Country just sets itself up for one crisis after another

By: Garland M. Baker B.

Exclusive to A.M. Costa Rica

Editor's Note: While this article was accurate at the time of publication, some information may now be outdated. We are currently preparing a comprehensive update. Sign up for our Alerts to be notified as soon as the revised content is live!

The rule of thumb in Costa Rica is when you cannot plan — or do not plan — panic.

This malady is part of the culture.  People in the campo, the rural areas, learn this from childhood.  Parents instruct kids sent to the pulperia, the corner mom-and-pop grocery, to buy one egg for breakfast.  Not two, one for breakfast and one for lunch, or three, one for breakfast, one for lunch and one for dinner.  Just one.  One for breakfast.

Why, because the parents were not taught to plan and organize by their parents, so they do not teach their kids to do so.  

What happens?  The kids grow up into adults and this happens:

Burden of evidence is on those seeking a U.S. visa

By: Garland M. Baker B.

Exclusive to A.M. Costa Rica

Editor's Note: While this article was accurate at the time of publication, some information may now be outdated. We are currently preparing a comprehensive update. Sign up for our Alerts to be notified as soon as the revised content is live!

A trip to the U. S. Embassy before Semana Santa proved very interesting and enlightening. The visit shed light on a long-standing irritation for Costa Ricans.

An expat asked an embassy worker how he could expedite his Tica girlfriend’s tourist visa application, so she would not have to wait in line.  There were at least 100 visa applicants waiting to speak with a consular officer that morning.  The embassy worker asked him if he wanted to speak with a senior consular officer.  He said yes and sat down to wait.

The embassy was busy that day, but after about an hour, the man’s number came up, and he went to the appropriate window.

Overhearing the conversation, what the senior official told the man was a surprise.  He said that the immigration law has something in it called the “presumption of immigration” and the man’s girlfriend was just going to have to follow the same procedures as everyone else in applying for a tourist visa.  A tourism visa is a class B1/B2 visa for a temporary visitor to enter the United States on business or pleasure.

The “presumption of immigration?” What is that?

You can't take it with you, so don't leave a big mess

By: Garland M. Baker B.

Exclusive to A.M. Costa Rica

Editor's Note: While this article was accurate at the time of publication, some information may now be outdated. We are currently preparing a comprehensive update. Sign up for our Alerts to be notified as soon as the revised content is live!

Can loved ones afford an expats death in Costa Rica?  Are they ready for what they find here?  

Recently, a man died, and his sister had to drop everything — all her responsibilities in the States — and hop a plane to Costa Rica.  He died of natural causes, not as a victim of a crime or accident.  She was the only family member who could afford the trip.  No doubt, it was going to be expensive.

She arrived and was lost.  She tried to piece her brother’s life together from recounts of friends.  And, much to her surprise, her brother’s young woman friend.