Something’s not working

The young man had come from his hurricane-stricken homeland and had begun a three-month programme of studies at Cipriani Labour College while awaiting a student visa. His stay was questioned by immigration officers, whose hand was stayed by his legal team winning an injunction last Friday from Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh.

Eventually, on Monday, the Office of the Attorney General (AG) stepped in to assure that the Chief Immigration Officer would issue him a student permit, thereby freeing up the High Court to issue a consent order, effectively allowing him to stay.

This whole episode would surely have been a very harrowing experience for Saint-Herve who, from all accounts, had followed the proper avenues of application to the college, including provision of proof of funding and prior certification, all with the stated intent to eventually return to his homeland and apply what he has learned to the development of Haiti.

While Saint-Herve was fortunate to get the support of the Emancipation Support Committee (ESC) and attorney Gregory Delzin, one can only wonder what might have been the outcome for this stranger in a strange land if such help had not come his way.

This demonstrates once again how imperative it is for the Immigration Division of the Ministry of National Security — as perhaps to be advised by the AG’s Office — to quickly unclog the obstacles to the timely granting of student visas to overseas applicants.

Indeed, one rationale for doing so will surely be ESC president Kafra Kambon’s plea for humanitarian conduct from the Immigration Division.

But it is not just due to notions of charitableness that this must be done, but for reasons including the economic opportunities such as “educational tourism” in this instance to be grasped by this country.

Yet as a prerequisite to any such marketing thrust, this country must ensure its student visa policy is clearly stated and is reasonably accessible by the target group.

Alternatively, if the Immigration Division indeed has a big backlog of applications for such visas — as has been suggested to Newsday by key sources — and if this body is tardy in processing these documents, such a situation would make losers of us all.

Students such as Saint-Herve will most obviously be on the sharp end of such a situation, but so too educational institutes and employers who will also lose out by the uncertainty of the status of an overseas student’s paperwork.

As shown by the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and the Donald Trump controversy in yesterday’s United States presidential election, immigration can be an emotive issue in many jurisdictions.

A key part of alleviating the risk of rows over immigration is to ensure an unclogging of any blockages in the machinery of the Immigration Division, so as to expedite decision-making on whether or not to grant visas.

For too long this department has been characterised by delays even in the processing and delivery of passports to our own nationals.

Something in the system is not