Immigration Minister Brent Symonette.
By RICARDO WELLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
rwells@tribunemedia.net
IMMIGRATION Minister Brent Symonette has urged work permit applicants holding letters of approval to finalise their payments or face deportation, revealing yesterday the Department of Immigration is presently owed some $5m in outstanding fees.
Speaking to reporters outside of Cabinet, Mr Symonette indicated that letters of approval are normally released with a 30-day “life expectancy”.
He implored permit seekers to visit the department’s Hawkins Hill office and pay all outstanding fees and collect their new permits. Failure to do so, Mr Symonette said, would result in those letters expiring and the status of those holders reverting back to “illegal”.
“Now I accept that there is a problem with the Post Office and everything else like that,” the St Anne’s MP stressed.
“But just so everyone knows, if a person does not come in and pay for their permi - because they usually walk around for months with (an application receipt) - they will be considered as an illegal immigrant and deported. Irrespective of how many times they had a work permit.
“You get the letter, you pay your fees or you are deemed to be an illegal immigrant. That will be strictly enforced.”
Last year the department mandated that permit holders be fingerprinted when collecting new or renewed permits as part of its new digital system.
It was also revealed as many as 7,000 applications were rolled over from 2017 as a result of the department’s computer system’s metrics.
Mr Symonette at the time argued that step was critical in the country determining who exactly was receiving the document.
“The onus is on the person, you can’t put the onus on the state. I can prove who I am, I got a birth certificate. When I was born the registrar physically came to the hospital and saw the mother laying in the bed with baby in hand. What happens now is PMH gives a letter saying Robin Symonette had a live birth, and you then take that piece of paper down to the registrar,” he said at the time.
When asked yesterday about the department’s legacy backlog, Mr Symonette insisted turn-around times for work permits have been reduced to six weeks, with one-third of responses now being communicated via email.
As for permanent residence and citizenship applications, Mr Symonette said the Citizenship Commission was down to its final 233 applications.
The body was appointed last February to review applications of people with a clear constitutional right to apply – ie. they were born in the Bahamas and applied between the ages of 18 and 19 – to be registered as citizens.
The commission had targeted to naturalise nearly 400 people by the end of last year.
According to Mr Symonette, there were 3,331 citizenship approvals between 2012 and April 2017. Of this number, 1,969 were between 2012 to 2015; 789 in the year 2016 and 573 between January and April 2017.
Mr Symonette yesterday also revealed amendments to the Immigration Act proposed by Law Reform Commissioner Dame Anita Allen, former Court of Appeal president, were still being considered.
Mr Symonette said her recommendations will go back to Cabinet in about 60 days.
The Minnis administration has proposed plans to revamp the law since coming to office.
The existing act has not been substantially amended since the country gained independence in 1973.
Comments
joeblow 5 years, 1 month ago
The constitutionality of children of illegal immigrants being granted citizenship upon turning 18 MUST be challenged in Bahamian courts. Although it is being done, it must be unconstitutional!
banker 5 years, 1 month ago
You aint gonna be a tech hub on Grand Bahama if you want to fingerprint skilled help work permits.
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 1 month ago
Here we see Brent Symonette once again feigning a get tough policy, all the while continuing his massive document rubber stamping exercise that facilitates the Haitian invasion of our country. That wry smile on his face tells all. LMAO
DWW 5 years, 1 month ago
Sounds like you are a bit jaded. Lost an election ay?
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 1 month ago
?
DWW 5 years, 1 month ago
I recieved a BPL bill for September postmarked October in my hands last week February. How is a mailed acceptance letter supposed to help anyone? What's the definition of idiocracy? The Bahamas
Well_mudda_take_sic 5 years, 1 month ago
Stop using our failed general post office system as an excuse for not paying your utility bills on time. Get your utility bills online like most of us have been doing for years. LMAO
bogart 5 years, 1 month ago
BEY...TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY....DA ONUS....IS GUBBERMINT CHASING THE WORK PERMIT WORKER .......shielding Employers....rich...friends cronies echelon elites....TO GET TO IMMIGRATION CHASE..TO COLLECT... PAY DERE WORK PERMIT WORKER....OR DERE WILL BECOME ILLEGAL AN DEPORTED.........MONKEY ONKLE........WE DA PORE D GRADE GRADE....PORE GETS.....TO PAY BLAME ON BY REGRESSIVE VAT ......NOW....GUBBERMINT SHOULD ....MAKE THE RICH EMPLOYER ....RESPONDIBLE....TO PAY DA DELINQUENT .WORK PERMIT....AN EMPLOYER RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING....NIB...WEEKLY NID DEDUCTIONS....THE MEDICAL INSURANCE....RETURN TICKET ....RESONSIBLE FOR PAYING THE SERVANTS CHILDREN SCHOOL FEES...Stop ripping off Bahamians.....an make the Employer with money who bring their worker getting Work Permit an responsible for the Employee.....stop shielding the rich employers....friemds...cronies....festering slackness....an stop pushing problems to pore Bahamians to pay salaries to Govt workers for ripping off for their slackness...slovenzy....laziness...ineptness...not doing there jobs...$$$ 5 million receivables....NIB....whoelse......!!!!!!!...START FIRING THE INEPT....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SP 5 years, 1 month ago
Brent Symonette is the J-A-C-K-A-S-S that thought that raising government revenue by selling work permits was an ingenious idea, so he sold $20M in work permit fees which actually resulted in putting 1000's of Bahamians out of work, dramatically increased hard currency flight, caused the collapse of retail banking as expats only use money transfer services NOT banks and caused the crime index to soar as out of work Bahamians had to resort to criminal enterprises to put food on the table!
This man is the biggest F-O-O-L wearing a suit and tie in the country. If we do not get rid of him asap, More Bahamians will become destitute and find themselves in need of joining soup kitchen lines while Asians, Haitians, and Latinos live the Bahamian dream that WE created.
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