Costa Rica Blogs - Newsfeeds

by Rod Hughes

A bill that would ban foreigners marrying Costa Ricans solely to obtain residency is gathering support in the Legislative Assembly, reports the daily paper La Nacion.
This practice usually takes the form of a foreign man going to a lawyer, who then seeks out a poor or drug addicted native woman for a bogus marriage. Many times, the Costa Rican mate has never met or even seen anyone except the spouse’s lawyer in order to sign the papers in exchange for a one-time payment ranging from 5,000 colones to 25,000 (about $10 to $50) and many times, if they wish to marry later, find themselves prevented by the convenience marriage.
Immigration chief Mario Zamora has found himself twice running afoul of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court for slowing down applications for residency status because of these marriages. By attempting to control the situation, Zamora finds himself personally liable to lawsuits as well as his department.
The immigration reform bill currently in special session of congress attempts to close this loophole.
Zamora points out that lawyers, for a legal fee of about 10,000 colones, will seek out the indigent or the addicted. The notaries who witness the signatures also receive their cut.
“We’ve seen a case in Cristo Rey barrio (a rough part of San Jose) where a drug addict received drugs for her signature on marriage liceses,” said Zamora.
But not all locals who lend their signatures to this trade are women. La Nacion interviewed Jose Amgel Aguilar, 47, who told the reporter, “I was broke and needed money. All I knew was that I married a woman I’d never met. There in Pavas and Lomas, they marry anyone.”
The bill that would end this practice and for which Zamora is lobbying hard, has gathered the support of Evita Arguedas of the Libertarian Movement and National Liberation deputy Francisco Antonio Pacheco who have promised their support. The bill, which would also make adjustments in the Family Code, the Penal Codes as well as the natoary codes, is currently in committee. Nine Costa Ricans who “married” for a fee have testified that they have applied for anullments.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 28th, 2007 at 11:20 am and is filed under Costa Rica News, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.