January 28, 2014 - I have yet to find any PROOF that this was ever activated (after numerous dates changes) let alone anyone that was charged this so . . .
Immigration will begin collecting $100 fee for overstayed visa
(and comments on "Perpetual Tourists")
By Kayla Pearson
SOURCE: AMCostaRica.com
Starting at the beginning of next year (APRIL 23, 2013), the Dirección General de Migracion y Extranjeros will impose a new fee for foreigners who overstay a tourist visa, according to Mario Zamora Cordero, security minister.
Delinquent persons will have to pay $100 for every month over their allowed visa period at the time they are caught.
If the person cannot pay, he or she will be denied entry for a period that is triple the time that they overstayed, he said Thursday.
“So if you stay 1 month more, you won't be allowed to enter for 3 months,” said Freddy Montero Mora, deputy director general of immigration. “If you stay a full year, you can't come back for 3 years.”
(COMMENT: So if you've overstayed already - you might want to get the hell outta Dodge FAST - especially since the holiday border rush is just around the corner!! I'm NOT positive on this as the original law applied to people that came from countries that did not give them a 90 day Tourist Visa's so it did NOT apply to us that came from the countries that got 90 day stamps)
Montero said border employees do NOT check for traffic tickets at the border. That was in response to news stories elsewhere that said persons who owe traffic tickets will not be allowed to reenter the county.
He also said that the agency does NOT have the tools to CRACK DOWN ON SO-CALLED "PERPETUAL TOURISTS!!"
IF A PERSON LEAVES THE COUNTRY WITH THE VISA PERIOD AND HAS THE CORRECT DOCUMENTATION, IMMIGRATION AGENTS WILL NOT BAR THEM FROM RETURNING!!!!
A perpetual tourist is a foreigner who lives here and renews a tourist visa, usually every 90 days, by traveling outside the country.
“If you want to keep leaving and coming back, that's your decision,” he said. His comments were perhaps the most clear ever uttered on the subject by an immigration official.
However, applying the law and its fee will help stop people from living here illegally, said Zamora. The provisions for the fee and the requirement to stay out of the country for 3 the illegal period are in the 2010 immigration law, but the measure had not been enforced until now.
(MORE COMMENTS: Before some get on their high horses about getting "Legal" - remember not everyone living here is over 65 and making over $1,000/mth on social security or has a pension or has $60,000 to tie up in the bank for years [of which I wouldn't do if I had it - I'd invest it in gold!!!], desire to have a child here or get married and MANY of us that don't fall into a category are also people that are hear GIVING BACK to the people/land of CR - not just taking from it or the people like MANY "Legals" are doing!! Funny how some of the biggest fear mongers/people with attitude on this topic I've found were people that at one point weren't legal themselves for YEARS and hardly ever left the country . . .
I STILL feel as soon as they get a handle on the HUMONGOUS influx of Nicaraguans registering now - they'll do a broader "amnesty" like Panama did last year where they let everyone that had lived in Panama [even those that left every 90 days] become residents and the government made LOTS of $$$. I've felt before I came here that's how I'd get residency. Only TIME will tell!!! [Or it won't work out - or I might fall from a tree and die tomorrow - I'm not worrying about tomorrow - just focusing on TODAY and planning my next visa run/"Forced Vacation"!!!!!)
For more on the new rules for people overstaying their visa go to:
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For more on Tourist Visas, Why Some People are NOT getting 90 Day Stamps and more go to:.
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