NASSAU , The Bahamas –The 1995 accord between the governments of The Bahamas and Haiti is currently under review, the Senate was told.
Senator the Hon. Elma Campbell, Minister of State for Immigration, said the Bahamas government is reviewing the accord “as we look at establishing a policy which will permit Haitian nationals to qualify for legal permanent status in our country.”
Senator Campbell was speaking during debate in the Senate on the government’s $1.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2007-’08.
Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham and Haitian President Rene Preval met recently in Washington, D.C., when a number of issues were discussed.
The Senator also announced that the government is to introduce by the end of 2007, a new form of coded work permit.
It is expected this “will reduce” any suggestion that they are being duplicated illegally, she said.
Senator Campbell said the Department of Immigration receives, on a weekly basis, an average of 500 applications for work permits, residency and citizenship.
“There is an unbelievable backlog of pending applications,” she stated. “As at May 14th this year, there remained outstanding some 3,500 applications for work permits, some 1,200 for citizenship and some 1,500 for residency.
“In keeping with the government’s commitment to process all applications for citizenship, naturalization, permanent residency and other categories of residency in a timely, transparent and expeditious manner, my department has commenced the compilation and review of all outstanding applications, in an effort to expedite these applications, where possible, in the shortest period of time.
“When this is completed, we will be better able to advise the public on reasonable, realistic time frames in which one might expect not only these outstanding applications to be processed, but also of a realistic turn-around time for new applications,” she said.
Senator Campbell also pointed out some of the initiatives the Department of Immigration is considering in an effort to expedite the processing of applications for citizenship, naturalization, permanent residency and other categories of residency.
They include the following:
•Providing regular training for all officers involved in the application process in an effort to ensure that they are familiar with current government laws, policies and procedures;
•Continuing to provide training and assistance to Family Island administrators and foreign service officers in order to equip them to ably assist the department in fulfilling its mandate, locally and internationally;
•Collaborating with relevant government stakeholders to ensure that persons entitled to permanent Bahamian status are not denied their right, while at the same time ensuring that those so entitled do not benefit, by any means;
•Educating the public as to the policies and processes involved in all of the application process;
•Designing a programme to be offered locally to all persons applying for Bahamian citizenship so as to acquaint them with the history, geography, and civics of The Bahamas.
Senator Campbell emphasized that the new administration has undertaken:
•To as a matter of priority, deal with the registration as of citizens’ minor children, of children born abroad to married Bahamian women and of spouses of Bahamians;
•To review, and amend as appropriate, the fees applicable to work permits and certificates, as the government gives strong consideration to eliminating the existing processing fee of $25, which fee, in no way covers the processing costs;
•The department is also re-evaluating the requirements for those seeking to qualify for permanent residence. These are referred to as “economic” applicants;
•The department is also looking at amending the fees in respect of spouses, minor children and children born in The Bahamas to non-Bahamian parents.
Senator Campbell said that in its efforts to develop an effective immigration strategy, the Department of Immigration has been allocated $18,392,389 in the 2007- 2008 Budget. This represents an increase of $2,091,091 over last year’s budget.
Additionally, $8.82 million of the allocated amount will go toward paying salaries, an increase of a little over half a million dollars.
The present staff complement of the Immigration Department is 199 officers and 113 clerical and administrative officers.
In an effort to increase the administrative efficiency of the Department, 50 new immigration officers will be trained and executive, administrative and clerical staff will be enhanced.
