Covertigo

Because of new stricter immigration laws that took effect this week, it has become imperative that Foreign nationals working in Costa Rica gain some sort of formal residency here or risk being taken into custody and deported to their country of origin. This has been happening here all over San Jose in various offices this week and has prompted my company to issue a residency “code red” policy that forces us to work from home until our residency paperwork is in process. We visited our immigration attorney today and learned the in’s and out’s of the entire process…and it seems pretty harmless. Birth certificates, Criminal records, Health Records must be obtained, authenticated by the US State Department and then approved by a Costa Rican consulate before being submitted formally here in San Jose. It’s difficult not to look past the Havana circa 1965 office that handles this process here in Costa Rica. While I was being fingerprinted today, I looked around at immigration records packed in liquor boxes stacked from floor to ceiling and watched secretaries use antiquated typewriters to document my vital info. Typewriters? After I left my prints behind, I was directed to go outside to a makeshift sink setup attached to the outside of the building to wash the ink off my hands. It was a real 21st Century operation.

Despite the Flintstone nature of this process so far, Im glad Im doing it. Id rather not sit in an immigration jail and involuntarily sat on a cargo plane full of rubber dogshit bound for Miami during thunderstorm season. I will, however, be living covert until Im no longer a “perpetual tourist” and can walk the streets proudly as an official resident of Costa Rica.