The Good, the Bad and the Tico
Some of you may remember the mass wedding ceremonies that we performed in February and March of 2015. At that time, we married about 140 couples with the intention of obtaining local marriage certificates from the Costa Rican Civil Registry, allowing them to avoid the hassle of obtaining a marriage certificate from abroad. Well, this is an update about what happened afterwards.
The Board of Notary Publics did an audit which resulted in a disciplinary proceeding against me and the result is a huge suspension.
Nevertheless, we were able to solve some problems, one of them having the CAJA modify the regulations regarding foreign documents for CAJA registration. This is a win for the expat community.
The Good
This is the back story. The CCSS (Costa Rican Social Security System popularly known as the CAJA) modified the regulations related to the registration of people and their relatives within the system. The modification was broad and included issues such as the registration of same sex couples which was the first time that such a consideration had been included in the regulations. In addition, it included the steps and requirements for the registration of foreign nationals.
The issue of foreign nationals with the CAJA has been extensive over the past decades. In October 2014, the recently elected president Luis Guillermo Solís intended to extend the social security benefits to same sex couples and, thus, the modification of the regulations was necessary. With these new regulations, unfortunately, the CCSS created an adverse effect for foreign nationals (expats/immigrants). Specifically, the issue was with the registration of the spouses and/or children of primary beneficiaries.
The main issue was the one-month requirement for obtaining vital records from abroad. This rule established that all vital documents issued abroad (marriage and birth certificates) could not be more than one month old from the date of issuance for the purposes of completing the registration of a spouse and/or children with the CAJA. The vital records are required to demonstrate that the child or spouse are, in fact, related to the primary beneficiary. The significant problem here is the impossibility of obtaining a vital record from abroad (with legalization/apostille) within a month, not to mention the huge cost of obtaining the document.
The practical solution at the time was to get the foreign couples married in Costa Rica, which would allow them to obtain a marriage certificate in short order for about 20 cents. Certainly, doing the marriage was the best solution. In my opinion, the one-month validity requirement was abusive and discriminatory. Let’s review why.
This one-month requirement must be analyzed from the perspective of the issue of vital records in Costa Rica which we discussed above. As opposed to other countries, vital records in Costa Rica are public records and the information contained therein is not considered sensitive. They are public because anybody can acquire those documents from the Civil Registry. It is as easy as just a few clicks in their website.
The information contained in those records is not sensitive because you cannot do anything with it. It is not possible to open a bank account online or to obtain a credit card online in Costa Rica. Identity theft in Costa Rica is not an issue. Thus, Costa Rica does not protect vital records to the same extent that other countries do. Of all the things that Costa Rica makes difficult, obtaining vital records is not one of them. Therefore, the regulators in the CAJA thought that obtaining a vital record from abroad was as easy as it is in Costa Rica.
I think it is discriminatory, because they created a requirement for foreigners based on circumstances applicable to Costa Ricans, just like delegating the legislation of women’s rights on a congress full of men.
We decided to change the rules. We reached out to representatives in Congress; we reached out to the President; we reached out to the CAJA; we filed a complaint in court. This year, we were able to succeed and finally got the CAJA to modify the requirement. Now, instead of being issued within one month, it can be issued within six months.
While the CAJA has been a challenge for both Ticos and expats alike, we have been able to have some successes with correcting issues, while we continue to struggle in other areas. We will continue to take action whenever possible, not only with CAJA matters, but with whatever other matters we can afford to. For instance, for years we have been trying to modify requirements for drivers’ licenses to no avail. We have been able to develop community programs to support teens in low income schools, to support not for profits to clean the beaches, to assist low income parents with kids in the Children’s Hospital, to assist local artists, or to take pro-bono cases for low income people.
The Bad
As one longtime friend once said, “Costa Ricans are process-driven instead of being goal-oriented.” This entire issue with the vital records for the registration with CAJA is a shining example of a process-oriented culture. The purpose of producing a birth certificate for the CAJA registration is to demonstrate that a child is indeed related to the parent who is registered as a principal. Regardless of when the birth certificate was obtained, it will always show who the parent is; it does not matter whether the birth certificate is one month old, six months old, or ten years old. A parent will not cease to be a parent because the birth certificate is too old. But, as the legal director of the immigration department stated, they act against all logic.
A complaint was filed with the Board of Notary Publics about the marriages that we performed. The complaint stated that one of the people who got married in those weddings was already married, which would have been a big problem. Nevertheless, the appropriate filters and steps were taken into consideration to establish that the couples could legally get married in Costa Rica.
Pursuant to the complaint, the Board of Notary Publics decided to an audit in 2016 to determine whether the alleged couple were not allowed to get married. While they were not able to establish that any of the couples had an impediment to getting married in Costa Rica, the audit resulted in numerous faults on my end with all the processes and requirements as a notary public.
While the marriages were compliant, the execution of my notary responsibilities was not perfect. I suppose I am not process-oriented.
The Tico
Laurel Thatcher Ulric once said that “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” This quote indicates that in order to make change, you must put yourself out there and sometimes rock the boat a bit. While my intention is not necessarily to make history, I certainly aim to improve our current systems, which in this case was the challenge to produce a marriage certificate at low cost in a short period of time. I understood that I would probably be subject to some scrutiny and I was willing to take the risk with the intention of solving a problem.
The audit has been completed as well as the disciplinary proceedings. I can no longer provide notarial services as a result of the sanctions. While I can continue practicing law, my notarial days are over.
Nevertheless, over the years I have continued to support the expat community and the community at large to the best of my abilities. Even Ticos cannot win all battles, and this one with the Board of Notary Publics is one of them. At least we were able to change the requirement and to provide a solution at a critical moment. That was a good goal and a good result.
The Future and Beyond
When we started this business, it was just two of us. Seven years later, we are a team of 35 professionals including attorneys, accountants, and support staff. We have been able to expand our areas of service to further our client’s interests, and over the years, we have been able to assist thousands of people with their legal matters in Costa Rica.
We initiated operations in Costa Rica with immigration services, and from there, with the addition of new professionals, we have expanded to real estate and business services, as well as estate planning. In addition, we have been able to expand operations to three other countries and continue to develop alliances with service providers worldwide to better suit our client’s needs.
While we continue to explore ways in which we can enhance the service experience, we also continue to become better equipped to tackle the challenges that the industry poses in front of us. Over the past year, we have invested in training and technology to maximize the processes for the services we provide.
Over the years, your support has allowed us to grow, and as we grow, we will continue to invest in projects and programs to improve the legal conditions of the expat community we serve.
