Mitchell laments immigration abuses

Fri, Nov 7th 2014, 09:39 PM

Minister of Immigration Fred Mitchell has drawn attention to immigration abuses perpetrated in The

Bahamas by some people from "the developed world", who he said "get a pass" while Bahamians focus on "people from the south".
Mitchell called it problematic that the work permit process is at times being abused in professional arenas.
In order to alleviate the challenges the Department of Immigration faces in addressing those abuses among other matters, Mitchell said he wants to triple the size of the department within about three years.
"What is happening is that you have complaints - coming from Exuma, Eleuthera, Harbour Island and Abaco - of people from the developed world masquerading as tourists, but [who] are engaging in fishing, taking people out as guides in recreational fishing,acting as property managers, doing real estate and actually acting as majordomos for individuals without getting the proper permission to be in The Bahamas," Mitchell said.
"That is a vexing problem to residents in these areas - particularly among the professions - who say that clearly Bahamians can [provide the services in question]."
"It's a more difficult issue to spot because the country's attention is always toward the people from the south, and the people from other areas get a pass."

Work permit enforcement
There are two agencies that have a responsibility for the work permit process.
Firstly, the Department of Labour must certify that a qualified Bahamian is not available for the job required by the prospective employer.
That certification is then carried to the Department of Immigration, where a decision is made whether - and for how long - to grant a work permit.
At one time, Mitchell pointed out, the policy had been to not grant more than three work permits in respect of the same person.
Also, the department may require as a condition of granting the permit that the employer hire an understudy.
"[These are] great measures, but are not effective unless there is enforcement of [them]," Mitchell said.
"When I talk about lack of resources, part of the enforcement mechanism requires manpower and it also requires technology and there have been limitations in that way, which we're trying to resolve now.
"One of the things that's happening is that we're looking at bringing in a manpower assessment team because I want to increase the size of the Department of Immigration threefold - to about 600 individuals - within about three years."
"It is about monitoring and enforcement," he added. "We have two mechanisms that we presently employ: one is when the work permit comes up for renewal, we review the performance of the conditions from the previous year.
"Secondly, employees on various jobs write the department and report on what they see happening. In both cases, we ask the companies to account."
Mitchell also urged new officers to approach their duties with integrity.
He said immigration is no longer a "simple Bahamianization proposition," but that "it is still Bahamians first."

Grand Bahama "staging point"
"In today's environment, security is paramount for the state and our international partners need to know that we have best practices in security arrangements. Part of this is who belongs to The Bahamas and who has the right to live here," Mitchell told immigration recruits in Grand Bahama on Thursday.
"Grand Bahama has peculiar problems. It has now become a staging area for people from South America and the Far East and Africa to enter the United States using safe houses here.
"Special operations are conducted by the department in this city to put a stop to this. So there will be operations of a covert nature to catch these criminals," he said.
The minister said the laws would be toughened and regulations made stricter.
"If you want a safer Bahamas, that is part of the larger price that we have to pay," he said.

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