40,000 visited Guyana in 2015- Minister of Citizenship

40,000 visited Guyana in 2015– Minister of Citizenship

Aug 06, 2016 News

Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, revealed that over 40,000 visitors including those from CARICOM territories entered Guyana in 2015.

Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix

The Minister, at the time, was responding to questions on the monitoring and management of visitors to the country at the continuation of Parliamentary Sectoral Committee Meeting on Foreign Services held at Public Buildings on Wednesday.
The meeting chaired by Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, featured a list of questions on the management of immigration services and the role Department of Citizenship and Foreign Affairs Ministry plays in monitoring the system.
In answer to the issues raised, Minister Felix noted that only 168 passengers were rejected entry into Guyana last year. The figures, he said, that is minimal in comparison to vast number of persons who were landed.
According to Felix, Immigration Services landed over 40,000 passengers; CARICOM nationals arriving in Guyana in 2015.
“So we just don’t prevent people…We just don’t refuse landing willy nilly. There are always good reasons and there’s an interview process undertaken and that determines whether or not a person will be landed.”
The Minister specified that one condition which could cost a passenger non-entry into Guyana by the Immigration Services is the lack of sufficient funds.
Teixeira then queried the measures used by the immigration officials to determine that a passenger has insufficient funds to enter the country for the purpose for which they applied.
She noted that insufficient funds cannot translate as currency alone, since there are other means of concluding a person’s finances. She identified cheques, credit cards and jewellery.
“What is the policy of the Government with regards to people entering Guyana with credit cards…once you put down insufficient funds, there must be a limit,” Teixeira further queried.
Felix then noted that of the thousands of applications processed, the immigration services would only choose to deal with doubtful cases.
In providing further details on the issue, Minister Felix quoted Section 3 (1) of the Immigration Act which essentially specifies that any idiot or epileptic, or any person who is insane or mentally deficient, or any liable to become a public charge amongst those who are to be denied accessed.
Meanwhile, an official attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlighted the Caribbean Court of Justice, (CCJ) decision on the Shanique Myrie case, which has binding legal effect for Guyana, laid down guidelines that must be considered in refusing entry for Caricom nationals in any particular territory.
According to an excerpt taken from the Executive Summary in the CCJ ruling of the Myrie case, the official outlined that the Conference Decision entitles a Member State to limit the free movement of a national of another Member State, if such national is “undesirable” or would become “a charge on public funds”, the Court indicated that this entitlement must be construed as an exception to the right of entry.

“Consequently, the scope of the refusal and the grounds on which it should be based must be interpreted narrowly and strictly, and the burden of proof must rest on the Member State that seeks to invoke either ground. The concept of undesirability must be concerned with the protection of public morals, the maintenance of public order and safety and the protection of life and health,” the official noted
Myrie is a Jamaican woman, who claimed damages against the State of Barbados on the grounds that she was treated unfairly when she arrived at the Grantley Adams Airport in March 2011.
Myrie was awarded BDS$77,240 by the CCJ which ruled that subjecting her to a cavity search, locking her up in an unsanitary cell and deporting her, ran contrary to the rules of the revised Treaty of Chagaramas.