POND ISLAND--The Immigration and Labour Departments will review residence permits pending renewal to determine what will be granted in this post-Hurricane Irma economic climate. The collaboration is to ascertain which permit holders were dismissed due to business closures or downsizing.
Justice Minister Rafael Boasman told the press on Wednesday that the Immigration Department would execute “a tighter scrutiny” on the renewal of pending residence permits. Information from the Labour Department will be used to aid this process.
Employers have a responsibility to withdraw the permit request when they dismiss an employee. However, Boasman noted that people must be “treated properly.”
Employers should not use the post-Irma situation “to get rid of people without paying them what is duly theirs. The Immigration Department will not lend itself to that purpose,” he said. All matters “must be settled in a proper way.”
Meanwhile, no new visa requirement for current visa-exempted countries is under consideration by Government.
