WILLEMSTAD — Within the implementation of the Brooks Towers-Agreement (BTA), in which foreigners could qualify for a temporary residence permit, steering committees have been set up to deal with cases threatening to fall by the wayside.
NEWS ARTICLE TAKEN FROM WWW.AMIGOE.COM
Migrants could submit a request to these steering committees on Curaçao and St. Maarten.
Initially, these requests should have been submitted before February 15th, which is when the BTA-project would be terminated. However, that deadline has now been extended to February 28th. Minister of Justice, Magali Jacoba (PAR) announced this yesterday during a Central Committee meeting of the States. The steering committee on Curaçao is currently dealing with approx. 194 cases and that on St. Maarten with 700 cases. As an example, the Minister named unregistered youngsters still attending school but not able to dispose of a temporary residence permit on time and therefore threaten to fall by the wayside.
The requests can be submitted to the department of Justice on Curaçao, to the police station in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, and to the Registry Office on Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius. The Minister had stated earlier this week that she would provide the States-member with figures on the project. 4578 dossiers had been submitted on Curaçao between November 3rd and December 15th, last. Those dossiers could include more applications per family. Approx. 3700 dossiers had been submitted on St. Maarten. Thirty-five nationalities had been registered during the process. The largest group regarded Haitians, followed by Columbians, Dominicans and Jamaicans.
The Minster stated further that the controls on illegal citizens would start after the closure of the BTA-project. Illegal Haitians will not be deported for the time being in view of humanitarian reasons as their country had been hit by an earthquake. The Minister had further received many requests from Haitians to let their family come over temporarily. "Those cases are currently being considered, but we cannot give them a definite answer yet."
NEWS ARTICLE TAKEN FROM WWW.AMIGOE.COM