IMMIGRATION ORDINANCE

THE proposed overhaul of the Immigration Ordinance announced by the government two weeks ago has garnered mixed reactions from residents and the expatriate community online, key changes to the immigration ordinance proposed by the government include: changes to time limits on work permits for skilled and unskilled applicants; the number of years on a work permit or residence permit to qualify for permanent residence certificates (will increase from 10 to 15 years); as well as the opportunity for business visas and some classification of temporary work permits to be purchased at ports on arrival.

Speaking to the consultation process, Minister for Immigration Hon Chuck Musgrove said: "I am now asking that the public make a concerted effort to actively participate in the many avenues for engagement on the proposed amendments and to ensure that they provide feedback so that we all work together to shape the future of our beloved country! What are your thoughts?

Cart before the horse

The proposal has already been printed … so asking for our input is rather putting the cart before the horse!

Also - the suggestion of a three-month break between work permits must have been made by someone who is not a business owner as it would be VERY inconvenient for an employer to be without a trusted employee for so long and have to find someone else to fill the gap! Business people continue to employ people because they are hardworking and committed employees. They don’t need the added hassle of finding others to do the work.

This idea will not decrease the population, it will only add to it.

Surely the simplest solution is to change the link between PRC and BOTC …?

We need hard-working people in all sectors of our society … and if they are committed to the islands let them have PRCs and continue contributing to the economy.

Paradise lost

This process is good but comes too many years after the fact and after “paradise is lost”. There was a time in TCI’s history, say the early 90s when the gates were flung wide open to let all and sundry in. Without thinking or caring about the consequences of just awarding Belongerships, Turks & Caicos Islander status grants were awarded far and wide. This was a wrong move that imperiled the state and welfare of the nativeborn Turks & Caicos Islanders.

When the Government decided to be “fair to those who came and truly assimilated amongst us” certain grants were properly awarded. That cohort of investors, former expatriates who came to the TCI made genuine friends, made reliable business and social contacts and the “opening of the door” worked well. Yet the floodgates flew wide open and the islands were assaulted by “ne’er do wells”, illegal migrants and a class of investors whose intent was to exploit, take what they could, and repatriate profits away from the islands, The result is seen in the marginalisation of the Turks & Caicos Islander, the day of “come-uppance” where he is rendered as a second class citizen in his own country because he handed the keys of paradise to the enemy, ie the second wave of expatriates who came to plunder, take what they can and leave the rest behind.

Clearly seen in the resort industry, legal profession, tourism and the real estate industry. In tourism, there is little and no evidence of TCI’s culture on display. With real estate, that sector is dominated by nonTurks & Caicos Islanders with the natives present but mainly as an onlooker. This is the fruit of weak laws, immigration rules not being enforced and the reserved category of business licensing being ignored, exploited, undermined and employed to the detriment of the TCIslander, the very category of person it was designed to protect.

Gates too wide open

In the wake of the Interim Regime of 200912 when the regime of Mike Misick was aborted, the British moved in with a massive review of the immigration system with a view to bringing greater fairness to it. Lots of new rules and guidelines were introduced to make it easier to qualify and to get into it.

This benefitted the illegal migrant greatly and the new class of expatriates. These new expats did not “know the pharaoh” of old and they did not come here to befriend the native but really to seek and to destroy. This is seen where the economy is carved neatly into “Grace Bay” and in the rest of Providenciales there is a ‘second city”.

So, in the last 20 years with a combination of low incomes, weak economic social structures, fathers and parents unable to care for their children, a new and deadly crime wave erupted. Our leaders have no real policy analysis or coherent reaction to these issues. This is why they are seeking to close the gates on immigration after the horse is out and the damage is done.

Alas, there is little that can be done to address the situation at this stage. The gates are too wide open and the TCI has become a “Land of unwalled villages” These reforms will not address or deal with the situation as they are too little too late. The damage is done.

Overhaul the system from within

Close the door on new Belongerships/ Turks & Caicos Islander Status. If the new generation of expats and children of the illegal need protection, give them Permanent Residency status and let them qualify for UK Overseas Territories citizenship and UK passports. The result will be that the UK get what they want and a backdoor of the newly enfranchised UK citizenry, albeit through the back door of the TCI.

The government should close the reserved category of business licensing much further to 90% so that very few areas would be left to NO_TCI Control. The proposed changes to “work permits for skilled and unskilled applicants, the number of years on a work permit or residence permit to qualify for permanent residence certificates will increase from 10 to 15 years, as well as the opportunity for business visas and some classification of temporary work permits to be purchased at ports on arrival” will not do much to change the dynamics on the ground.

The TCIslander is left without protection in his country. They are always pushing the UK narrative that “this is no longer your country”!

So, what is there to protect? Immigration officials, customs officers and other security personnel should be given realistic salaries, a minimum of $50,000 per annum.

The idea is to give them proper career prospects and to reduce the need to consider bribes which are ever-present. Allegations fly where work permits are sold and the policing mechanisms in the system have been weakened.

That certain customs officials are paid handsomely to decline checking containers at the port. While the “doctrine of open borders” may bode well for the US, UK, Canada, and European Unions because they want cheap labour, and slave conditions, this system does not suit a country the size of the Turks & Caicos Islands. The TCI is small and vulnerable and the last 30 years have shown it cannot work.

Suggestions

Widen the ability to give Investment Permanent Residency Certificates. This piecemeal legislative step will not help in any way.

To address the dichotomies in society emerging from the failures of policing immigration rules, a financial project needs to emerge where Turks & Caicos Islanders have access to a low-interest rate empowerment fund.

They do not have access to local mortgage companies and commercial banking finance. If they do, interest rates are too high and require judicial and governmental intervention. The agenda to empower the TCI must be merged with proper policing of the immigration rules, enforcement of work permits and related policies.

The government must open a wideranging dialogue with the public, a summit with the leader of the PDM opposition, the Hon Edwin Astwood. It requires political input and suggestions from all stakeholders: citizenry, the church, all of the political parties, the former independent candidates and the various chambers of commerce. TCI always tried to pattern itself from the strict immigration control regimes obtain in the Cayman Islands but that requires discipline.

As long as the borders of the TCI remain open, where there are leaks in the radar management and control systems, the illegals will come in and the country remains vulnerable.