PHILIPSBURG — Justice Minister Anna Richardson has published new guidelines for the admission and expulsion of foreigners in the National Gazette. These guidelines set new and tighter rules for immigrants, but they seem to completely ignore a report from the Law Enforcement Council from 2014 that revealed serious shortcomings in the system.
The Law Enforcement Council report is entitled Sint Maarten Welcomes you! after the text of the stamp visitors get in their passports on arrival. The report’s conclusion: “Once you’re in, you stay in.”
The researchers found that immigration approved 94 percent of applications for (temporary of indefinite) residence on the island. But in less than 24 percent of the cases these decisions included a stipulation that the right of residence applies only to the term for which the ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor has issued a work permit.
One requirement for admission was back in 2014 that immigrants must have health insurance, to prevent that they would become a burden to the community. But the policy explicitly allowed these foreigners to insure themselves locally through SZV – and 83 percent of foreigners did just that.
The Law Enforcement Council scrutinized 255 files and it found no evidence in any of them that the applicants had awaited a decision about their application abroad.
Another aspect of the policy was that low- and unskilled workers would only be recruited in the local market. But according to the report this did not play a role at all in the process of admitting immigrants to the territory. The Labor Department happily granted work permits for security officers, shop assistants, maids and other low-skilled jobs. Based on these work permits, immigration then issued a permit for temporary residence, but it never checked later on whether the applicants continued to meet the conditions for it. The Law Enforcement Council found that the department had insufficient resources to conduct such checkups.
Download Law Enforcement Council 2014 report here>>>
Minister Richardson wants to tighten the screws a bit. Her new guidelines demand that applicants who want to enter St. Maarten for family reunion must have a gross monthly income of 3000 guilders ($1,676).
When someone first applies for a director’s permit, the applicant has to prove that he has a starting capital of at least 36,000 guilders (roughly $20,000) at his or her disposal, earmarked to pay salary for the first year.
Continued residence is no longer accepted as a valid reason for staying in St. Maarten. Requests for an extended residence must always mention the recognized purposes.
Minister Richardson also has limited the validity of temporary residence permits to one year. Registration of children older than 13 at a primary school is no longer accepted as proof for the requirement of school-going. Letters from French-side schools are not accepted anymore either.
If immigration establishes that an applicant has been residing illegally in St. Maarten, a request for a temporary residence permit will be denied, also if the applicant has left the island to await a decision. Such applicants will have to wait three years before they can apply again.
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