Premier Vows Regularisation Of Expats On Regional Stage

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(PLTM) - Premier, the Honourable Andrew Fahie has taken to the regional stage in promising that the BVI will be addressing the regularization of expatriates, who have dwelled and developed the territory for a number of years.

Speaking during a recent meeting of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)—his first regional event since his election—the Premier stated, “On taking office two weeks ago, one of the first decisions my government has taken is to set up a committee to urgently look into the status situation of thousands of people—most of them from the Eastern Caribbean, particularly St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica—who have made the BVI their home.”

This commitment follows a recent announcement by the Premier that his government would be undertaking a residency amnesty programme to regularize residents of the BVI who hail from other countries, but have resided in the BVI for decades without being regularised.

“Many of these people—our dear friends and neighbors—have lived and worked in the BVI more than a decade. Many of them have given birth and raised their children there. Yet, they have no official status,” he told the gathering of Heads of Governments and other officials.

The Premier later added, “We shall not, through policy or omission, contribute to cultivating a Caribbean underclass anymore. Our civilization is better than that; and this new government shall prove that, beyond words, and take genuine action.”

He said his administration views the need to fix this situation as “an economic and moral imperative.”

“We will regularise for persons, such as the St. Lucian restaurant attendant at one of the places I eat from regularly in Road Town, who came to help her aunt in her store as a 16-year-old out of school, nearly 20 years ago. She has three children, all born in the BVI. Up to today, neither she nor her children have any official status,” he told his fellow leaders.

Shortly after being elected, Premier Fahie in an address to the people of the BVI said his Government is setting up a committee to address the issue,.

He had stated, “There are people here who have lived and worked successful for 15 and 20 years, and more, who have met every criteria for residency, but whose application has stuck somewhere for no obvious reason. Their children are suffering also, severely limiting their opportunity for growth and limiting our ability to access their human resource potential.”

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