(Trinidad Express) One of the Trinidadians employed with Disney Cruise Line is calling on Minister of National Security Stuart Young to reunite her family after she was allowed to return home yesterday but her husband was not.
Sabrina Thomas, a telephone operator with Disney Cruise Line, was quarantined in her room at The University of the West Indies (UWI) Debe campus after being allowed re-entry into the country yesterday.
However, Thomas told the Express she hasn’t stopped crying. Her husband Dujan Thomas, a chef on the same Disney cruise ship she was given permission to leave, was not allowed to disembark the vessel because he is not a Trinidadian.
In a phone interview, she said they have been married since 2012 and her husband, a Jamaican citizen, has been applying for permanent resident status since 2015.
The couple have two children, ages three and seven, and all live at Freeport in Central Trinidad.
“Today, I came off the Disney Fantasy but my husband couldn’t. He is not a national but we have pending permanent residency. We have all our documents. We went through the interview and it was successful and we paid the bond already. We expected to return home and finally get his documents finalised. The last time we were here in November 2019 the process was ongoing. Trinidad is where we live.”
Thomas sent photos of documents showing application for permanent residence under Section 6 (1)C on August 13, 2015, a bond payment of $3,000 on November 1, 2017 and a letter from the Ministry of National Security requesting documentation for her husband’s residency on November 6, 2019.
Thomas said they were both disappointed and saddened because through no fault of their own, the permanent resident process wasn’t completed before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Help us, Minister
Thomas said, “My kids were expecting to see mummy and daddy waving when we arrived home but it was only mummy. The ship is now going to Jamaica where (Dujan) will have to come off and stay with a relative he hasn’t seen in years. I don’t know when we will be able to see him again because as you know Jamaica has a large number of Covid-19 cases. We were really excited to come home. Our little baby’s birthday will be in August and we wanted to come home, make sure we get enough time to quarantine and be ready to celebrate as a family together.”
She added: “Most importantly, what our biggest concern was, is that we had no cases or symptoms of the coronavirus on the ship so we knew we were coming home Covid-free. We finished our contract since March and have been quarantined on board since then just waiting to return home. My husband had no issue being placed into quarantine either. We chose this career on the cruise ship because our childhoods weren’t easy so we wanted to make a difference for our children. It was a sacrifice we had to make. We have been away for many special occasions such as Christmas and Mother’s Day and we really just wanted to have this family time together now.”
Thomas said she is pleading with Minister Young to also exempt her husband because he calls Trinidad home.
‘Dealing with nationals first’
She believes that had it not been for Covid-19, he would have received his residency from the Ministry of National Security when they returned after their contracts ended in March.
Instead, Thomas said she now has no idea when she’ll see her husband again.
“I’m truly thankful that I’m back home now but we’ve been trying to reach out to everyone we possibly can even before a date was given to return home and couldn’t get any help. It was just really hard and I did send numerous e-mails to Mr Young and reached out to his Facebook page where I gave a whole history of this. It’s really hard. My kids asking me ‘where daddy?’ When I come off the boat, I told the Immigration office everything but everyone just said they can’t do anything, that Stuart Young has to give the clearance. I am crying and begging Mr Young to bring my husband back home.”
Contacted yesterday, Young told the Express in a WhatsApp message, “The request was for 53 nationals of Trinidad and Tobago to be permitted to enter. We have been very clear that the borders are closed to nationals and non-nationals and permission was granted to 53 nationals to enter. Consideration is being given to our nationals at this stage. Those with pending applications for residency, etc, are not nationals and accordingly are not granted exemption to enter as we are committed to dealing with our nationals first.”