The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE government anticipates a draft of a revised Immigration Act will be released to the public "shortly", Immigration Minister Brent Symonette told reporters yesterday.

Mr Symonette said the existing act has not been substantially amended since this country's independence in 1973, so the current undertaking is a complex issue involving constitutional rights and issues that have come to the public forefront in recent times.

However, the minister said he did not want to impose a timeline to the work, which is spearheaded by Law Reform Commissioner Dame Anita Allen, former Court of Appeal president.

This comes as a time when the government has hired high-powered attorneys to fight legal action meant to stop the Minnis administration's eradication of shanty towns.

The Jean Rony Jean-Charles court matter, which made headlines last year, has not been resolved either. Mr Jean-Charles was born in The Bahamas to a foreign mother and was deported to Haiti late last year. However, it was later ordered by the court he be returned to the country. Crown attorneys have argued he is not a citizen of this country despite a birth certificate they say is not proof of citizenship.

Issues like this one have highlighted the need for more defined citizenship laws.

"As you know, the government has appointed Dame Anita Allen as law reform commissioner up at the Office of the Attorney General," Mr Symonette said.

"We have met with Dame Anita and gone over the whole issue of the Immigration Act, the difficulties, the pros and the cons and this act hasn't been substantially amended since independence. So she's working on that and we hope to be able to have a draft out shortly.

"I don't want to put a timeline to it because it's a very complex issue. It involves constitutional rights, it involves obviously the issues of the day, it involves the emotional parts of a number of issues.

"So we'll give you updates as we go along, but she's working on it and we hope to give an answer very shortly."

The Department of Immigration is also set to go completely digital by September 10.

"We've been going through training processes. It's a $16m (odd) contract and we (have) been training different officers. The computer systems have been installed.

"The ground floor has had substantial amendments and we hope by when we go live there will be no need for moving files. The documents will be scanned when you apply. So let's say you are coming in for a work permit, you go downstairs, you take a number, you apply. Your documents are scanned. That file would then be an electronic file. So we hope that will increase the efficiency and also the backlog will be transferred over on to that system so we'll be able to do that," he said.

"We had a summer programme with some students from the University of The Bahamas. They did an excellent job in going through some of the files. We are trying to catch up, but there is a tremendous back log but we're making some progress," he also said.