-hosts must provide bond for some visitors
Antigua has rescinded its decision to hold the passports of non-national children until their departure, following complaints by Guyana, but now requires that some applicants for entry into the country provide a bond as a surety from the resident host.
Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, who received reports last week of Guyanese children’s passports being held, had requested an official explanation from Antigua.
Newspaper reports from Antigua had indicated that the government had indeed withheld the passports of children. “The immigration department implemented a policy of holding the passports of visiting minors as a guarantee of their departure within the specified time of their visit,” the Antigua Sun said yesterday quoting a statement from the Ministry of National Security issued on Friday. The statement explained too that there has been a growing trend during the summer months of a significant number of minors from certain Caribbean countries travelling to Antigua under the pretext of a vacation, but ultimately remaining in the country and seeking to gain entry into the school system.
However, the government has reviewed the policy but has now replaced it with a “bond and such sureties from the resident host as may be deemed appropriate” which some visitors would have to provide before being granted entry into the country, the Sun quoted the statement as saying.
Yesterday Rodrigues-Birkett said she had not received any official response from the sister Caricom state but noted the report in the press. She said she was pleased about the change which came partly as a result of her communication.
“I am happy that it is corrected,” she said. Asked whether she was still looking forward to an official response, she posited that the changes have been widely publicized adding that she could not dictate that for Antiguan government.
Meanwhile, the Antiguan government also pointed out that it continues to grapple with the challenges which come with having increased immigrants as the effects of the global recession on Caribbean economies are further manifested.
The reports also indicated that over the last nine months, the immigration department there received over 14,000 applications and granted approvals for extensions of time to remain in the country.
It said Guyanese were the largest group of applicants seeking extensions.
Meanwhile, the Antigua Sun said too that data from the Ministry of Education revealed that around 13% of all government primary school students are non-nationals, while almost 30% of those attending government secondary schools are non-nationals. Immigrants, it said, make up 37% of the private secondary school population.
Last week Guyana wrote to the Antigua and Barbuda government inquiring about its new immigration policy after it received information that the passports of three sets of Guyanese children travelling to that country with their parents were held by the authorities until their exit.
In one of the cases, a woman was forced to leave her children’s passports or face non-entry into the country. However, when they were ready to leave the country the passports were returned with a letter informing her that it was government policy.
Rodrigues-Birkett had said that while every country had a right to institute its own policies, as a member of the community it should notify its sister states.