International labor mobility as an important factor in business competitiveness is being obstructed in Costa Rica by the inefficiency of the Department of Immigration.
EDITORIAL
Inefficiency is the right adjective to describe the management of the Department of Immigration and Alien Affairs, where"... there are more than 20,000 cases pending resolution."
A new edict orders procedures which are very similar to the "melting pot" held under previous administrations, in order to regularize the status of undocumented immigrants.
An article on Prensa.com reports that "...Decrees 167 and 168 issued on June 3, 2016 by the Executive for general regularization and also for migrants from China, respectively, have generated a debate about its resemblance to Decree 547 of July 22, 2012, whereby migratory regularization fairs known as the Melting Pot were created during the administration of Ricardo Martinelli."
It has been announced that there will be an end to liberality in granting residence permits in the so-called melting pot, and the revision of the immigration status of resident foreigners whose papers have expired.
From a statement issued by the Presidency of Panama:
The government has asked the Assembly to return to the first legislative body a bill which eliminates the immigration fairs and to start discussions to establish a migration code.
At the request of the executive branch, "... The document was dropped from second to first debate, "arguing that it had to go back for review and take into account the considerations of the business sector, particularly the hotel industry and businesses linked to the Colon Free Zone.
"... Some of the professions reserved for national citizens are chemical engineering and petrochemicals, careers which are not offered by any university in Panama. "
EDITORIAL
Acting as a backdrop to the contradiction between migrant's human right to work and the need to reserve jobs for nationals, is the upkeep of competitiveness and economic development of each country.
Businessmen are demanding that costs be reduced and the procedures required for immigrants to obtain temporary work permits be simplified.
The Chamber of Exporters of Costa Rica (Cadexco) has asked the General Department of Immigration and Foreign Services for migration processes to be improved and for a reduction in the cost of issuing permits, which currently "... has a cost of $98 for issuing a document which only lasts one year, so if you want to come in the next harvest you will have to pay again, which affects not only the employee but also the employer."
Another 11,000 foreigners from 44 different countries have regularized their immigration status and obtained work and residency permits.
" ... Some 54 foreign nationalities have regularized their status, in the seventeen days that the process takes, without any hitches, although the number of regularized people has increased compared to the previous processes," said Javier Carrillo , director general of the National Immigration Service (SNM by its initials in Spanish) .
Panama is repeating the process of granting residence and work permits to foreigners who have resided in its territory for more than a year.
A statement from the National Immigration Service reads:
Javier Carrillo, Director General of the National Immigration Service (SNM) and Samuel Vargas, Director of Employment, Ministry of Labour and Social Development (MITRADEL) explained at a press conference on Wednesday September 26, all the features of the tenth Special immigration Regularization Process, known as "Crisol de Razas" (Melting Pot).
Migratory and tax benefits have been Established for foreign staff of multinationals based in Panama.
The approved changes have also given rise to the "Licensing Commission for Multinational Corporations, hereinafter the Commission, as a consultative and advisory body for the establishment of Multinational Corporations, which will be attached to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry", and that aims to streamline the procedures for installation of multinationals.
In the ninth round of “Crisol de Razas” (Race Melting Pot) organized by the National Immigration Service (NMS) some 5,300 foreigners have had their immigration status regularized.
Since the beginning of this conference, the NMS has issued some 23,000 temporary permits to foreigners.
The General Migration and Foreign Affairs Office issued new regulations and guidelines for entry visas.
A press release by Lexincorp Central America reads:
On May, 17th, the highly anticipated Alien Bylaws were finally issued as a complement to the General Migration and Foreign Affairs Law, which is in force since March, 10th 2010. In these bylaws, several aspects of the law are specifically regulated such as residencies, visas, guest workers, among others mentioned.
Permanent residency has been granted to Argentineans, Brazilians, Uruguayans, Chileans, Spanish, and nationals of other countries friendly to Panama.
Executive Decree No. 343 of May 16, 2012, creates a new Permanent Resident Immigration Category and subcategory Permanent Resident Foreign National for specific countries with which there are relations that are friendly, professional, economic and relating to investment in Panama.
The Commission on Sustainable Tourism (Comiturs) has requested free entry for every tourist that has a U.S. visa in order to facilitate immigration procedures.
"We are trying to bring more tourism revenue into the country, by helping tourists come to Guatemala," said Alfonso Muralles, president of Comiturs, attached to the Guatemalan Association of Exporters (Agexport).
An extraordinary migratory regularization process, called " Panamá, Crisol de Razas” (Panama, the Melting Pot) will be reactivated from 3 to October 7, 2011.
The country has large numbers of foreigners with irregular migratory status, and this will be the seventh time that this process has been activated The process aims to grant residence permits to foreigners who have been in the country for a year or longer, for which they must show entry stamps from when they came to the country.
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