BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, May 03, 2018 - PREMIER Hon. Mark Brantley had dubbed the amnesty programme a huge success, stating that it was an excellent arrangement for the non-nationals.
This announcement was made on Monday (Apr. 30) while speaking to members of the media at his monthly press conference.
Brantley explained to the press that the amnesty programme was designed for two reasons: “One - to let our non-national community know that we respect, honour and appreciate them being here and we want them, as much as possible, to feel welcomed and two - to let that same community know that you must feel welcomed but you must also bring yourself within the confines of the law”.
He stated that there were non-nationals who complained of being unable to afford work permits, adding that the amnesty programme was put in place to assist with that issue as well.
He noted that this was the second amnesty programme that his government had staged. It ran from December, 2017 until the first week of April, 2018.
“What we did, we said that if you came in during that time and you owed money, we would forgive the debt. If you are a work permit holder, to renew your permit, we took the price from $2500 down to $1500. I don’t believe anywhere in the world you can get a deal as good as that.
“We went further to say that if you were getting your residency, that would normally cost you $1500, again if you came in during that period of time, we forgave whatever debt that you might have had and we offered you that residency for $1000,” the Premier explained.
Brantley further explained that the government had 999 work permit applications and processing in 2018 during the amnesty period which was a big leap when compared to the 494 applications that were received the first time the programme was implemented.
He said that the increase in figures suggests that the amnesty was one that worked because the non-nationals took advantage of the opportunity and are now regularized.
