Registry reported 265 fake marriages in 2013, 33 reported this year

Since the first of January, the Civil Registry had identified 33 cases of sham marriages through processing of applications for naturalization. The figure rises each year with 114 cases in 2012 and 265 in 2013. According to Luis Chinchilla, director of the Civil Registry the increase is due to better investigation and more detection.

In particular, the registry is making an effort to contact the Costa Rican spouse and ask if the marriage is legitimate. A marriage is flagged as a sham when the person contacted says they are not married or had received money in exchange for the marriage.

Once detected, the sham marriage is referred to the Attorney General’s office and a case if brought before family court judge in order to annul the marriage.