PRESIDENT ARIAS SIGNS LAW AGAINST FAKE MARRIAGES

By Staff Beach Times

President Oscar Arias signed into effect Law 8781, which penalizes fake marriages to gain residency benefits.

Minister of Security Giannina del Vecchio, who was a cosigner of the bill, said the fraudulent marriages were one of the legal loopholes used by organized crime to allow "questionable" persons entry into the country.

The law penalizes fake marriages with three to six years in prison and applies to the couple, their lawyers, notaries, and witnesses.

"Criminal networks have identified the vulnerabilities of our system and have obtained immigration benefits illegally with fraudulent marriages," said del Vecchio

The law, said del Vecchio, will render null and void any such marriages.

Ms del Vecchio said some 10,000 archives of weddings between Costa Ricans and foreigners had still to be analyzed, and cross-referenced with the Judicial Investigation Organization OIJ: "We don't know yet how many of these marriages are fraudulent, and as the law's reaches are not retroactive, but its effects continue in time, we will find a way to expel people and revoke their residency."

"We should congratulate ourselves, as Costa Ricans, for finding a legal tool that will allow the police and judges to fight in a clearer and stronger way against organized crime," she added.

Mr Arias signed the law after his weekly cabinet meeting at the presidential palace in Zapote.