Immigration Says At
Least 10.000 Ticos Do
Not Know They
"Foreigner" Spouse
According to a report by
the Spanish daily, La
Nación, Costa Rican
immigration authorities
estimate that some
10.000 Costa Ricans
married to foreigners do
not know their spouse,
let alone having met.
The current legislation
leaves the Dirección
General de Migración y
Extranjería (immigration
service) powerless to
act against marriages of
convenience, a loophole
in the legislation that
is often used by
notaries public and
lawyers as an instrument
for foreigners to obtain
their residency in Costa
Rica.
The immigration service
says it has 44 notaries
public on its list that
continually file
residency applications
mainly catering to
Cuban, Chinese,
Colombian and Dominican
nationals.
The director de
Migración, Mario Zamora,
believes that the
lawyers are part of an
international
trafficking ring, using
false documents to
register marriages with
the Registro Civil and
then process a residency
application with the
immigration service.
In many cases the
marriage is by "por
poder" (power of
attorney) which allows a
foreigner to marry a
Costa Rican from outside
Costa Rica by way of
power given to the
lawyer or notary public.
The loophole is
contained in Article 30
of the Código de Familia.
The Registro Civil is
obligated to accept as
valid any such marriage.
Luis Antonio Sobrado the
president of the
Tribunal Supremo de
Elecciones (TSE), the
government body that
managers the Registro
Civil, says the subject
is "complicated" as the
Registro is obligated to
accept as valid a
marriage as long as
there are no
irregularities with the
filing.
In addition, the
immigration service had
its hands tied behind
its back by a decision
of the Constitutional
Cort in 2007, when it
decided that the
immigration service does
not have the authority
to question a marriage.
Zamora says that that
decision and the
registry process is open
to immigration abuse and
has become a way of many
"undesireable"
foreigners to enter the
country and remain
without questions by the
his office.
Jorge Murillo, chief of
the visa section at the
Migración added that
many times, during the
interviews for a
residency visa, they
have seen that the
person being interviewed
does not even know the
name of their spouse,
adding that his knows of
situations were lawyers
or notaries have charged
up us$10.000 for the
marriage, then paying
only ¢80.000 colones
(us$160) to the Costa
Rican signing the
marriage document.
Both Sobrado and Zamora
say there is an urgent
need to change the laws
that would do away with
these types of
marriages, as well as
give the immigration
service the right to
question marriages of
conveniences when it
detects irregularities.
There is already
legislation in the
works, legislation
presented by legislator
Evita Arguedas. However,
it has not been a
priority of the Poder
Ejecutivo (government)
and is not on the
current schedule of
discussion in the
Legislative Assembly. |
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