Home › Forums › Costa Rica Living Forum › Anybody know how slow Immigration is?
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May 31, 2010 at 12:00 am #203616ticachica2Member
My residency application got in under the March 1st deadline. My attorney at ARCR said I’d get a file number soon as papers went to Immigration and that I wouldn’t need to leave every 90 days after that. I know they went through the Consulate. That was back in February. It’s June already, and I am still awaiting the file number from my attorney. I don’t want to invest in real estate OR ship my household things down until I know I don’t have to leave every 90 days. I was told I’m “in”…but where’s the file number? Anybody know just how long this takes? Or how to expedite matters? I feel like I have to be on “standby” lest the papers come through the minute I decide to take off for the Far East for 6 months. ❓
May 31, 2010 at 9:19 am #203617vlad123MemberI have similar question. I knew my CR attorney is not good in immigration proceeding and I got request from him to be in CR on March 1 to make fingerprints. I arrived and when long line was behind, immigration officer said we have a rule, after receiving documents left them on the table and don’ touch. After one month we can open and assign a file number and you must make fingerprints. I returned back to home, and buy new tickets on the end of March on two weeks. Bumps! It came on Esters and all govenment facilities were closed week before and week after. It was exactly our two weeks. More of them we got information from our attorney that 30 days delay to open documents is not calindar days, it is working days (so all weekends and hollidays must be excluded). we cannot stay and wait and fly back to home. We asking attorney to get exactly date and frame time in which we must be there, but attorney is still quiet. I know the Pura Vida is principial of life, but … my mistake was that i got a wrong attorney, probably as you. Please could someone give recommendation good attorney and what is going with oppening documents in immigration office? thank you!:roll:
May 31, 2010 at 12:01 pm #203618costaricafincaParticipantIt may take 6 months before you received a ‘folio number’ or even longer…especially after the large influx of applications that were trying to beat the March 1 st deadline.
And many people and lawyers say that once you have the ‘folio number’ [i]one should still be prepared to leave[/i] every 90 days…May 31, 2010 at 12:58 pm #203619DavidCMurrayParticipantcostaricafinca is exactly right. The increase in applications has surely been significant but there’s been no increase in resources to process them. And one can only conclude that Immigration is characterized by chaos.
Some valid applications go through in s few months, as ours did. Other equally valid applications take two years or longer. There seems to be no logic to the situation, at least none that is discernible from the outside.
We’ve been waiting almost a year and a half for our permanent residency which our attorney, a residency specialist, said would take six months.
Go figure . . .
May 31, 2010 at 3:11 pm #203620pranaspakeywestMemberI am also beginning my residency process, or at least looking to begin.
I realize that this has been covered in the past, however, I am looking to get an updated recommendation for an immigration attorney.
I am already living here, doing the 90 day thing, and I am ready to throw my hat into the ring.
Of course I want to se if there is an attorney out there that can get this done quicker then sooner.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!May 31, 2010 at 3:20 pm #203621costaricafincaParticipantSearch for residency specialists such as [url=http://www.arcr.net/]ARCR[/url] and realize that you will probably have to return to your home country and get the necessary papers needed to apply. These must be dated within the [i]6 months when they are accepte[/i]d by immigration.
May 31, 2010 at 3:39 pm #203622pranaspakeywestMemberThanks, I know about ARCR, and I am considering them.
I did speak with an immigration attorney a while back. I found out about him through the discussion forum, or perhaps an article here.
When I spoke with him, I’m pretty sure that he was in Los Angeles. Does he sound familiar?
I’m pretty sure that he is Tico, and that he also has people in Costa Rica thta he works with. He seemed to be highly regarded through WLC.
Anybody know who I am referring to?
Also, do we have any conclusive knowledge on whether or not we can obtain residency as an investor using our land purchase and building costs?
Thanks.May 31, 2010 at 3:42 pm #203623maravillaMemberyou must mean javier zavaleta, who is in l.a. and his sister lives here in sjo. in my opinion, they are the best and the most efficient, and worth every colon because they actually get it done and in record time without all the screws up everyone else complains about. http://www.residencyincostarica.com
May 31, 2010 at 4:23 pm #203624costaricafincaParticipantIt was [i]mentioned[/i] that one could [i]’possibly obtain residency with the purchase of land/home worth $200,000′[/i] but I don’t know if this is really true.
I do know that going the investor route is just the equivalent of a hoping to get a winning lottery ticket.
Else, many more would do so….May 31, 2010 at 7:25 pm #203625costaricabillParticipantAlso remember that “investor” is individual, so if you are married it does not cover your spouse even if you are successful in achieving residency via the “home and property” route. I have heard and read a lot of discussion about people pursuing that route but have not yet heard of anyone successful in doing so.
May 31, 2010 at 9:37 pm #203626costaricafincaParticipantSo, in fact if you go the investor route, it could be more expensive for you, since it still require the $150,0000 just for your spouse. And you will possibly incur two ‘bills for services rendered’ and your [i]investor[/i] application may be for naught, so you may have to start, again,from scratch and your paperwork needs to be dated within the 6 months timeline with immigration.
Here is a quote from the [url=http://costaricalaw.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=41]Costa Rica Law[/url] website.[i]’There is currently misinformation floating around regaring the inversionista category. Part of it came about when the Director of Immigration mentioned in a press interview that the inversionista category would apply to those that purchased their homes or property in Costa Rica. That statement was later modified but the uncretaintity remains. Since the law is silent as to the requirements of this category it will be up to the Department of Immigration either by way of Regulations to the law or by way of another Circular to clarify in writing what their position is as to this category under the new law. As soon as we have a verified source indicaring the parameters of this category we will post them to the site.’ [/i]
June 2, 2010 at 5:39 pm #203627rf2crParticipant[quote=”pranaspakeywest”]I am also beginning my residency process, or at least looking to begin.
I realize that this has been covered in the past, however, I am looking to get an updated recommendation for an immigration attorney.
I am already living here, doing the 90 day thing, and I am ready to throw my hat into the ring.
Of course I want to se if there is an attorney out there that can get this done quicker then sooner.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks![/quote]Javier is great and extremely efficient, our residency took 6 months once the paperwork was all gathered together.
June 2, 2010 at 8:41 pm #203628costaricafincaParticipantMost reports of the lawyers under contract at ARCR that I have heard, have been good.
If they don’t perform, their ‘services are no longer required’.June 3, 2010 at 1:30 am #203629costaricabillParticipantduring our last trip to the States (April) I sent off all of our documents to the Secretaries of State in Texas and Florida for “apostile” authentication. Both states completed their authentication within one week and returned the documents to my daughter’s home in Georgia, who then forwarded the combined package of documents on to the CR Consulate in Washington D.C.
I had previously called the Consulate’s office and they told me that they would review the documents and if all was order it generally takes them less than a week to authenticate the authentication of the respective Secretary of State, and if all is in order the documents would be returned to the return address in the envelope provided (in this case, my daughter’s home in Georgia).
Having not heard anything or received anything after a week or so, I started calling and was told numerous times they had no record of receipt of any of my documents. Finally, on 25-May I was told “Oh yes, we received them on 13-May and all appear to be in order. You should receive them by the end of this week or early next week. Your file number in our office is #****”
Well, the end of last week came and went and the early part of this week has come and gone. Of course we had the Memorial Day holiday, so I’m sure that they took that day off, so I am hoping that the package gets to my daughter by week’s end.
As soon as she gets it, she will “overnight” it to our attorney in San Jose who will then start the submittal process on our behalf (with Power of Attorney). I guess that is when the real frustrations begin….
Just in case anyone wants to know, the Consulate’s office in D.C. only accepts phone calls until 2:00PM Eastern Time, and the email address they have on their answering machine doesn’t work.June 9, 2010 at 2:34 pm #203630nadeneMemberWe were extremely happy with our immigration attorney Marcela Gurdian in San Jose. Her contact info is:
work 1 (305) 735-8123
cell 89 24 90 90
work marcela.gurdian@gmail.comGood luck with everything.
Nadene
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