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Tico
Passport For Only $100!
Need a Tico passport? Got a
us$100? That is the presumption
by Costa Rican immigration
officials who have begun an
investigation into what they
believe is a growing black
market for Costa Rican
passports.
"We don't have the proof, but
there is a high suspicion that
in Costa Rica we have a black
market for passports that needs
to be looked into", said Johnny
Marín, director of Migración.
The black market for passports
that sell for around us$100
(¢50.700 colones) could also be
a reason for the long lines
daily at the immigration
service.
Officials suspect that many
Costa Ricans visit the
immigration offices two or three
times, first to get the passport
and then to obtain replacements
for lost of damaged passports,
which in reality are sold on the
black market.
This is also the reason for an
increase in the number of people
detained at the Juan Santamaría
International airport in San
José of people attempting to
travel with a Costa Rican
passport that does not belong to
them. Director Marín gave an
example of a Colombian national
who was in possession of a Costa
Rican passport with his photo
while the original photo
belonged to another.
Juan David Morales was detained
on his way to México, with his
final destination being the
United States.
Morales told immigration
officials of how be purchased
the passport in San José for a
mere us$100 from a friend of a
friend of a friend who he knew
back in Colombia.
Marín believes that the market
for the passports is the work of
an organized group who offer
poor Costa Ricans a way to make
a few "easy" colones.
The immigration services issues
some 500 new passports daily
which are good for 10 years.
Between 2004 and 2005, 177.457
passports were issued.
According to immigration
figures, between 1999 and 2006,
14.613 persons took out two
passports; 1.551 asked for a
third; 3.301 a fourth; 4.122
applied for a fifth, 62 received
a sixth. Twenty eight made line
at immigration for a seventh
passport, while seven asked for
an eight and one person needed a
ninth passport.
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