IOM promotes improvements to the work permit system for foreigners in Costa Rica

The International Organization for Migration in Costa Rica (IOM), in conjunction with the International Labor Organization (ILO), has been supporting the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS) and the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners (DGME) since 2019 in strengthening Costa Rica's labour migration system. As part of this partnership, on Tuesday, June 23, IOM made a significant donation to the MTSS Labor Migration Department.

"IOM's objective is to support Costa Rica's Labor Migration System by improving response times for the issuance of work permits for persons determined necessary by the Costa Rican State. In this way, we hope to contribute to sustainable economic development, for the benefit of all," said Roeland de Wilde, IOM Costa Rica's Chief of Mission.

The donation was presented by De Wilde to the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Geannina Dinarte. It will provide state-of-the-art equipment for the Department of Labor Migration of the MTSS, in order to optimize the performance of the new work permit document manager that will be designed and implemented through a cooperation agreement between Radiográfica Costarricense (RACSA) and IOM. The project will have an estimated duration of 12 months.

"We want to acknowledge the effort and the joint work that has been done by the Ministry of Labor and IOM, with the team of Labor Migration of the National Directorate of Employment, the effort that today is materialized with the donation we are receiving from IOM, will allow us to continue promoting the efforts we make with the migrant population in our country, but also will allow us to generate greater administrative efficiency and better impact in order to fulfill the objectives we have set from the institution" said Dinarte.

This project will be conducted through an alliance with Radiográfica Costarricense (RACSA), which includes the digitalization of an accumulated amount of approximately 3.000 files and the implementation of a series of actions to simplify procedures that will reduce institutional response times by 70%.

These activities are part of the Regional Programme on Migration Mesoamerica - The Caribbean, with support from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).