A new immigration law in Costa Rica provides for fines of up to $100 to be levied against undocumented residents for their “irregular” status and the issuance of sanctions against employers who hire them.

The law was adopted unanimously by the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday and is expected to go into effect as soon as February 2010.

Among the changes are tougher residency-through-marriage rules, an extension possibility for tourist visas and the opportunity for people to apply for residency from Costa Rica.

Local legislators don't see the changes as increased burdens on foreigners. Instead, they say the new law will help stem human trafficking and grant immigrants further protections under the law.

“This act … offers a window of opportunities which respect human rights and expedites the transit processes, permitting the country to be one of the most open and flexible in the world,” said Adrián Jiménez, institutional planning aide at the Immigration Administration.

“One of the greatest advances of this law is the establishment of a new immigration model, which legalizes the process of integrating immigrants into the Social Security system and raises resources (through a residency renewal fee),” he added.

Foreigners will be required to pay $25 to renew their residency in order to help cover their use of medical services, education and other social services.

An increase in the number of immigrants, as well as shortcomings of the old immigration law, led government officials to look at a series of changes incorporated in the law approved Tuesday.

According to the Immigration Administration, approximately 284,000 permanent residents were living in Costa Rica in 2007. Nicaragua, Colombia and the United States topped the list of countries with the most permanent residents in Costa Rica, with 220,000, 11,652 and 9,000 respectively.

The route to Mars may go through Costa Rica. On Wednesday, Ronald Chang, executive director of Ad Astra Rocket Company Costa Rica, gave a presentation at the National Museum that detailed how Costa Rica has the opportunity to serve as a vital cog in the first-ever mission to Mars.

Chang is the brother of former NASA astronaut Dr. Franklin Chang, who in 24 years as an astronaut, logged over 1,600 hours in space during seven space missions, making him one of the most-traveled astronauts in history. Both of the Chang brothers were born in San José.

In his presentation, Ronald Chang explained that his brother created an ion plasma rocket, the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, known as VASIMR, which can reach Mars in 39 days. Using technology currently available, a rocket can travel to Mars in eight to nine months.

“Right now, the goal of reaching Mars in unattainable,” Ronald Chang said. “An eight- or nine-month mission leaves astronauts out in space for too long.”

To reach Mars, Chang said Ad Astra Rocket Company, in Houston, Texas, and Ad Astra Rocket Costa Rica, based in the northwestern Tico town of Libería, Guanacaste, are prepared to commit their energies to generating the plasma that would propel the VASIMR. Chang said the undertaking would be a costly venture, requiring an initial loan of $25 million.

“We have met with several businesses across the country and explained to them the importance of putting the Costa Rican name on space travel,” Chang said. “Some have committed to donating money, but the idea of space travel is not as important to Costa Rica as it is to others countries.”

Chang mentioned that few students earn degrees in science in Costa Rica and very small amounts of money are contributed to space exploration.

The Ad Astra Rocket Company anticipates it will need several billions of dollars to create the rocket, though contributions from the U.S., Canada, England and Ireland are expected.

Costa Rica will export meat to Japan again after Japanese authorities lifted a year-long ban, Costa Rican agriculture officials said Tuesday.

Agriculture and Livestock Minister Javier Flores said in a statement that Japan lifted the restriction because Costa Rica has improved its systems of checking proof of origin of products, both for exports and the local market.

On Aug. 28, 2008, Japan passed a ban on meat imports from Costa Rica after a local company exported 1.4 tones of frozen tongue from the United States, claiming it originated in Costa Rica.

“Today we have a more secure system of quality,” said Flores.

The Japanese government sent a team in April to verify Costa Rican meatpackers had in fact tightened controls on shipments.

In 2008, Costa Rican exports to Japan grossed $93.6 million, while this country imported $818.6 million worth of Japanese goods.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has raised sports to the top of his agenda and is pushing for the creation of a new governmental department tasked with improving athletic opportunities here.

As a way to lower the circulation of drugs and improve residents' quality of life, Arias' administration has filed legislation to establish the Sports and Recreation Ministry.

At a press conference Wednesday, Arias told a slew of athletic leaders (including the head coach of the Costa Rican National Soccer Team Rodrigo Kenton): “It's easier to destroy a bunker of drugs when you construct sports fields. It's easier to break up a gang when you have teams of soccer, basketball or baseball players. And it's easier to keep kids in school with extra-curricular (activities)…. To achieve this goal, we have to place sports at the top of our national agenda and that is what we are doing.”

The establishment of a sports ministry will not do away with the Costa Rican Institute of Sports and Recreation (ICODER), which will serve as the executive arm of the new ministry.

Arias said the change will strengthen ICODER in its political status as well as its budget and will allow for greater efficiency and better use of public funds.

Osvaldo Pandolfo, president of the National Sports Advisory, applauded Arias' support, saying that with a new emphasis on sports “we will have a healthier population … with improved quality of life.