Dear Editor,
As one of the American individuals who took the government of St. Maarten to court regarding the “Friendship Treaty” and won, I would like to clarify one of the statements that was mentioned in the article on July 21, 2015.
It was stated in the article “Also US citizens who have been legal residents for 10 years without interruption can obtain the declaration.” This is simply not totally true, and is very misleading.
All Americans working legally on the island regardless of how many years can go to the Immigration Department and fill out the model 4 form. Because of the Treaty it is no longer necessary to follow the “10 years without interruption” law.
Americans are to be treated exactly the same as the Dutch.
I would like to point out that numerous American individuals have won their cases against government regarding this treaty, and as I understand it, the Immigration Department on St. Maarten is aware of this and is allowing Americans to fill out model 4. So there is progress in that department.
Regarding the statement made in the editorial regarding this Treaty; “What would be interesting as well now is to explore, perhaps via a class action suit in a US court, exactly what rights in practice the treaty gives Dutchmen in that country, including those from the islands.”
The Treaty does not allow for reciprocity. I am not sure what a class action suit can do, but the best way to handle this matter is to renegotiate the treaty. Anything short of that seems to be a waste of time. To what extent The Kingdom Government has the backbone to do that remains to be seen.
Tina Voges-Abbott
