Ten Guyanese who left Guyana to go to Trinidad and Tobago for employment interviews, and five others who were going on vacation were sent back home on Monday night.
Immigration authorities on the island refused the 15 Guyanese entry, reportedly saying that they were fed-up of taking care of Guyanese. Stabroek News learnt that the ten had gone through preliminary interviews with Relamut Group of Companies, a construction and engineering firm, which had hosted the interactions at a city hotel here and they had done well and so were heading to T&T for a second round on interviews.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that the group was interviewed and was reportedly told by immigration officers that too many Guyanese were flooding T&T and taking over their jobs. This newspaper was also told that the men presented documentation to the immigration officers, including letters from their prospective employer, Trinidadian Dr Samuel Joseph, which proved that they were there on legitimate business.
The officers also asked for contact telephone numbers for the person/s who were meeting them. The officers then reportedly told the Guyanese that they had attempted to make contact with the company but there was no company existing there with such a name.
In an interview with Capitol News last night, Joseph said he was at the Piarco International Airport awaiting the arrival of the men and was never contacted by immigration authorities about any problems. He further said that his company was well known and registered. The man also said that he had served as a former adviser to a government minister and was currently the head of the engineering department of the University of the West Indies.
“So it came as a big surprise that these persons were denied entry… There is a definite need for workers in TT because the construction industry is on the rise and not enough TT workers to take on the job and this is one of the reasons I travelled to Guyana to find workers,” he also said.
He also said he found the action by the immigration authorities strange since only three weeks ago, immigration allowed entry to a group of Guyanese now employed at his company.
A young woman was also denied entry after the authorities told her that the person who was to pick her up, did not have his immigration documents. She was told that the authorities had contacted her male friend, but later learnt that this was not so as the man had been awaiting her arrival at the airport.
A young man who said he had gone to T&T for a vacation was told that there was no one there to pick him up and even though he handed a contact number for the persons to the immigration officer, they held fast to that reason for refusing him entry.
It is not clear why the others were refused entry. However, this newspaper learnt that most of the persons refused entry on Monday were first-time visitors to T&T.
Deputy Chief Immigration Officer George Vyphuis could not comment on the matter when contacted yesterday and said he did not have any information on it.
The officer said he was also not at work yesterday since he was preparing for official duty overseas.
