Start project for temporary residence permit Brooks Tower
After some week of preparations, the project where undocumented persons can register and apply for a Brooks Tower temporary residence permit, started on Tuesday in Sint Maarten at the Office of the Immigration Service on Illidge Road, and on Curaçao at the SDK. In Bonaire, the launch will take place on Monday November 9th at the counter of the Burgerzaken at Playa.
Minister of Justice Mrs. Magali Jacoba personally processed the first application for temporary residence permit. This project is the execution of the Brooks Tower Accord, which is the agreement signed by all the Lieutenant Governors in 2007 for the purpose of dealing with the issue and impact of undocumented persons on the islands. The registration project that will last six weeks, thus from the 3rd of November to the 15th of December, is not a period of grace.
Since the launch of this project, many undocumented persons living on Sint Maarten, Curaçao and Bonaire got their petition forms and started gathering the required documents in order to register and apply for a temporary residence permit (BT), which will be valid till November 3rd 2010. During this period in which the permit will be valid, the foreigner should prepare himself to enter the regular track at the end of 2010.
Those that are eligible are only undocumented persons that settled on one of the islands before December 31, 2001 (Category I) or those that established on one of the islands during the period from January 1, 2002 through December 31, 2005 (Category II). After the implementation of this project much stricter control will be applied and any person who fails to make use of this opportunity will bear the consequence of having to return to his country. No persons can be considered who have failed to do the right thing.
According to numbers
The project bureaus on all the 3 islands will follow a structured procedure to deal with the application procedure of the undocumented persons. The persons submitting their applications will receive a number in order to get a turn. The numbers will be given according to the number of people that can be handled per day. When no numbers are left, the remaining undocumented persons will have to return the next day to get a number.
Bring your documents
Each undocumented person should clearly understand that together with the application form, he should bring all other required documents. If even one of the documents is missing, the application cannot be processed. He will be sent back with the application form and will be asked to return when he has completed all required documents. Moreover, the permit will only be granted if he or his employer meets all established requirements.
In order to guide the process there is a public information campaign with the theme, "Let’s do it right". All means of communication will be used to provide information to the public. Besides, there are also 4 websites where one can find all essential information: www.kubopermit.an, www.consupermiso.an, www.withyourpermission.an www.metuwtoestemming.an.