While there are pending amendments to the Anguilla Constitution to relieve persons on the island from certain immigration and work-permit restrictions, some interim arrangements have been made to that effect.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, told reporters what action has been taken so far following the decision of Executive Council.
“As a result of work through the Labour Department, and the Immigration Department, we have been able to deal with a number of issues involving children of non-nationals born in Anguilla as well as grandchildren of persons born in Anguilla,” she informed the media representatives at the Government’s press conference on Tuesday, March 29.
“I am happy to report that we have finally arrived at a place where the grandchildren of belongers, and the children of persons not born in Anguilla, will no longer have to pay immigration fees. We have also dealt with a matter where the grandchildren of belongers – once you are able to prove that that is the case – are also entitled to a waiving of work permit fees.
The Minister added: “These are interim measures that we have put in place in order to lessen the burden on both sets of persons. At the end of the day we are focused in my Ministry on trying to address this issue holistically by amending the Constitution in order to deal certainly with the grandchildren of belongers. So we are moving forward in a number of areas and we just wanted to report on that today.”
