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There is a great article about the imigration law deadline being postponed until 2007.
This will be good for those applying for residency. 12 August 2006 deadline could be moved.
See the article in AMCostaRica for today 29 June 2006.
Bill Maes
Bill, Just got done reading it. Looks like great news. The Tico Times also has an article in today under Daily News.
DebbieI dont mean to talk about TICO times but they profit a lot from getting people excited about laws that never come about in Costa Rica. We got caught in that a couple years ago, the scam was a little different but not much different. They had every one running in to get residency papers processed before a deadline for some other reasons. They were getting so many applications until it was hard for them to keep up. Everyone who has called me and told me that they had to hurry so they could get their paper work in, I’v let them know that it was never going to come about. It is a fear tactic that is used to increase revenues and sell papers. I hate to talk about the TICO times but it has happened twice in the four years I have been in Costa Rica.
The fear that many have created business for me. My business was actually rewarded by the fear that was pumped into unsuspecting want to be residents.
The immigration department can not keep up with all the work. There is an administration change and we do not understand that in Costa Rica when they change administrations that changes almost everything.
Most people from other countries outside of Latin America just do not realize a lot of laws are written in pencil and they can be erased.
The Germans and the French who live here may be running around like we North Americans are, but I dont think so. When are we going to wake up to propaganda tatics. They did not stop when you got off the plane.
I sure hope the law being postponed is factual, it would definately be a prayer answered if it comes to be true. Thanks so much for the info!
Jenny, if I’m not being too bold; How do you like Costa Rica after four years there? and if possible, can you share what kind of business you’re in? Thanks so much if you care to share this with us! 🙂
I scanned the Tico Times this morning and didn’t see any article about the subject in this weeks PDF format paper.
You can see her and her husbands story ‘African Americans in Costa Rica – The Owens Story.’ at
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comThanks so much Scott! You have always been so sincere and helpful, I hope that some day we will meet . . . in Costa Rica!
Thanks for all your help!
The article was in the June 16th issue, page 5, 2nd column, titled “Arias Administration Plans To Postpone Immigration Reform”.
PegHi, there was an update to the new Immigration law in the Tico Times, daily emailed edition 29 June. The content I will copy below.
Immigration Law Faces New Scrutiny
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.netPublic Security Minister Fernando Berrocal confirmed yesterday that the Executive Branch will ask the Legislative Assembly to delay until December 2007 the date by which the controversial new immigration law must take effect, saying the government lacks the funds necessary to implement it in August as scheduled.
He also announced that the government will use an executive decree to form a council of representatives from human rights groups, the business sector, the Catholic Church and others to discuss the possibility of changing the law, approved last year. Its measures to crack down on illegal immigrants and the people who hire them have been criticized as unduly harsh by academics, religious figures and President Oscar Arias.
However, although the government is certainly not opposed to changing the law, Berrocal said financial concerns are the driving force behind the proposed 14-month delay.
One can’t oblige the state to (achieve) the impossible, he said during the press conference following Arias’ weekly Cabinet meeting. It’s absolutely impossible for this administration to put this law into practice.
The law would require 671 new police officers and other employees at Immigration in addition to new police officials, vehicles, infrastructure and administrative reforms, at a total cost of ¢7 billion ($13.7 million).
The change has the support of the President’s Cabinet, and the Executive Branch will now meet with party heads within the assembly to determine when to submit the legislation.
The law grants greater freedom to police in their efforts to find and remove illegal immigrants, detention for an undefined length of time for those suspected of being in the country illegally and changes to improve the efficiency of Immigration (TT, Aug. 26, 2005).
Berrocal emphasized that Immigration and the Public Security Ministry will, in the meantime, continue to work to improve the government’s handling of illegal immigration, which he called an enormous burden.
You can also receive the daily edition free, or you can pay (like I do) for the weekly edition by going to: https://www.ticotimes.net/secure/subscribe.cfm
James.
Hi Bill, here is the latest from the Tico Times on the Immigration Law.
Confusion and conflict continue to surround
the new Immigration Law, but one
thing became clear this week: foreigners
aren’t likely to notice any difference after it
goes into effect next week.
The Executive Branch, which has criticized
the law passed by the previous administration,
submitted a bill to the Legislative
Assembly that would delay it until December
2007.
Legislators say there’s no way they can
approve it in time, but that might not matter.
Immigration Director Mario Zamora
told The Tico Times that regardless of
whether the law’s start date is postponed,
Immigration simply cannot comply with the
law because officials don’t have ¢7 billion
($13.6 million) for the new police, infrastructure
and administrative reforms the law
demands.
“No one’s obliged to do the impossible,”
he said.
These developments were met with relief
from critics of the law, who say it’s extreme
and potentially violates human rights.
Others say the country desperately needs the
new measures.
“I’m absolutely against the administration’s
position,” said Oscar Lopez, the only
legislator from the Access Without Exclusion
Party (PASE). “There’s no room for any
more immigrants here” Costa Rica is for
Costa Ricans.”
A Change of Direction
The General Law of Immigration,
approved in 2005, has been years in the
making. First proposed in February 2001 by
the administration of President Miguel
Angel Rodreguez (1998-2002), the bill was
designed to update Costa Rica’s 1986
immigration codes by giving police greater
freedom to find and deport illegal immigrants.
The law allows police to enter companies
and review payrolls and documentation
related to the hiring of foreigners; levy
increased penalties for companies that hire
illegal workers, ranging from $600-$3,600;
and fine people who provide housing to people
living here illegally. It also includes
administrative changes within Immigration
to boost its efficiency.
While the assembly discussed the law,
various migrant rights groups asked legislators
to consider changes. The Catholic
Church proposed changes to the law in
December 2003, and the Forum on Migrant
Populations – a group led by the
Ombudsman’s Office – followed suit with a
45-page document suggesting modifications.
“Our suggestions were paid little attention,”
said Angel San Casimiro Fernandez,
president of the Church’s social outreach
organization, Caritas. “Unfortunately, the
same occurred with the contributions
made by public universities, the
Ombudsman’s Office and organizations of
civil society.”
The law was approved in October and
published Dec. 12 of last year in the official
government daily La Gaceta, with the provision
that the government had eight
months to put the law into effect. During
those eight months, however, a new
President, Oscar Arias, and 57 new legislators
were elected and took office. In June,
Rodrigo Arias, the President’s brother and
spokesman, confirmed the administration
would ask the assembly to approve a 16-
month delay to discuss possible changes to
the law.
Fernando Berrocal, who, as Public
Security Minister, oversees the General
Immigration Administration, said in late
June that the Executive Branch would probably
form a commission with representatives
from various sectors to discuss modifying
the new law. However, the primary reasons
given for the delay were economic.
“It’s absolutely impossible for this
administration to put (the law) in practice,”
Berrocal said. “The money doesn’t exist. The
corresponding budgetary preparations
weren’t made.”
According to Berrocal and Immigration
Director Zamora, the primary expenditures
the law requires include building detention
centers for illegal immigrants, hiring at least
565 addition Immigration police (an
increase from 35 to 600), buying additional
vehicles and improving the organization’s
infrastructure.
Zamora said the law passed last year
indicated it is up to Immigration to draw
up a special budget for the extra funds
needed, which he did upon taking office in
mid-May. However, the Finance Ministry
informed him Immigration wouldn’t get
any so many funding this year or next,
Zamora said.
He compared the situation to passing a
law making university attendance mandatory,
but not taking into account the fact that
the country’s universities don’t have room
for so many students.
“It puts us between a rock and a hard
place,” he said. “If the previous government
wanted this law to be applied, why didn’t
they leave (funds)?”
Earlier in the week he told the daily La
Nacion, “It’s one more case of a law that’s not
complied with.”
Rodrigo Arias said yesterday that the
government will “do whatever is possible” to
comply with the law while waiting for the
delay to be approved.
Pros and Cons
Monsignor San Casimiro said the
Church considers the government’s attempt
to delay the law “not only correct, but opportune,”
because it will allow the government
to “obtain the necessary resources for its
implementation” and “open the discussion
of some significant changes to the content of
the law.” He said the country does need a
new immigration law, but the version set to
take effect Aug. 12 “does little for the country’s
traditions of respect and promotion of
human rights.”
Gustavo Gatika, Caritas’ director of
immigration affairs, said Zamora’s comments
about the difficulties of applying the
law are “prudent and sensible” and “in tune
with what the President has said about the
law: that it has omissions.”
According to Martha Isabel Cranshaw,
coordinator of the Nicaraguan Migration
Network, the law would have dire effects for
both Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans. An estimated
150,000 Nicaraguans, 45,000 of
whom are minors, are living illegally in
Costa Rica, according to Cranshaw.
“Costa Rica has to accept that Nicaraguans
working in Costa Rica are a reality.
It fills an economic need for both countries,”
she said. “No one benefits from mass deportation.
It violates the rights of the
Nicaraguans, and it would be economic suicide
for Costa Rica.”
Business owners in the construction
and agricultural sectors often depend on
Nicaraguan laborers to support their
industries. Gabriela Lobo, director of the
Coffee Growers’ Chamber, told The Tico
Times she’s pleased by the government’s
actions. Last year, part of the coffee harvest
was lost because of a worker shortage, she
said.
“We agree there should be legislation
that regulates immigration, but we think
(the government) should look for more flexible
mechanisms,” she added.
However, legislators such as Lopez and
Jose Manuel Echandi, of the National Union
Party (PUN), oppose the government’s
stance. Echandi, a former Ombudsman who
criticized the Immigration Law during his
term as the “defender of the inhabitants,” as
the post is literally translated from Spanish,
says it may have flaws, but economic reasons
are not a valid reason to ignore it. According
to Echandi, legislators should study whether
the law violates the Constitution or international
treaties and, if so, take those issues
before the Constitutional Chamber of the
Supreme Court (Sala IV), but simply delaying
or failing to implement the legislation is
not the answer.
“The law was approved by the assembly.
It’s not acceptable that now the Executive
Branch says it doesn’t have a budget to put it
into effect,” he said. “This country urgently
needs an immigration policy.”
What’s Ahead
The bill to delay the new law, presented
July 27 by the Executive Branch, was published
yesterday in the official government
daily La Gaceta, meaning that the Social
Affairs Commission can now begin to examine
it. Rodrigo Arias said it will occupy the
top spot on that commission’s agenda, but
according to commission president Ofelia
TaitelBaum, that doesn’t mean it will be
approved next week.
She used the word of choice for the
Immigration Law, “impossible,” to define the
bill’s chance of being approved on time. To
comply with assembly regulations, the group
must wait five days starting yesterday to begin
discussing the bill in their Tuesday and
Wednesday meetings to give legislators time
to study it. As with all new bills, the assembly’s
Technical Services department must also
review the text, which will take about a week.
Once discussion begins, any legislator
who wishes to ask outside sources, such as
the Sala IV, Immigration or other authorities,
for their assessment of the bill can delay
approval, she said – and “we have a ton of
holidays this month; that’s one of the things
going against us.”
Commission member Lopez says he’ll do
anything within his power to keep the delay
from moving forward. Cases before the Sala
IV, motions to reform the bill, or even lawsuits
against Zamora should he fail to
enforce the law are all options he says he’ll
consider.
“I’ll use all possible legal means to ensure
that the Immigration Law is put in practice
in Costa Rica with the necessary rigor,” he
said.
Asked why the Executive Branch didn’t
submit the bill earlier, given the time needed
to approve it, TaitelBaum was at a loss.
“I have no idea,” she said.”Maybe there
was a delay.Nica Times Editor Tim Rogers and Tico Times
reporters Leland Baxter-Neal and Maria
Gabriela Diaz contributed to this story.
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