or at least to maintain the

current tariff level, when the EU introduces a new banana import regime from

2006.

The Latin Americans are in competition with African and Caribbean (ACP)

banana producers. As most ACP countries are former European colonies, they

enjoy a preferential tariff treatment from the EU.

The World Trade Organization has ruled against the EU's banana regime in a

previous dispute.




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