Guyanese abroad forced to travel home for new passport

Oct 19, 2010 News

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Guyanese residing in St Kitts and Nevis are being forced to return home before they can be issued with a machine readable passport.
They have since sought to petition the Guyanese authorities to intervene, given that it would be too costly to make the trip. In a letter to the Minister of Home Affairs and copied to President Bharrat Jagdeo, they say that they need these people to heed their plea.
In that document, it was stated that the members of the Guyanese community in St. Kitts and Nevis, have been told by Guyana’s Honorary Consul, Stanford Conway, that they all have to return to Guyana in order to acquire the passports, “a very costly trip that the majority of us cannot afford.”
They said that they were told by Conway that he had made a number of suggestions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but was told that the Ministry of Home Affairs was responsible for the issuance of passports.
“Sir, we are therefore pleading with you to take our financial position and the following situations and recommendations into account.”
There are many Guyanese residing in St. Kitts and Nevis and some of them have large families – six, eight and even ten.
“Additionally, many of us on Nevis were employed at the Four Seasons Resort and had lost our jobs due to the damage caused by Hurricane Omar in 2008.”
They stated that following that incident many of them have only been working on a three-day-week period in the construction field while others are doing menial jobs.
“In other words, the majority of us are minimum wage earners but yet contribute to our dependents in Guyana….There are others who have recently been re-employed and cannot get vacation until they complete one year in that employment.”
The document stated that because of the global financial crisis, if they should travel to Guyana before completing that one-year in their present occupation, there is a very high degree of uncertainty in them retaining their jobs on return to the Federation.
The cost of a return airfare is over EC$2,000.  If a family of six has to fly to Guyana to acquire their passports it will cost them EC$12,000, and that is only the airfare.
They have to find money to pay for the passports, transportation to and from the Immigration Department in Kingston, especially if they would be staying at relatives in the Corentyne or in the Essequibo.
They would also have to find money to support their stay while in Guyana.
They requested that the Guyana Government explores putting a system in place whereby they can acquire their passports from right there in St. Kitts-Nevis.
Conway, according to the residents, had suggested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that two Immigration Officers be sent to the Federation to conduct the process of acquiring the Machine Readable Passports, but this request was denied.
“We are therefore suggesting that Conway starts the process in the Federation and send the documents to Guyana, as what is being done in St. Kitts-Nevis.”
They said that their research has found that a number of children born to Guyanese parents, who have since returned to Guyana, have acquired the new passports after filling the forms in Guyana and sending them along with their birth certificates, photographs and specimen signatures to relatives or associates in the Federation, whom they recommend to collect the travel documents.
“This information was gathered by us from the Government Headquarters in Basseterre, which is also known by Conway.”
It was pointed out that this process is also being practised by all other OECS member states. “Therefore, if Guyana is embodied in CARICOM and its sister states are not only issuing their nationals who are residing in other Caribbean countries with the new passports, but also those living in North America and Europe, then why can’t we take a page out of their books?”
In the recent past, the Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of National Security told Guyanese, who are holders of the old passport, that they would not be issued work permits or temporary/annual residency.
They said that Conway fought a successful battle based on a document he said he received from Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Conway reportedly informed the Guyanese that the document refers to the Convention on International Civil Aviation Facilitation” and discussions were held with Minister Sam Condor and his Permanent Secretary Astona Browne, both of whom accepted his arguments and have now given permission for the old passports to be stamped with next year’s work permit or the temporary/annual residency.
“Therefore, Sir, in an effort to make our lives better, while at the same time easing us of the financial burden, we are humbly requesting that our recommendation be considered or another solution be employed that will not cause us to return home to obtain our CARICOM Machine Readable Passport.”

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