Casey Anthony could be denied residency in Costa Rica. Here’s why: - Costa Rica star

Casey Anthony could be denied residency in Costa Rica. Here’s why:

Posted by Jaime Lopez on June 5, 2012 in Entertainment

Gossip and tabloid media outlets are once again churning up the sticky rumor bowl with regard to Florida resident Casey Anthony and her rumored plans to come to Costa Rica to leave her sordid plans behind once her term of probation concludes later this year. The Costa Rica Star has previously discussed this item, which was broken by an American blogger who goes by the Internet handle Enty Lawyer but who does not claim to practice law.

Publications of the stature of the Daily Mail in the United Kingdom and the New York Post are now quoting unnamed sources that putatively know about Ms. Anthony’s plans. The criteria that Ms. Anthony has put together to place Costa Rica at the top of her list of nations where she can lie low purportedly include considerations such as our tropical climate, the low cost of living and the affable reception that Ticos extend to Americans.

It can be assumed that Ms. Anthony should have no barriers in getting a passport, if she does not already have one, once she is released from probation. There is, however, a federal tax lien filed by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the amount of $68,000. The Costa Rica Star has previously reported on a passport restriction that Americans could face if Senate Bill 1813, the Highway Trust Fund, is passed and made into law. That bill contains a provision that would authorize the government to deny the application for a new passport, or renewal of an existing one, when an individual has $50,000 or more in unpaid federal taxes. If Ms. Anthony wants to travel to Costa Rica, she should hurry up and get her passport now, in case members of Congress advance the bill.

Armed with her passport, Ms. Anthony could arrive in Costa Rica as a tourist, without requesting a visa. She could then go through the motions of becoming a perpetual tourist, but should she decide to apply for residency, she may hit a snag in the process.

Ms. Anthony was acquitted by a Florida jury of charges related to the death of her daughter Caylee Marie Anthony. That acquittal puts her in the clear to obtain residency in Costa Rica, but then there is the matter for which she is serving probation now: check fraud.

Article 61 of Law 8764 (PDF) concerning immigration matters states that foreign visitors may be denied entry to Costa Rica if they have served a sentence, in the last ten years, of a willful criminal offense that has equivalency in our criminal code. Furthermore, article 70 of the same law states that legal permanence in the country will not be granted to foreigners under the same condition of having committed a willful offense in the last ten years.

Ms. Anthony is also facing a civil trial scheduled to begin next year in Florida. That trial is based on a defamation complaint filed by a woman named Zenaida Gonzalez, who claims Ms. Anthony ruined her life with a brazen fabrication that connected her with the death of Ms. Anthony’s daughter. While that trial is a civil process, the criminal code in Costa Rica includes a section for crimes against honor, and defamation is one of the offenses listed therein. The Costa Rica Star has looked at the defamation laws in our country in the past, particularly in the case of the secret taping of Mel Gibson in his Guanacaste mansion.

Based on the points above, Ms. Anthony’s alleged plans to start a new life in Costa Rica may be thwarted, or at least challenged to the point that she would have to once again retain an attorney and navigate through complex legal processes.

http://news.co.cr/casey-anthony-could-be-denied-residency-costa-rica-heres-why/7703/