Refugee Applicants Aren’t Allowed to Obtain Legal jobs in Costa Rica Until Approved.

The small Central American country of only 4 million people that borders both Panama and Nicaragua is home to about eight thousand refugees. This makes Costa Rica the second country in Latin America harboring the most number of refugees proportionally to its population.

According to the General Directory of Immigration, 8,039 refugees were Living in Costa Rica on June 30th 2008. The vice minister of the Gobernacion (similar to the Department of the Interior in the U.S.), Ana Duran Salvatierra reported during the “Protection and Lasting Solutions in the Mixed Migratory Flow Forum” (PSDFMM) that the refugees have originated from 38 different nations around the world. About 6,500 of the refugees are Colombians while 615 are Nicaraguans, 122 are Venezuelans, 531 are Cubans and 68 are Peruvians.

The forum is made up of 70 representatives from America, Canada and the United States and proved to be a very important antecedent for the next Regional Conference on Protection of Refugees and the International Immigration, which is scheduled to be held in Costa Rica towards the end of 2009.

The 70 participants will analyze the principles of international protection in the mixed migratory flows in Costa Rica, the system of Canadian asylum, tools and mechanisms to determine the condition of refugees, as well as the services for the integration of the refugees in the countries that receive them.

Salvatierra believes that one of the greatest contemporary challenges of the international protection conference will be identifying exactly who inside the mixed migratory flow groups is in need of protection, however, not all immigrants in Costa Rica are considered refugees.

It is extremely difficult to determine how many illegal immigrants there are residing within Costa Rica’s borders; however, it is undeniably evident that a majority of these undocumented residents are venturing from the bordering nation of Nicaragua.

The regional representative of the High Agent of the United Nations for Refugees (ACNUR), Marion Hoffmann, affirmed that in our continent “the people given refugee status only constitute a minimum percentage inside the great majority of people that cross the borders in an irregular way, and many of these immigrants are found exposed to robbery, violation, exploitation and abuse along their route toward what they hope will be a more encouraging future”.

Indeed the negative realities of immigration are a worldwide phenomenon, and the complex issue of Nicaraguan immigration to Costa Rica has attracted the attention of researchers from abroad as well. For example, cultural anthropologist from the University of Connecticut, Marisa Prosser, has spent the last year in Costa Rica studying the social and cultural implications of Nicaraguan immigration amid Costa Rican society. Through extensive research, Prosser determined that most Nicaraguans “overwhelmingly come to work because there is little work available in Nicaragua, some come to work and intend to return to Nicaragua, but there is a small group that come here to make a better life for themselves and family, they usually try and find a way to stay long-term”.

Many Costa Ricans have developed prejudices and stereotypes about the large communities of illegal Nicaraguan immigrants in Costa Rica, however many Nicaraguans make the journey simply to create a more promising future for their offspring and are doing all they can to become legal residents.

“I think children are a major factor why some want to stay, because they want their children to have opportunities to make a decent life for themselves”, says Prosser. It’s an understandable journey considering Costa Rica has the best economy in Central America, however, the issue remains very similar to that of the United States and Mexico border.

Much like the United States, Costa Rica implements methods to try and reduce the numbers of undocumented Nicaraguan immigrants in Costa Rica by requiring that all Nicaraguans who pass the border come equipped with a visa, however, similar to the states people are finding ways around it. At the border and the lines at the immigration offices, there are all types of offers being whispered to those in line from a fast route to the front of the line to work visas, residency cards and offers of marriage to gain residency that way.

Unfortunately, the legal route involves a long, complicated application process that leaves applicants without legal options for employment until all paperwork goes through, which could take a year or longer. This leads to a negative perception of immigrants and refugees who have to literally build their lives from the ground up again, often taking on temporary or undesirable jobs, making money wherever possible. Let’s hope that the next conference on the protectio of refugees will promote awareness and provide insight into the struggles of those fighting to obtain what the rest of the population was born with, a safe home where they can start over again.

This post's rating:

Related Stories

Filed under: Costa Rica News on August 29th, 2008