Minister Walwyn gets support for citizenship proposal
The resident voiced his opinion during the Speak Out BVI programme aired last evening, July 2, 2013 on a local radio station.
“In my opinion, I want to support that statement very strongly,” he said. “He [Walwyn] is wasting no time to talk about what maybe he considers an injustice… a situation affecting the Territory.”
Host of the programme, Douglas Wheatley, said in his studies over the many years, which included nationality and citizenship, he wrote a fairly lengthy article on the subject several years ago.
Wheatley also reasoned, “if you don’t’ want to adhere to the British Nationality Act and you have discussions with the British Government and they don’t give in to the points that you are making about the British Nationality Act, then what can you do? What will you do, short of hoisting your own flag?”
He added that at this point “If you hoist your own flag, the British Nationality Act will then not apply to you.” He noted that in terms of constitutional law, the British Nationality Act takes precedence over the VI constitution.
He also talked about ‘stateless children’ and said one of the things that upset him about the situation was when women would have to go back to their native islands usually to acquire status for their children born in the VI and were sent back by authorities with claims that the children weren’t born there.
“They would come back and they would talk to the authorities here, telling them that they were sent back from one of the other islands to the BVI to get their various documents,” he said.
The host added that he always thought that the people in the VI immigration office needed to check more thoroughly on the questions made to ensure that the information that the person was giving then was accurate coming from whichever of the other islands they were coming from.
“In many countries,” he added, “you carry the citizenship of your mother… and so if a child is born in the BVI of parents from another island, that child gets the nationality, the citizenship of the mother… so the child is not stateless because [they] have the citizenship or nationality of their mother...”
Wheatley stated that the Minister was obviously against the British Nationality Act and saw it as not helping the situation locally but other persons may have a different point of view in stating that the Act prevents Virgin Islanders from becoming swamped and becoming a minority in their country.
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29 Responses to “Minister Walwyn gets support for citizenship proposal”
It’s so fake that he will set up for people to call in. Poor he, he desperate! The indigenous people does not support that.
If you resides, work,pay taxes or contributes the gross domestic product in anyway for over 20 yrs, you are in a legitimate relationship, common law or not, give birth to a child ,that child should be given immediate citizenship and proper documentation ...so are the the system saying that people should come to the bvi work or should i say slave the better part of they working life and when the start a family they kids are a "refugee" in the country of their birth if u asked me i would say them kids are more bvislanders more than the proposed bvislanders because most of them born in the usa anyways.....sooner than later these "refugees' kids allu trying to create in the bvi after waiting for 20 yrs to get a passport will eventually becomes leaders in the same society and allu this dumb motherF#@ker will still be the minority caz most of y'all are pure $h1t bag and still depends on hand outs ....factz iz factz hate it or not
Secondly, with all these bad words, I wonder why VINO allowed this comment to be published. Always one for shock value, right VINO?
If you fully well know that if you are not a BVIslander and you have your child here, that that child will not be able to obtain a passport why would you willingly make your child a stateless child???? Then blame the country for your child being stateless. Get Real. Take responsibility for your actions and poor decision making.
The BVI is not America. We are a small territory and can not afford make everyone an automatic citizen. All these people comparing us to America and are mad becasue a few BVIslanders have gone to America to have their children need to stop with that stupid argument. It is like they vex the US is giving those persons passports and the BVI is not. This is the law of the land and if you do not like it then you should settle some where else that is more to you liking. I can not go into another mans country and disrupt their laws and way of doing things becasue I do not like them or because I think it is unfair to me. However I do have the choice whether or not I can a. live with it or b. not live with it and move on.
My advice to pregnant expat women is that when you become pregnant before they stop you from traveling you should return to the place of your birth and have your children. It would probably be better to go back home and have your children in a setting around your family who can help and give the support that one needs after giving birth anyway. Please do not put your children through the drama of potentially not having a passport or being a stateless child.
But let me tell you if any of them 'Indigenous BVIslanders' were to come infront of me bout i from here is one bruce lee fly kick they will be getting because regardless of WHAT! how you start is how you grow and i start by hearing from all government officials and department go where your mother from and try to get a passport from there. So me? Yes i am from where my mother is from and yes my child will be british but thank god for the loophole that means that i don't ever have to lay down on peebles hospital bed for them to get that right and they too can get take advantage of this lovely system that is here in the BVI and walk away at the end if that's what we choose....After all that is OUR right, the right not to be tied to a place that didn't want us in the first place. Is only who feels it knows it, and i know i will never have to watch my child suffer for citizenship the way i did.
My..n go sit down!!! This is something instituted by the UK and rightfully so due to the abuses of the system both past and present. There was at one time (not sure still in effect) the law of if you are here on permit you go back home to born your offspring.
We are a small island territory and cannot sustain a major influx of emigrants who are hungry for the US dollar! This issue is due to poor management of immigration and labor over the years. What can we expect when the very individuals we elect have children out of wedlock with someone on permit? In situations such as that there will be hypocrisy and unintelligent discretion!
We as Virgin Islanders really have to be careful and aware as I do not trust this administration due to questionable and uncertain about the validity of some of our elected officials and last but not least spouses of foreign origin who can influence policy. Look at St. Lucia Prime Minister with Trinidadian wife and the subsequent opening of the floodgates for Trinis.
0 work build this nation, don't know any of his extended families or more so the culture of their parent(s) all they know in most cases are that they extended family is from which ever country in the universe some might not even be as fortunate to visit them in some cases but you can sit there and support sponsorship of that child and the child future shud depends on birthplace of their Parent(s) extending courtesy to that child saying we accept you caz ur mom was born here so you from here .what about the "rights of a child" as long as a child is born by a person legally residing in that territory that child is a citizen of that territory ....it is legal to build, pay tax do every other thing including being sexually involved but don't get pregnant because your kids would not be accepted ...wat sad day for the bvi .......then just pass it in law saying "only barren ppl allow in the labour force"
"He also talked about ‘stateless children’ and said one of the things that upset him about the situation was when women would have to go back to their native islands usually to acquire status for their children born in the VI and were sent back by authorities with claims that the children weren’t born there"
D. W this is a lie straight from HELL, all those persons who give birth to children in the VI can get a darn passport from the country of origin of their parents, their constitutions supports and protects those dominicans, trinidadians, santodomingans, kittitians et al who were born in the Virgin Islands. Check the facts and stop supporting hog wash in this overseasTerritory.
pressure us we can deal with it but leave our kids alone they are born here legally caz they parent was here according to the legal requirement
The law is the law and it was put in place to protect BVIslanders. Go through the channels and become a legal BVI Citizen then have your children here.
The law is in fact the law but are you really following your own line of foolishness? By the way: a) did you marry before you started having your lot? b) Are you going to rally for the number of months/weeks given for maternity leave be extended in order to facilitate early departure from the job in order to go prepare to drop ones child in their born land ? No just maybe like many other you are one of those heartless BV Islanders who expect people to come here and slave but due to your laws which are really the laws of the land , they just lose their jobs because maternity leave aint extending to facilitate the time off that they will need to travel home to prepare themselves . Good thing that I aint getting more children because even when my child reaches the age to gain citizenship, he/she would still be considered a native of my birth place , supporting my country in every way so that when we decide to leave a place like this conceited BVI we would have no attachment. Only taking the good old US$ that his/her parents came here for and made sure to save that we could go home and build our country that accepted us from the onset. Pls before you even try to respond , I am a very proud citizen of another Caribbean Island who like many others came here to not only build your country , for which you show no appreciation but to also gain a bit of the US legally.
people in the bvi goes to the usvi to give birth and their child becomes a us citizen automaticly? People live, work pay their dews, why can't the child get wat belong to them?
i) how does a person born here feel when he or she has been denied [delayed] citizen ship
ii)how does such a one feel when citizenship is bestowed on others from the length and breath of U.S. virgin islands and other places who are not born here but gain rights through descent.
iii) how does such a one feel also when one sees not only your self discriminated against but your parents denied [delayed] in the land of your birth.
If anyone out there can answer these objectively he/she is wise.
Years ago they used to say we were backward, so we went abroad, when we returned they said we were undereducated, so we sent our kids abroad to university. Now when they return with their degree they can't be hired because some Jamaican holding the job they need, hired by some Trini supervisor, and neither one has a degree!
Time we realized, they just don't want us. They want their own kind. Question is, are we going to let them come here in our country and hire their own kind and shut us out of jobs? So far the answer is a resounding YES. WHAT are we going to do about it?
and i don't think you are so dumb to suggest abortion caz i will be rude enuff to suggest ur mom shudda abort you so you wouldn't be here talking all this crap right now, you even talking about if a woman dating a bvislander she shud get married ...marriage is a lifetime commitment and it takes a while to develope the trust to make such commitment because the trust is not there, doesnt mean you should not be dating
If life and relationship was as perfect as you suggestion then every kid born in this island mom and dad would of be together, all we are saying it is not illegal to have sex or give birth and with sex kids are possible so plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz have a heart and doh let the kidz suffer. it is a natural progression when sperm meets egg kids Develope
for those who using the foolish argument that it is a British law, it certainly is but there a word call "amendment" dats all we are saying change the laws, we outlive this colonial laws
To those who talkin about our nation goes independent and we want our kidz to get british passport the only thing i see britain giving us here is some Arrogant governors every few yrs we not even good enough to use the currency SENARIO-St.Thomas is a U.S. state uses U.S. currency.... SXM french and dutch uses gliders and U.S. dollars Mainly for tourism purposes..... Tortola British colony uses U.S. dollars it might look simple to some and they may have all kinda reasons but to me it says alot ..we are just and Extention of an empire Who care nothing about us as a people but just see us as assets, It's like and old car park in ur yard you don't drive it so don't really care weather it got flat tires or not but it is urs, it is left in the yard with old rotten tires but it is all gud caz it doesn't affect ur movement unless someone decide to change the tyres and get it running properly you ready to claim ownership dat how Britain sees this beautiful country ...word..