Clarity needed on NIS Life Certificates for pensioners living overseas

Dear Editor,

Can the Guyana Post Office Corporation and the National Insurance Scheme please provide some clarity regarding international mail acceptance/delivery and NIS Life Certificates for pensioners living overseas?

I know international airports are in ‘lock-down’ mode but cargo flights are expected (among a few others). It is therefore more than a stretch to classify an international mail-bag as a commercial passenger. When a New York resident could not mail his Life Certificate, I contacted my local Post Office only to be clearly told that there are no incoming or outgoing international mail operations. Not long after, I had an original document to be sent abroad and was informed by someone else to mail it from the GPO in Robb Street. That attempt was met by a huge crowd and I was further advised that any other Post Office they knew of in Georgetown will accept it. I had no problem mailing it from the Kitty Post Office for which I have a receipt.

I note a relevant enquiry by another NIS pensioner (KN: May 19, ’20) wherein an Editor’s Note that as per the P.R. Dept. of the NIS, pensioners ‘can forward copies of their life certificates…’ to email address ‘public_relations@nis.org.gy.’ Does this mean the person’s pension will be paid? Pardon me if I sound cynical but I know of another case where someone here submitted an overseas-based pensioner’s Life Certificate to the District NIS Office and retained a copy (along with receipt). Way past the expected payment date, a month-long royal run-a-round determined the original ‘lost’ at the NIS Head Office but the pensioner still had to do another Life Certificate which fortunately got here before the ‘lock-down’.

Yours faithfully,

(Name and address sup

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