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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-9393 |
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response to woman who faked marriage Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I would like to respond to the U.S. citizen who thinks the Costa Rican government might want to consider adding a "new doorway" for those people who wish to immigrate. I am sure she wrote to A.M. Costa Rica with the best of intentions, but her suggestions do require some comments. There is no "leave-every-three months tourist" status. This is a serious misconception. A tourist is a guest. He or she is invited to visit and stay for a maximum of 90 days. As a guest they can own property but have no legal status. They can be asked to leave the country at any time, or they can be refused re-entry upon leaving and attempting to return. Rentista or Pensionado status would not permit this woman, even if she qualified, to engage in the work she states she is involved in. Those statuses do not allow people to work. Resident Investor status allows one to legally live and work in Costa Rica. The writer poses the question in her commentary, "How can it [Costa Rica] expect foreigners to invest in Costa Rica if they have no guarantee that they can always return". Apparently she is aware of the status but chooses to ignore that the status has requirements just like any other status. Fake marriages in order to obtain resident status are illegal here as they are in any country in the world. Your expected residency "in a so-I've been-told, impossible one months time" is invalid. Your marriage will not provide you with a legal status. You have voluntarily committed a criminal act. Your marriage is and will be considered a fraud by immigration and the courts. You can be legally prosecuted and deported. Once deported, you will be refused re-entry into Costa Rica for a minimum of 10 years. The writers reference to having built a house, written travel brochures and developed tourist web sites etc. here all sounds like a definite positive from her perspective. In reality what she has done is taken that opportunity to make money away from a legal resident. There are Costa Ricans, and foreigners who have obtained the legal right to live and work here in Costa Rica, who have the ability to create those same entities that she refers to. Their product or service is no longer required as the demand has been filled by an illegal foreigner. Starting a Spanish school and teaching affordable/free English classes is commendable but falls into the same category. There are Costa Ricans who can and do start schools for both Spanish and for English. Seeking the advice of everyone regarding how to obtain a status is a good start for the process of "getting legal" but unfortunately there are problems listening to such advice. Individuals in the expate community here like in almost every expate community in the world suffer from the seasoned veteran complex. The seasoned veteran upon establishing he/she has been in the country longer than the person asking the questions offers advice which at best can be considered misleading if not self serving. Not a good source of information. The actions of the lawyers who offered to marry her for a fee to some man she didn't know speaks for themselves. They do a great disservice to their country, their profession and to their client. A person goes to them in good faith for assistance and they receive in turn advice on how to "beat the system." They advise how to commit an illegal act which subjects the client to either immediate deportation or eventual deportation after a period of detention. Nice work on their part. Those lawyers are not a good source of information. The average Costa Rican has never had to be concerned with the process of immigration as it pertains to foreigners. Because of their willingness to assist anyone with any problem at anytime they do tend to give answers that they know the individual wants to hear. Not a good source of information. The writer does not mention if she sought information from the Immigration Department itself. This is normally one of the first steps a person takes upon making the decision to move to Costa Rica. Checking does not have to be done in person. Everything is available on the Web. The process itself must be started from outside Costa Rica. Thus most people check with the closest Costa Rica consul or embassy to their current home for details. An alternative step is to contact groups or corporations who specialize in providing services such as immigration, moving, duties etc. The Association of Residents of Costa Rica in San José is such group. There are also approved investment programs which allow a person to obtain "resident investor" status. Costa Rica created the incentives and continues to encourage people to use them so that the investor has the opportunity to live, work and enjoy Costa Rica legally. Kevin A. McNamee
Escazú Whistling poodle has some mechanical help Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Mimi is our 2-year-old toy Tica poodle. Last night while watching TV, and trying to understand it, I became goaded at how high I had to turn up the volume in order to make any sense out of it. I went upstairs and put my right ear hearing aid in, thinking this is the side that needs the most help. It amplified the background noise proportionally to what I was listening to, but overall I thought I could understand a little more clearly. However wouldn't you know it . . . not a few minutes later the hearing aid started to “crackle” because the battery was going dead. In thinking about it, I haven’t even taken them out of the bag in months. Anyway I removed it and set it next to me on the end table, turned up the volume on the television and completely forgot about it. Later during a commercial, Julie, my wife, asked “what’s that for”? “What’s 'what' for,” I answered? “Why are you whistling?” “I’m not whistling!” “Then where is that sound coming from? “ “What sound?” Julie stood up tilting her head side to side as if trying to “tune in” on a radio signal . . . “Do you have something in the study that whistles? “I don’t know what you’re talking about, maybe you’re loosing it, I don’t hear anything.” About then Mimi got my attention by scratching on my knee with her front paws, I looked down and she was acting peculiar almost like she wanted to show me something. She raised her head as if to say “look what I caught” and I could see a small pink thingy sticking out between her lips. At the same instant Julie yelled “it’s Mimi, she’s whistling”! I couldn’t hear anything but instantly realized it was my hearing aid. I put my hand out to take it away from her, bracing myself for a fight; but no, she surrendered it cheerfully almost as if following through on a Lassie episode, i.e., believing the poor animal was in pain from the noise it made, brought it to me for rescue. Hearing aids, at least mine, “whistle” when you cover them which serves as a reminder to turn them off when not in use. So another lesson learned the hard way, i.e., doggies’ think of hearing aids as whistling chew toys, and they ain’t cheap. The only deliverance is just that . . . they will want to retrieve and bring them back so they can find it again. Jerry Thorman
Santa Barbara, Heredia |
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with the observations of Dr. Lenny Karpman Click HERE! |
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| U.S. Embassy issues an alert on dengue fever here |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The U.S. Embassy is warning citizens that dengue fever is hitting the beach communities hard and that the disease will be spread by school vacations. The embassy issued what it called an alert Monday. The bulletin said that incidence of dengue fever is up 72 percent over the previous year based on statistics from the Ministerio de Salud. The formal alert is not likely to have a favorable impact on tourism, and the embassy names a number of popular Pacific beach communities as places where dengue is prevalent. Mentioned specifically are Jacó, Quepos, Punta Leona, Puntarenas and the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula and the settlements of Tambor and Montezuma. The embassy also said that Guápiles, Siquirres, Limón and the Caribbean beaches are places where the disease might be contracted. Dengue fever, a mosquito-born virus, is more common this year because health officials conducted a massive and successful campaign last year to eliminate breeding places for the mosquitoes. The embassy alert warned that many Central Valley families will be heading to the beach communities because schools are in recess. This situation will allow vacationers to contract the virus at the beaches and carry it back in their body to the Central Valley, the embassy warned. |
The mosquito, the Aedes
aegypti, that carries the virus, is common in
the Central Valley, so infected individuals will serve as a source for
the community, according to the embassy reasoning. Dengue can cause 5 to 7 days of fever, headache, and pain behind the eyes, said the alert, adding that the disease is sometimes called “break bone” fever because of the discomfort in the joints and muscles and that it may be accompanied by a rash on day three or occasionally vomiting and diarrhea. Those who have had a case of dengue can contract life-threatening hemorrhagic fever from a subsequent mosquito bite. However, only a few such cases have been recorded this year in Costa Rica. The embassy recommends a 33 percent concentration of DEET repellent to counter the mosquitoes. The insects are day biters, so repellent should be worn even during daytime. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control notes that dengue can be caused by four related viruses. And that infection by one virus does not provide immunity to the other three. Costa Rican health officials have expressed concern that residents have not continued to eliminate mosquito breeding places after the 2004 dengue season. Such places are any collection of water, such as old tires or pots where mosquitoes can begin their life cycle. |
| New Web site will deal in an exchange of ideas on many topics |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A Web site started by an Escazú resident invites people to share their ideas. The site, ideasfree.org, is the work of Sam Butler. Butler says he came up with the idea after talking with friend Robert Muller, former Chancellor of the U.N. Supported University for Peace in Cuidad Colón. Butler said that Muller is full of ideas about how to sustain a peaceful society and after talking with him one day, realized that there was a need for a forum for people to share their ideas. Current categories include solutions for day to day life, like ideas for inventors and ideas for a movie, to the more idealistic, like ideas for peace and ideas for |
government efficiency,
to the philosophical, like ideas for cosmic unity. Butler said that he is open to ideas for new categories and invites people to suggest them. He added that he is not looking for profit from this site and will not take advertising. The point is to provide a forum where people can give their ideas to the world. “Have you ever thought about giving an idea away free to the world?” he asked on his site. “Maybe you have an idea that could be useful to others, and you don't have the time and/or resources to develop it or to follow through the many things that would have to be done to bring it before the world." But, he added, "Maybe if you give away an idea free, you will be rewarded in some unforeseen way.” |
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Saturday is Harry Potter Day
at the Centro Nacional de la Cultura
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
To celebrate the arrival of the new book, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the Harry Potter fan club of Costa Rica and the Clubdelibros is holding a festival. The festival, “a day of magic in Costa Rica,” is scheduled from10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Centro Nacional de la Cultura which is in the building that used to house the old liquor factory. |
The festival will have
games, magic shows, lectures, debates and many
more activities said a press release. Also, all of the Harry
Potter
books – including the new one - will be on sale, the release added. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is the sixth book in the wildly popular series by British author J.K. Rowling. |
| Prankster's actions cause a guard to call in the police units |
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By Saray Ramírez Vindas
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff A bomb hoax caused police to descend on a San Pedro restaurant about 7:30 p.m. Monday. Adriana Cordova of the Fuerza Pública stationed in Monte de Oca said a car pulled up near the Restaurante Pan y Vino in San Pedro and a man wearing what appeared to be surgical gloves placed a |
shoebox-sized package on the ground. The request for aid by a guard brought a number of police units to the area about 7:30 p.m. However, the box actually contained a small animal, said the officer. The police officer emphasized that such jokes are costly to the police and to the nation. She adopted the small animal, she said |
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| Paquera-Puntarenas ferry has troubles in the gulf |
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By Saray Ramírez Vindas
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff The Puntarenas-Paquera ferry ran into mechanical trouble Monday evening when a pipe broke in the engine compartment. As a result some 150 passengers and vehicles were stuck out in the middle of the Gulf of Nicoya for about 90 extra minutes, said an official. According to Martiniano López of the Fuerza Pública in Paquera, |
another boat came to
the aid of the popular ferry. The ferry connects the southern Nicoya Peninsula with Puntarenas and is used daily by residents who must conduct business on both sides of the Gulf of Nicoya. The ferry also is a principal tourist route to Tambor, Montezuma and other locations on the southern part of the Nicoya. The ferry last had mechanical troubles June 21 when it was out of service for a day. |
| Politics of Costa Rica is theme of next speaker's forum
presentation |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Robert Nahrgang, a 40-year-businessman in Costa Rica, is the next scheduled speaker at the monthly forum held at Big Mike's Place in Escazú. The title of the talk is Understanding Politics in Costa Rica. It starts at 7 p.m. July 26 and is scheduled to last an hour. Guests may arrive at 6:30 to sample the snack bar if they wish. According to a press release, Nahrgang came to Costa Rica from the gulf coast of Alabama 40 years ago with his father. He started an architectural and construction company in the 60s with his father and Costa Rican associates. Then, in the 70s, he became involved in land development and real estate brokerage, the release also said. |
In the 80s, he became
involved in the exportation of fresh-cut flowers
and served on the U.S. ambassador's export board, said the
release. In 1994, he hosted a television program called "Costa Rica Update" which discussed Costa Rica affairs in English. That project lasted for a year, the release said. In the mid-90's, a New York wireless technology firm hired him as a consultant and he now is president of a consulting company called International Resources Services, the release added. In 1998-2002, he was a political advisory and project organizer for the political party La Yunta Progresista, said the release. Those who are interested can call 289-6333, 821-4708, or Mike at 289-6087 for more information. |
| U.S. food police issue warning about unpasteurized orange
juice |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about unpasteurized orange juice issued by the Orchid Island Juice company of Fort Pierce, Fla. According to the Food and Drug Administration Web site, these juices may be contaminated with Salmonella Typhimium, a germ that may cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in children, frail or elderly people. Everybody else gets a rather nasty case of food poisoning, the warning said. The closest place to Costa Rica that Orchid Orange Juice distributes is Puerto Rico. In that U.S. territory, the company only sells their frozen products, said David Cortez, a company spokesperson. So there is no danger of contracting that particular strain in Costa Rica. However, unpasteurized orange juices are |
available in small
mercados and supermarkets all over the country. In San José many street vendors push around grocery carts full of oranges and a juicer. These vendors generally squish the oranges into juice in front of the customer and so it is highly unlikely that Salmonella could be contracted in this manner. A press release from Marvin Clark, a law firm that represents victims of food-borne viruses, said that Salmonella poisoning in orange juice is not a new phenomenon. According to the firm, almost 1,000 cases have been reported from around the world since February 1999. The Food and Drug Administration say they have confirmed 15 cases since May in Michigan, Ohio, and Massachusetts that can be traced to Orchid. |
| Two held as participants in fast-talking theft scheme that
got $8,300 |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Officials with the Judicial Investigation Organization said they have arrested a man and a woman who are suspects in a series of thefts. The suspects are a 35-year-old man identified by the last name Reyes and a 32-year-old woman identified by the last name Rodríguez. According to a report, the thieves would show up at construction sites and present themselves as engineers |
who had left tools
behind. In schools and offices, they would tell a
receptionist that they had been invited to repair something in the
building. Then, they would steal everything, said the
report. Officials report that the pair has been working since last year and has hit a construction site, two offices and a house. The report did not say how the robbers managed to talk their way into a private residence. Officials say the thieves made off with at least $8,300 in goods. |
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