it was common knowlege a person could live here without bothering
with residency......
In fact there was a popular book out at the time called "Choose Costa
Rica" that explained in detail
what the legalities were.....
Basically the only people who even bothered with residency were those
who felt they wanted added security.....
And thousands of people lived here technically as tourists, by
crossing the border every 90 days for 3 days and then coming back in
for another 90 days.......
Many didnt even bother with the actual crossing, and just paid a local
Tico, who gathered up passports, went to the border, got them stamped
both ways, and delivered them back to their owners, creating a job
for himself thru providing a convienance. This was often cheaper
than bothering to do it yourself, as you didnt have to spend time in
hotels, buy meals etc. Nor buy the required return bus tickets from
David Panama,
to San Jose, and from San Jose to David, which in effect is all
nothing but a screw the foriegners routine, that forces people with
homes here to spend an extra $24 every three months and give the
money into private hands for tickets they didnt need and often cant
use for anything.... basically putting money from foriegn nationals
into the hands of Tracopa S.A. For unrendered services....
The Whole border cross trip in fact is nothing but a money pump to
milk people.
Thousands bought land and built homes etc. Using these methods, and
some didnt even bother to cross, and lived here illegally for
years.... just as even larger numbers of Ticos have gone to the
States illegally, and lived and worked, and have never bothered, nor
were required, to go to the border with Mexico or Canada every 90
days, nor buy any bus tickets, spend time in hotels etc.
Laws never stop behavior, they generally just divert money into the
hands of lawyers and Government agencies.....
Every Once in awhile the Costa Rican Government would decide they
needed some Cash flow, and begin threatening people without legal
residency...
And some who qualified would go thru all the hassels, pay all the fees
etc. And get it, but most ignored the threats and continued their
lives....
The process is superficially innocent, you need money coming in like
a retirement, or to invest etc. A required amount, which many do not
have, and you need to provide documents like birth certificate,
police history, etc.
all sounds good on paper, but the devil is in the details.... As a
regular certified birth certificate, and normal documents weren't good
enough, and supposedly to prevent fraud, you had to send the
documents to the state department to be certified, then send them to
the costa rican consul to be recetitfied, and each step took time
and cost money... The consul's signiture also had stamps etc. And fees
were stiff, when my son married a tica, he went thru the same exact
process, and it took over 6 months and cost more than a thousand
dollars to do, before they could be married... not quite like Going
to the local justice of the peace or notary with your ID and $20 as
is common in most of the world... Again it was a bureauocratic money
pump, and made even harder by the consul only having fone lines open
for limited times and days per week....
its a bunch of crap.......
It limits peoples rights to marry etc. Live where they choose, work
legally, and isnt rociprical any where else on the planet..... Ticos
can marry in las Vegas Nevada, with nothing but their passport and 15
minutes and a few dollars in fees.....
So what tends to happen here, is foriegn nationals become alienated by
the odious legal bullshit, and just get around it by not bothering...
Another requirement for Marriage or Residency is the police
record..... all double certified for authenticity etc. I think It
has to go back five years or so...... well most of the people I know
have lived here ten years or more, meaning they havent lived in the US
the entire time, but are still required to jump thru all the hoops,
pay all the fees, get all the stamps, waste all the time etc. for a
blank document, instead of being able to present their passports to
the local police department, where they actually were, and get a
local document etc.
Are we seeing a pattern yet?
I talked this week about the problem with a young man about to
graduate from university as an English professor.... He claimed the
latest push for residency is due to foriegners buying beach front
property and limiting access by building fences etc. In Costa Rica
one of their more enlightened laws is that all beaches are public
property, for 100 meters or so back from the tide line, and anyone can
legally walk, or even camp in that zone for free with no limits....
I have also heard complaints from Americans, Canadians, etc. Living
here about people buying beach properties, putting up fences, and the
Government not bothering to make them remove them, and even worse, the
Ultra rich doing it, have their body guards beat up anyone who
objects, and tries to exercise their legal rights, and the government
does nothing.....
So here we effectively have abuse by one small group of people, which
is being effectively condoned by the inaction of the government, used
as an excuse to harrass another much larger group of people who are
doing no harm and much good for the economy, and many of whom have
lived here for decades with few problems....
The new residency laws come with teeth; hundred dollar a day fines
etc. In place of $4 a month...
This is effectively the ability to confiscate people's homes and
property... over a bogus system of residency which is in it's entirety
a money pump for Lawyers and a Government so corrupt, that even the
soon to graduate Professor said several times in the same
conversation, that the real problem was Corruption in the Costa Rican
government, and not the beach issue, i.e. the beach issue is an
excuse for collective punishment, which is in fact illegal under
international law.....
Perhaps its time for the american government to rociprocate? start
gathering up illegal Ticos in the US, fine them a hundred dollars a
day for all the years they've been there, and put them in jails until
their government pays their fines?
Or prohaps we should cut off all foriegn aid and assistance? or have
the state department issue travel advisories to tourists warning of
corruption, unjust laws, and lack of enforcement of just laws used as
an excuse to abuse foriegners and sieze their homes?
The Bible states in many places that one had best not abuse Widows,
Orphans, or Foriegners.....
the Abuse of foriegners is an entrenced art in Costa Rica... in fact
the local airline Sansa has two prices on all flights... One for
nationals, another for foriegners..... if a company did that in the
US, they would be paying millions in fines, and perhaps jail time for
the owners & management for Descrimination..... Here its business
as usual, and has been going on for decades along with many other
abuses, such as a wink-wink nod-nod legal system concerning fraud,
robbery, tresspassing, Assault and battery, murder, etc. Against
foriegn nationals.......
So there you have it folks, an on the ground report as to what the
fuss is all about, and why thousands of americans are leaving the
area after living here for years....
Costa rica is the only country I know of that has had three past
presidents in jail at the same time on corruption charges.. It would
have been 4 but one made it to Switzerland..... personally I think
they need to upgrade their political system, and I suggest an
improvement; let the politicians serve their terms in office,
followed by a mandantory two times as long in prison.... they would
still run for office... why? because the money pumped into Swiss
bank accounts would far exceed the time spent.........
Costa Rica is one of the planet's best & brightest Corruptocracies.....
There are many very decent Tico folks here, unfortunately they too,
live under the corruption...
--
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