Lawmakers finally give immigration bill initial OK
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Asamblea Legislativa passed on first read Thursday afternoon the new immigration law that had been languishing in various committees for three years.
The bill still needs one more vote on a non-consecutive day. That probably will come Monday. There was no opposition, and 39 lawmakers voted for the bill. The major political parties had agreed not to seek any more amendments.
Although expats are interested in the qualifications for residency, the bill goes much farther and criminalizes trafficking in persons, seeks to make less political the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería, creates a commission to oversee the issuance of visas and gives more power to the Policía de Migración.
The measure was pushed by Casa Presidencial to replace a law passed in the final months of the Abel Pacheco administration. President Óscar Arias Sánchez and his staff thought that the Pacheco law was too draconian, and several social organizations, including elements of the Roman Catholic Church, thought that the law criminalized their activities among illegal immigrants.
Officials called together representatives from a number of interest groups and social organizations to consider a new immigration law. For some reason, North American and European expats were not included, and higher financial requirements for pensionados and rentistas got into the initial bill. Expats complained, and now the financial requirements are $1,000 a month for pensionados and $2,500 a month for rentistas, with both amounts covering close family members.
That is an improvement over the Pacheco bill and the new bill when it was introduced.
The current requirements are for pensionados to have a $600-a-month income and for rentistas an income of $1,000 a month.
Initially the Arias administration proposed requiring pensionados to show a $2,000 a month income and rentistas to show they had a $5,000 a month income from sources outside Costa Rica. The original bill also said that existing pensionados and rentistas would have to meet the new financial requirements when they renewed their status. The final version eliminated this ex post facto requirement.
The new law, which if passed in the second vote will take effect six months after publication, also requires all foreign residents to become members of the Caja Costarricence de Seguro Social. The
administration said that the goal of the bill would be to integrate persons who come here into Costa Rican life. That meant the flood of immigrations from other Latin countries, including Nicaragua.
The bill has had a long legislative history. The measure went through a complete rewrite half way through the committee process. Then it was scheduled for a vote of the full legislature in May but wrangling over some points resulted in the measure being referred to the Sala IV constitutional court for a review. The court found some inconsistencies in the bill when compared to existing legislation, so the bill went back to committee. The committee, the Comisión Permanente de Gobierno y Administración, tweaked some parts of the bill and reported it out to the full legislature in the last days of June.
The immigration bill is part of the citizen security package that the Arias administration sent to lawmakers.
The pending bill provides a prison term of from two to six years for those who help illegal individuals enter the country, evade immigration controls or use falsified documents. That brings Costa Rica into conformity with international agreements on trafficking.
****The new law also will require operators of hotels and other places of public lodging to maintain a register of who is staying there.
The law allows expats and other would-be residents to complete the paperwork for their application within Costa Rica instead of having to return to their country of origin.
The newly enhanced immigration police will be Fuerza Pública officers with all the required training, but they will report to the immigration director and not to the minister of security as do other Fuerza Pública officers.
The bill also authorized the nation’s president and the immigration director to issue decrees to legalize foreigners who may be in the country illegally. This clause opens the door to a general amnesty for illegal aliens, however the final decision is left up to the president. Costa Rica had an amnesty in the 1990s that allowed a number of foreigners, mostly Nicaraguans, to obtain residency. Some expats took advantage of that policy, too.
****The finer points of the immigration law will not be known fully until a certified copy is published in the La Gaceta official newspaper. Lawmakers themselves frequently are confused by conflicting amendments and changes. ****Arias is certain to sign the measure when it reaches his desk. Then the document goes off to the La Gaceta.