Costa Rica Creates Special Immigration Category for Nicaraguans, Cubans and Venezuelans

From QCOSTARICA – The government of Costa Rica created “a special temporary category” with the intention of offering complementary protection to migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, who had previously been denied their request for refuge in the country.

With this category, the citizens of these three countries will be able to legally remain in Costa Rica and work.

The special category measure will be granted for a period of two years and extendable for the same period, “as a complementary protection system with a focus on humanitarian reasons, in order to provide opportunities to stay legally in the country and carry out work activities to foreigners who are denied recognition of refugee status and are in a vulnerable condition.”

This special category will be eligible to only those who have a final denial of the refugee category, issued between January 1, 2016, until the end of the rule of this resolution, may opt for the special category referred to in the previous article, who were physically in the country on a regular or irregular (legal or illegal) basis before March 18, 2020.

This category is so that besides refuge, these people can access a migratory category that allows them to continue with their lives as is in Costa Rica

All people who choose the special category will be subject to verification of their identity and that they do not have a criminal record in Costa Rica or in any other country, “with the aim of guaranteeing national security and the productive development of the country.”

Each person will be subject to identity verification and that they do not have a criminal record in Costa Rica or in any other country.

The decision is contained in resolution DJUR-0164-10-2020 JM, of the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería ( DGME) – General Directorate of Immigration and Foreigners, dated October 27. The full resolution can be read (in Spanish) in La Gaceta of November 12, 2020.

The decision, according to the resolution, was made taking into account several considerations.

In the case of Venezuela, that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called on the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) to adopt measures to reinforce shared responsibility mechanisms in relation to the situation of migrants from that country. country.

Regarding the situation in Nicaragua, it is mentioned that Costa Rica considered forced migration due to the political and social crisis that erupted in the neighboring country since April 2018, and that, so far, has caused the death of 325 people, 2,000 people injured, 700 people arrested and tried.

In the case of Cuba, it is indicated that considerations were weighed that it is the only country in the hemisphere in which there are no guarantees of any kind for the exercise of the right to freedom of expression.

In addition, the resolution states:

“Costa Rica has registered a considerable increase in requests for refugee status by Venezuelan nationals since 2014. For its part, the political situation in Nicaragua has caused a significant increase in requests for legal permanence of citizens of that country in the country. Likewise, in the last two years there has been a significant increase in refugee applications submitted by Cubans, who are changing their migratory behavior, seeking to settle in Costa Rica.

“However, not all of these people comply with all the elements of the definition of a refugee, with a percentage of these applications being denied. This causes the existence of a population that is in an irregular situation and without the possibility of returning to its country due to the situations that are being experienced in those nations.”