| A new immigration law has recently been approved, and
with it come important changes in many residency categories,
as well as in the treatment of illegal residents in the country
(TT, Aug. 26, Nov. 4).
Although the new law was opposed by many organizations that
deal with immigrants the Catholic Church and the Ombudsman's
Office, among others it has been promoted as necessary
and of vital importance by Immigration authorities.
After many months of debate, and an initial approval that
was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Chamber
of the Supreme Court (Sala IV), a final version was
approved Oct. 27. The law was recently published on Dec. 12;
an eight-month moratorium started on this date, after which
the new Immigration law will go into effect in mid-August
of next year.
Note: Although the new law has passed, the underlying regulations
have not been written yet. Contact ARCR for current changes.
Upon first glance, the categories of rentista and
pensionado remain largely the same; but when you examine
the changes carefully, several potentially major problems
become evident. A few of the issues pointed out here may be
clarified in the regulations for the law, which will be issued
at some point in the future but do not exist at this time.
It should be noted that the law is not free of mistakes:
what appears to be a clerical error apparently went unnoticed
by the legislative system. Articles 77 and 78 both refer to
the rentista category, and establish different requirements
for approval. Article 77 basically keeps the same requirement
of $1,000 a month per family for five years (which translates
to a $60,000 deposit from which the bank guarantees your annuity).
Article 78 then states that the requirement is $2,000 monthly
for husband and wife, plus $500 extra for each dependent to
be included in the application, which would double the deposit
or more. We have yet to learn how this will be solved.
One important change is that the rentista and pensionado
categories become temporary residencies, whereas today
they are permanent residencies. Under the new law, holders
of temporary residency will be able to change to unconditional
permanent residency only after three years. This change is
currently not allowed, although it was common practice until
a couple of years ago.
The catch is that temporary residencies will only be granted
for two years. How the above mentioned benefit will apply
is uncertain, because the new rules will not allow any temporary
resident to hold this status for more than two years. This
is one reason why I would like to emphasize that if you are
not currently a legal resident, you should take the necessary
steps to legalize your immigration status now, before the
new law goes into effect. It is my opinion /yet to be tested
by the practice to be adopted by Immigration /that people
who currently have or acquire their rentista or pensionado
resident status before the new law goes into application,
and keep it for more than three years, will be allowed to
change it to unconditional permanent residency.
The new law includes inversionista (investor) as a
residency category, though no requirements are mentioned.
This will leave the list of requirements in the hands of the
Executive Branch and subject to change from time to time,
as a variable Immigration policy.
Another change is that residencies under all these categories
must be filed through Costa Rican consulates abroad, as with
other types of residencies. This change may seem simple, but
in reality it represents major problems for new applicants.
The first obstacle is that the application must be sent to
Immigration by the consulate. There have been many problems
with this type of procedure in the past, as the application
becomes a two-stage process. In the beginning, the consulate
collects and legalizes the basic documents, such as birth
certificates, marriage certificate and passport copies. After
the file has reached the appropriate department at Immigration,
a resolution is drafted asking the applicant to complete the
file with a sworn statement, proof of fingerprinting and any
document not filed at the consulate. This causes significant
delays, as all files have to be reviewed twice, and several
appointments have to be obtained to follow up on the file.
While other residency categories have been modified, most
of the existing work residencies and permits remain basically
the same, even though their classification has changed. In
the past, a common practice by Immigration authorities when
reviewing work permits and work residencies was to consult
the Ministry of Labor regarding the availability of qualified
Costa Ricans for the position in question. Now, this consultation
will be mandatory, making work-related residencies and permits
very restricted.
The law places emphasis on penalizing what is termed trafficking
of people and illegal immigration, and special attention is
given to prohibiting people who do not hold working status
from performing paid activities. This should concern those
perpetual tourists who have been beating the system by leaving
the country for a few days every three months. This common
practice, which is not permitted today, will subject these
people to the very real possibility of rejection at the border
or airport upon their next entry. As per the new law, working
as a tourist carries the risk of detention and immediate deportation
with a five-year prohibition against entering the country.
The new law defines penalties for those who employ illegal
immigrants or tourists, and establishes a legal obligation
to cooperate with Immigration by informing about foreigners
being employed. Infringement of these obligations will carry
significant civil and criminal penalties. Restrictions are
also set forth for hotel owners, managers and staff who accommodate
foreign citizens: they will be under obligation to keep records
of all their guests in a special registry, which must be made
available to Immigration authorities at any time, and the
hotel may be subject to penalties if it provides its services
to illegal immigrants. This may be difficult to check and
enforce in reality, but the implications are nonetheless unsettling.
Many changes that we still have no information about will
be enacted through the regulations for the law, to be published
in the future, to complete the law and include issues that
were left out (not necessarily inadvertently).
My advice is to take advantage of the moratorium and legalize
your situation in Costa Rica now, as it seems all the changes
that have been going on at Immigration, in addition to the
new law coming into effect, will make residencies even more
complicated and restrictive than they are now.
*Courtesy of Lang & Asociados at 204-7871 or visit http://www.langcr.com
and
The Tico Times
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