Ticos Obtaining Passports For Resale, Possible Cause For The Increased Demand and Long Lines
Cost Ricans looking for to obtain a passport are still fuming about the long lines and the "gavilanes" - hoarders, for lack of a better translation - who are selling a spot anywhere from ¢5.000 colones to ¢50.000 colones.

Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the immigration service can only handle 500 new passport applications. Lines start as early as 4am, only to find that they are number 80 in line, without a soul in sight. Thursdays and Fridays are reserved for those who make appointments by way of the internet.

Immigration officials are aware of the situation, but are powerless to do anything as the 'hoarding" is occurring outside the immigration gate, on the public streets. Johnny Marin, the director of immigration, has said he will talk to Walter Navarro, chief of the Fuerza Pública (police) about the situation, but unless a complaint by a citizen, not much can be done, other than to control the crowd.

The lines are for new passports, which are then ready for pick up three days later. There is no need to make a line for picking up the passorts, since they are handled at a different window within immigration.

The situation will not get any better as the holiday season approaches and immigration officials are fearing that the lines and the hoarding will not only continue, but worsen.

The immigration director says that the situation will calm down by February, when the immigration service expects to open several regional offices - Puntarenas, San Ramon and Limón - that will ease the situation in San José. Right now the immigration service is centralized. New passports, renewal or replacement of a passports and residency renewals are handled in San José.

The question is are so many Costa Ricans (Ticos) travelling that more than 2.500 passports a week are required? According to one immigration official who spoke to Insidecostarica.com on the basis on anonymity, Ticos are obtaining new passports not to travel but to supply the black marketeers who buy them and then resell them for as much as us$2.000. A Tico passport with a visa to the United States can fetch as much as us$5.000.

In the past, a lost Costa Rican passport meant a hassle as a "salvo conducto" was issued as a replacement for a period of six months. Constitutional challenges to the practice ended the issuing of the temporary document, forcing immigration officials to issue a replacement passport on request.

Of course, there is no proof that is really happening and immigration officials are investigating the possibility. "We have people obtaining a passport that obviously cannot afford to travel, just barely covering the expense of coming to San José for the document", our source told us.

For the time being, the lines and the frustrations of those who have travel plans - tickets already purchased and family and friends abroad waiting their arrival - will continue.