Tourists Can Now Make Complaints At the Airport
Tourists visiting Costa Rican now will be able to make their reports of incidents and complaints at the Juan Santamaría (San José) International airport before leaving the country, as the Dirección de Migración y Extranjería will man an airport office 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The office is not ready just yet, it will be a couple of more days before it opens so that tourists can now report thefts, assualts, frauds and others types of crimes against tourists, including officials asking for a bribe and travel agencies who did not live up to their contractual obligations.

The office will also be available for consultations on immigration status, visas, passports and stamps.

"What we want is to consolidate the complaints that would be made to other institutions directly. We will undertake to make sure the complaints along to the authorities", said Mario Zamora, immigration director.

Zamora explained that tourists will not have to run around to the different institutions like the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) or the Policía de Tránsito to make their reports. Tourits can visit the new immigration office to make their reports, which will be sent along to the respective authority.

Now, a traffic cop who tries to extort a bribe can be denounced at the airport. A robbery or assault report can be made at the airport office and sent to the OIJ for follow up, according to director Zamora.

In addition, Zamora announced that Shely Flores, who has been an immigration police officer for a number of years, will be the new immigration director at the airport. The move, according to Zamora, is to better the levels of co-ordination between the immigration service and the Dirección de Inteligencia y Seguridad (DIS) and other judicial authorities.

"It is a barbarity that at the airport there is no office for the users. We will better the standards of security", said Zamora.