‘Cease & desist from sending expats home’- Dr Smith to CIO
Premier Smith was speaking at the 23rd annual celebration and 18th wreath laying ceremony to pay homage to the Territory’s first Chief Minister at the West End cemetery in Capoon’s Bay, Tortola, on March 5, 2018.
The occasion was held under the theme “What would H. Lavity Stoutt do? Right here! Right now!”
“Our duty is to be careful of what we say especially at this time [as] we cannot afford to lose our friends who have been doing good here and who show love for the BVI.”
Cease & desist
According to the Premier, who is also responsible for Immigration, he is adamant that only those skilled expats who have committed crimes should be sent home.
“I have already heard of persons being asked to leave the Territory. I want my Chief Immigration Officer to cease and desist from this practice unless these persons have committed a crime,” Premier Smith said.
According to him, if the Virgin Islands is to move forward successfully, “we have to do so with a spirit of inclusiveness and a spirit of unity.”
“We need all hands on deck at this time and it is what the late H.L. Stoutt would have wanted,” Premier Smith stated, adding that the late Chief Minister was a man of action and inclusiveness and who never forgot to say thanks.”
Something wrong with that formula
Many expats have been sharing their stories on social media how Immigration Department was asking them to leave even though they would have been in the Territory for more than five years and are now seeking work after becoming jobless following the hurricanes of September 2017. Some of them have said employers had already offered them jobs.
Immigration Department had also controversially stated in January that it was conducting heightened inspections on households of persons renewing work permits or seeking to change jobs in the Territory.
The move, disclosed by then Acting Chief Immigration Officer Geraldine Ritter-Freeman at a consultation meeting on the Recovery and Development Plan of the Virgin Islands (VI), received overwhelming criticisms from residents as well as persons overseas, who were of the opinion it was a backward step, discriminatory and insensitive to the plight of persons affected by the hurricanes but who were determined to honestly get on with their livelihoods.
“We have a Surveillance Unit that always does site inspections. We have had to ramp that up, of course, because of the situation with the hurricanes and homes being destroyed. We want to ensure that persons are living in favourable conditions before we approve them to remain in the territory,” Ritter-Freeman had said.
However, at a press conference on February 8, 2018 at the Office of the Premier, Central Administration Complex on Wickham’s Cay I, Tortola, Dr Smith announced that household inspections had been discontinued.
During the First Sitting of the Third Session of the Third House of Assembly of the Virgin Islands on Thursday, March 1, 2018 Opposition Leader and First District Representative, Honourable Andrew A. Fahie asked Premier Smith why expatriates were being asked to leave the territory.
“If persons that are here are leaving because they have completed their task and they are looking work and then told that they don’t have work now based on how things went with Irma and they have been here for years and we know them. Why are we bringing in more than we put out to come to get work, isn’t something wrong with that formula?”
Dr Smith had replied” “Expatriates currently residing in the territory who were offered engagement with companies requiring employees for the hurricane relief work with the employer are not being asked to currently leave the territory.”
.png)
Follow Us On
33 Responses to “‘Cease & desist from sending expats home’- Dr Smith to CIO”
Not fair.
This whole Lavity thing is NONSENSE! Nobody got more push back from the people and opposing politicians than Lavity. As soon as he died and they realized the fruits from lots of his labour all of a sudden he is considered a hero. If Hon Stoutt was governing in this technological age he would be getting the same foolish push back and backlash for every single decision. He was one who supported the investment club start up, the college when everyone was content on going overseas and saying we didn't need one, the govt complex and many other things he started and was chastised for. Now we acting like everyone loved him and what he did when he was here. Bunch of hypocrites. Now is the time to move the country forward and stop the power struggle. 6 months after we all thought the islands were gone for good and we still bickering like @#$&*les.
What's up with Orlando?.
This is out of character for him.
And Walwyn chiming in with his second de motion. I know what's s up with Walwyn on this issue so no surprise there.
But Mr Premier, he had to be talking out his head.He read the wrong memo.
Anyway,personnel, in my opinion, will do well to follow the written policies. Only then will they have a leg to stand on . Anything else will come back with regret.
I wonder if Lorna knows about this. Premier gone bazodee!
Folks our elected officials need our support now more than ever.
Not even a gift but a loan and still pressure on our Gov to maraud us, Have mercy Jesus or whoever,
Gov Kaspar, please sir, don't start nothing and there won't be nothing hear me.
A reoccurring theme I've noticed with this ruling government that I don't like is they are very subversive when it comes to law and order. They intentionally sow seeds of misinformation to cause discourse and divisiveness is the community. The good doctor knows why the expats are being sent home. He's smart and we all know this party likes to remind us on their education. Yet still they all act like they've got no damn sense.
The amount of time you've spent in a country is irrelevant if you are a guest and aren't seen a productive. Every country has it's own basket of problems and if you're a guest who can't sustain himself/herself then that's another person the government needs to be responsible for. That's another mouth to feed and another home to find. It isn't fair to ask a government to do that for you when aren't a citizen.
If a Virgin Islander went abroad and became a burden to that country, I would expect them to be shipped home. The Virgin Islands isn't acting outside of its rights, it isn't violating any human rights and it's not doing anything different that another country in the world isn't entitled to do under same or similar situations yet still we get demonized for acting in our own self-interest.
Self-preservation and selfishness are not the same thing. Even so, both are necessary for survival. There has to be a limit to inclusivity because the Virgin Islands is small. Resources are limited and jobs are limited. You have to build with consideration of the future else all you will be building is your grave.
How many people here, both locals and expats are willing to pick up the slack for the people who are being asked to leave? If tomorrow the government had to charge you 10% extra in payroll taxes to pay unemployment for these people who are being asked to leave, how many of you will support it and freely pay your taxes without a grumble? How many people can afford that in the first place? People should think about these things because that's exactly what will happen. Either the slack will have to be picked up for these people or the crime rate will go up because too many people will be in poverty, unable to support themselves.
Being a politician doesn't put you above the law and for too long have we allowed our own politicians to act as though it does. This is what is driving and will continue to drive our destruction. People of the Virgin Islands, both local and expats, I urge you to listen to what you are hearing and read between the lines. The way we've been doing things is very destructive to us. This government is very destructive to us. If you foster an atmosphere where the law can be rendered moot and powerless at the whims of an individual you will only get anarchy or tyranny in the end. If you let your emotions blindly guide you, you can only fall in the end.
Our ministers keep interfering with the people they put in charge to handle situations. Why have a CIO if you're going to tell him how to do his job and countermand his orders? If he's doing things properly and isn't breaking the law, then you have to let his judgement stand. Else what message will you be sending to the public and the outside world?
I get that there are a lot of upset expats but the fact is, if you aren't a citizen of the country in which you reside, you can always be sent home. If you're here for a long time and are actually interested in being here even longer, I would encourage you to apply for citizenship. I'm a Virgin Islander and I understand that we can't do it all on our own, we're on a planet with 7bil other people so we need to find a way to be in this world but right is right and wrong is wrong. Expats, do things the right way. Voting is how you get a voice so become a citizen and vote.
THAT THERE IS PURE NASTINESS!!!
I suspect a lot of expats don't apply for citizenship because of the way they talk about the system. When you ask about how they went about inquiring about citizenship, they are either wrong in the process or they behave as though it should have automatically be offered to them.
It is for that reason I mentioned citizenship. That, and the fact that in these discussions, it hardly gets brought up by either side but I think it's a legitimate pathway to invest in. Why not consider citizenship if you live in a foreign place for 10 years or more? When it comes to immigration, the argument is usually about work permits but I hardly hear anyone arguing about being impeded when applying for citizenship. I think that discussion is worth having.
If you happen to be an expat who attempted citizenship the right way but was denied then why were you denied? They usually tell you why, if not figure it out, ask about it. Were you not making enough money? Is it your criminal record or education background? Did you not appear to be serious about it? Did you appear to be adjusted to and accepting of our culture?
Comeback and talk about this again when you've truly done everything in your power and can do no more. Then maybe it really is the system and not you.
Again, nothing the BVI is doing is atypical. There are people in other parts of the world who literally spend half a century in a country, actively pursuing citizenship and never getting it. Sometimes even being asked to leave for one reason or another.
It doesn't seem fair and surely it's aggravating when you're the victim of bureaucracy but it's not nastiness.
[By the way, how welcoming would you feel if someone called you nasty but then wanted entry into your life and your house? How welcoming would you feel if someone thought the worst of you but only associated with you because they needed you or wanted to use you? What you would think about a person who subjected themselves to all sorts of ills just to make money and then allegedly gain nothing for it? Something to think about when using your words. They describe not only the target but the speaker as well.]
A country has the right to protect itself and limit the movement of non-citizens in and out of its country. It doesn't take a disaster to enact this right either.
If your friend invites you to their house and twenty mins while you're in the middle of having a good time they ask you to leave, it may seem like a crap thing to do but it's still your friend's house, their rules, their rights. Grumble all you like but you have to respect that fact else chaos erupts.
If a Virgin Islander went anywhere else in the world and acted as entitled as some expats here do, I'm sure we'd hear the same things we say to expats here and possibly even worse.
Again, I'm not saying this because this is where I'm from, I'm saying this because this is how the world works but somehow the narrative here gets presented as if this is fairytale land where everyone can come and do as they please with no repercussions. As though that's a practical way of running a country. Laws and limits aren't hatred but a necessity. When you go anywhere as a foreigner, you're welcome, not by your will but by the will of that country.
Ok, BUT did you give the Acting Chief Immigration this Illegal directive or just political pandering and embarrassing the young man? Orlando you are really sickening now for a leader of this country. & 7 million gone.now this.