Marriages of Convenience Are OK,
Court Rules
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.
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.
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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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