Guyanese in Barbados say work permit renewals being delayed

Guyanese residing in Barbados have been experiencing serious delays in having their work permits processed and to date the Guyana government has not made an official statement on the decision recently announced by that country’s prime minister.

Barbadian Prime Minister David Thompson had announced in the parliament that the thousands of Caribbean non-nationals on the island would have until June 1 to turn themselves in to the immigration department or be “removed” from December 1 this year. This is bound to affect the thousands of Guyanese residing there, in on way or the other.

This newspaper has been in constant contact with Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett who two days ago, through her secretary, requested that questions be sent to her. This was done but up to press time yesterday there was no response from the minister. Thompson made the announcement on May 5 and several reports have been published in media since then.

One Guyanese who has been living and working on the island for close to eight years related to this newspaper, via a source that he has never been made to wait so long for his work permit to be renewed.

He works with a reputable firm in Barbados and would apply each year for a permit, but for some time now he has been calling the immigration department and is being told each time that his application is still being processed.

He said at first he was not worried and accepted the words of officers with whom he spoke, but then he started to learn from other Guyanese who are there legally that they too were being made to wait even longer than he had for their permits. He said he is monitoring the situation and if he does not receive an extension of his stay, he will return home. However at present, his passport is in the hands of the authorities.

This newspaper was also informed that persons with strange accents are being approached from time to time in the streets and asked to provide identification.
Another Guyanese recounted that he and two friends were held by two officers at Cave Shepherd. They were asked to produce evidence that they were residing in Barbados legally. He said he succeeded in convincing the officers while his friends were taken away. He later learnt that the men were deported.
Well placed sources have told this newspaper too that an apartment building in Black Rock, St Michael, where several Guyanese live, has been the target of raids. However it is not clear whether the raids were carried out by immigration officials.

The source also confirmed that many Guyanese were awaiting word from Immigration on their work permits and others who qualified under the Caricom Single Market were awaiting the finalization of their status as skilled immigrants.

“It seems as though there is a freeze on the renewal of work permits and they seem to not be giving new applicants the permits at all. But we don’t know for sure because we have not heard anything official from them,” the source said.

Stabroek News was unable to contact Guyana’s Honorary Consul to Barbados Norman Faria. Calls made to his office all went to an answering machine.

Contacted yesterday, Deputy Chief Immigration Officer, Superintendent Carol Primo, could not say offhand whether there had been an increase in deportations from Barbados over the last two weeks. However she promised to check the records and make an analysis available to this newspaper.
With effect 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”.

Furthermore, 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. “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,” Thompson said.

The prime minister said that although some non-nationals continued to make a contribution to the island’s development, a Cabinet committee had concluded that “the problem of illegal immigration can no longer be ignored”.