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Guyanese in Barbados scurry to regularise status

May 07, 2009 News

– following PM’s ultimatum

The Guyana Consular Office in Barbados has seen an increase in inquiries following the ultimatum by Prime Minister David Thompson to deport anyone who is found to be illegal.
“I am confident that my people will do the proper and right thing in the present situation and will continue to respect the regulations, as the majority of them have been doing,” Norman Faria, Guyana’s Honorary Consul to Barbados said yesterday.
A report in the Barbados Nation, which also appeared in the local press, said thousands of Caribbean non-nationals, among them many Guyanese, living in Barbados illegally, have less than a month to start turning themselves in to the Immigration Department, or they will be “removed” from December 1 this year.
Faria said he has listened intently to what Thompson has said, but he is still gathering information on the matter.
In a press release, he said that “as with other services at the Consulate, the mission is providing assistance where it can, to Guyanese nationals calling in for more information and clarifications on what they read or heard on the Barbados media…”
Faria reported an increase in inquiries to the Consulate about immigration matters since Thompson spoke.
However, he expressed fears that “parasitical intermediaries such as so-called immigration consultants, even some avaricious lawyers, will now up the ante and charge even more exorbitant prices for unnecessary services and offer useless work by giving the impression that only by going through them that the immigrants will get through.”
Faria advised that said Guyanese should generally deal directly with Barbados institutions and their Consulate.
Thompson’s official notice to undocumented Caribbean immigrants brings finality to government’s pledge to address the contentious issue since the formation of a Cabinet committee on immigration was formed in June last year.
He told the Barbados Parliament that the new ruling had resulted from recommendations by a subcommittee looking into the level of illegal immigration in Barbados, and these recommendations had now been approved by Cabinet.
He said the subcommittee had agreed that the current levels of illegal immigrants were “unacceptably high, increasingly difficult to control and posed potentially negative socio-economic challenges for the country”.
“Therefore, with affect from June 1, 2009 all undocumented CARICOM nationals who entered Barbados prior to December 31, 2005 and remained undocumented for a period of eight years or more are required to “come forward and have their status regularised”.
He stipulated that an application for immigrant status together with all supporting documentation must be submitted to the Immigration Department on a prescribed form within six months of the commencement of the new policy – specifically before December 1, 2009.
Each case will be considered on its individual merit, said the Prime Minister. “I must make it clear that after the qualifying period has expired, those CARICOM nationals without lawful permission to remain in the island will be removed”.
According to the Barbados Nation, the Prime Minister said that although some non-nationals continued to make a contribution to the island’s development, the Cabinet committee had concluded that “the problem of illegal immigration can no longer be ignored”.
He reaffirmed the commitment of his government to the regional integration process, particularly Article 45 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which provides for the movement of skilled CARICOM nationals within the CARICOM Single Market.
“These rights are enshrined in the Caribbean Community movement of Skilled Nationals Act which was passed by Parliament in 2004. It is my view that leaders in this region must work together to find solutions to the many vexing problems existing in our individual societies,” he stated.

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