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COSTA RICA |
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Fiscalía Investigates Lawyers For "Marriages
of Convenience"
The Fiscalía confirmed Wednesday it is
investigating at least two lawyers and
notaries for officiating more than 100
marriages of convenience. The lawyers were
identified as Katia Salas Guevara and
Christian García Morales, both having
offices in San José.
The lawyers are alleged to have tied the
knot between foreigners and Costa Rican
nationals for the sole purpose of the
foreigner obtaining residency in Costa Rica,
in most of the cases without ever meeting
his or her Costa Rican spouse.
The Fiscalía looking into reports that a
number of the Costa Ricans were married to
the foreigner without their consent.
The use of marriage as a means by foreigner
to obtain residency in Costa Rica has been
popular. The law, until last month, allowed
marriages of convenience and even when the
immigration service was certain of the fact,
it was powerless to investigate and deny
residency status.
After years of discussion and debate, Costa
Rica's legislators approved reforms to
article 30 of the Código de Familia (Family
Code), eliminating the possibility of
foreigners marraying Costa Rican nationals
solely for the purpose of obtaining their
residency.
The prime objective of the ban is to hit
hard the organized groups dedicated to this
type of activity and the entrance of
criminals to Costa Rica by way of marriage,
like the case of the group of Jamaicans
responsible for the murder of two OIJ agents
and an innocent woman days before the
approval and enactment of the law.
The Jamaicans apprehended by authorities all
are married to a Costa Rican and obtained
their legal residency by way of the arranged
marriage.
The sanction for all parties - including
notaries and lawyers - who willingly or
unwillingly take part in such marriages, is
from three to six years prison.
Independent legislator, Evita Arguedas, had
been one of the proponents of the change, to
see her project signed into law after almost
2 1/2 years of debate.
For his part, director of the Costa Rican
immigration service, Mario Zamora, sees the
change as "a hard blow to organized mafias"
in Costa Rica. According to Zamora, Chinese,
Colombian, Cuban, Jamaican and Dominican
nationals make up the largest group that use
marriage by proxy to come to Costa Rica and
legalize their residency. |
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