Workers in the world of surfing scored a success with the formation of an Association of Instructors of this activity in Playa Tamarindo at Santa Cruz, Guanacaste, an organization that, among other goals, will fight against the presence in the country of foreigners with irregular immigration status who work in this sector, violating national labor regulations.
According to Heyner Miranda, President of the Association of Surf Instructors of Playa Tamarindo, in recent months with the rebound in tourism after the COVID-19 Pandemic, many visitors from other nations have returned to Costa Rica attracted by the beauty of the beaches and the quality of the waves.
Tourists enter the country with the proper registration granted by the General Directorate of Immigration and Foreigners (DGME), but once this period has passed (generally three months) they remain living on national soil outside the law and working as surf instructors without the proper permission from the Ministry of Labor.
Ticos being displaced by foreigners
“We are seeing a huge presence of this unfair competition on almost all the beaches of the country where Ticos are being displaced by foreigners who, in addition, are totally illegal. Given this situation in Playa Tamarindo we decided to take concrete actions such as forming the Association to put a definitive stop to this situation that has generated a highly damaging black market for thousands of Costa Rican families,” Miranda said.
Raising their voices
Last March a group of 88 Surf Instructors from beaches such as Tamarindo, Avellanas, Nosara, Sámara, Santa Teresa de Cóbano, Dominical. Dominicalito, Boca Barranca, Jacó, Pavones and Cahuita -among other towns- joined the CR Local Surfers collective to join forces so that national and local government authorities can put order in this activity that generates thousands of jobs in coastal areas in areas such as teaching the sport of surfing, making boards, selling items in stores and in companies such as tour operators.
For the lawyer and expert in Immigration Law, Gerardo Zúñiga, the presence of foreigners working illegally in the country “not only generates a transgression of the most basic legal regulations. But it also affects other areas such as the payment of taxes or contributions to social security.”
“In this matter, what we have is a disorder of enormous proportions; there has been a lack of a firm hand on the part of the Immigration Police and the Municipal Police in the beach cantons where there are these types of security bodies. “It seems that here everyone can come and do whatever they want, completely ignoring the laws, and nothing happens,” said Zúñiga, an independent councilor in the Municipality of Puntarenas who, in 1991, served as President of the second Surfing Association created in Costa Rica.
The regulations of the Ministry of Labor that grant the go-ahead for work to foreign residents indicate that those foreigners who have a residence card free of conditions, a work permit, legal refugee or asylum status can carry out legal work.
In this case, the foreign person who wishes to carry out paid work in Costa Rica must, in the first instance, request an immigration category that allows it, either a temporary residence or a special work permit.
