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COSTA RICA |
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Marriages of Convenience
Now A "No! No!" in Costa Rica
Many foreigners enter into a marriage of
convenience with a Costa Rican national for
the sole purpose of obtaining their
residency and legal status in Costa Rica and
without ever meeting or knowing their
spouse.
This practice will be illegal in the coming
weeks when the law signed on Wednesday by
Costa Rica's president, Oscar Arias, is
published in the official government
publication, La Gaceta, which reforms
article 30 of the Código de
Familia (Family Code), eliminating the
possibility of foreigners marraying Costa
Rican nationals solely for the purpose of
obtaining their residency, many not ever
meeting their spouse, known them from a name
on a form and a photocopy of their cedula
(identification).
The sanction is from three to six years
prison for the parties to the marriage, as
well as the lawyers and notaries, who
willingly or unwillingly, take part in such
unions.
The practice has been common that some
notaries and lawyers have actively recruited
Costa Rican nationals to offer their
signature and identification on a marriage
certificate without ever meeting their
intended spouse, for a fee.
The fee has been from as little as a few
colones to hundreds of thousands, while
foreigners are being charged hundreds to
thousands of dollars for the service.
The prime objective of the ban is to hit
hard the organized groups dedicated to this
type of activity and the entrance of
criminals to Costa Rica by way of marriage,
like the case of the group of Jamaicans
responsible for the murder of two OIJ agents
and an innocent woman during the last
several weeks, and others in the past
several years.
The Jamaicans apprehended by authorities all
are married to a Costa Rican and obtained
their legal residency by way of the arranged
marriage.
Independent legislator, Evita Arguedas, has
been one of the proponents of the change,
showing yesterday her pleasure to see her
project signed into law after almost 2 1/2
years of debate.
Taking part in the signing ceremony was the
ministro de la Presidencia, Rodrigo Arias
and the ministro de Justicia, Hernando París
and the ministra de Seguridad, Janina del
Vecchio.
Del Vecchio said that there are an estimated
10.000 foreigners in the last 30 months who
have used matrimony as a way of legalizing
their status in the country and that
organized groups have taken advantage of the
loophole in the system.
For his part, immigration director, Mario
Zamora, said "this is a hard blow to
organized mafias".
According to Zamora, Chinese, Colombian,
Cuban, Jamaican and Dominican nationals make
up the largest group that use marriage by
proxy to come to Costa Rica and legalize
their residency. |
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