Labour, Immigration process merging next month
Marlon Penn
Junior Minister for Trade Marlon Penn has announced plans to merge the Labour and Immigration processes by next month.
While speaking on the NDP Radio programme on Monday, Penn said the merger is to make the Labour and Immigration process seamless for persons applying for work permits and Immigration clearance.
He said getting rid of the long lines outside the Immigration Department in Road Town was the first step of the merger.
Queueing has now been replaced with an appointment system and a soon-be-implemented online system.
The Junior Minister said: “We are now assiduously working on amalgamating the Labour and Immigration processes … That is envisaged to [be placed] online by early April. So, persons could schedule, attach their documents that are necessary for clearance, attach the Labour and Immigration documents, or have that process be addressed simultaneously.”
Programming donor
In the meantime, Penn announced that government has a benefactor who wants to donate the programming software for the e-government platform.
“We are now vetting that proposal with a view of possibly taking up the offer,” he said.
According to Penn, that donation would save the government about $10 million.
He also publicly expressed his gratitude to all who assisted the territory after hurricanes Irma and Maria.
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Best move
For who?
Mr c—————————-s
Labour is/was the cause of the lines at immigration.
The man who always voting nay can find the time to deal with expats, just like his Premier, they all forgot who voted for them
This is for the good of the country, those people on permits are needed. Don’t show your ignorance
Those on permits are the one who destroyed the immigration and Labour Departments after Irma
No, the looters were mostly BVIslanders I am ashamed to say.
It is also BVIslander businesses that lose money when Labour and Immigration mess up work permits for our employees.
We all know who you are and your hatred for the territory- fake man
Bvislanders have no choice but yo loot if they cannot find jobs at home, “ashamed to say”
Not to the extent they are being imported while locals lose their jobs to those they train
Long overdue, a move in the right direction.
Come better than that Penn. Name the diner and nationality. Virginislanders must know who is getting in labor and immigration matters in this territory. If it is not local what are the asking in return…
Which local will donate 10mil in services? Give it a rest. What happen to saying thanks, being grateful and moving on. If a donor wants to remain anonymous whays the big deal?
Your small mind will keep our country back. The world is now so small and we want to play on the international stage but keep hampering all these business, if you want us to live in total isolation we will wither and die. we need a strong international community with businesses from outside
We need a Donald Trump, We just cannot accommodate the world, just take it to another country, may Jamaica they have more land than us.
Trump would fix this island quick. Just like he fixed the USA mess
I sincerely hope they will consider a longer term permission to people who have been here as residents, employees and have no records of misconduct. It would be good for all if 3 yr permission was granted, such as they have for a drivers license. More money when we need it fewer people in line and all security in place.
Name the benefactor so we the people can know who to watch out for in future trying to get all Kinds of things and special treatment from the government.
@Ned boy I didn’t even read the comments before I post my first one. I now see yours and agree 100% with you!!! Those people who dislike your comment lack vision and insight…sorry to say.
Will this process be in place for those who need to renew their work permits? If so what a welcomed enhancement.
The next thing to do is fix the road…PLEASE.
10 million for a software package ! come on this is not rocket science we don’t need this, just better trained staff that are much more efficient and helpful… Don’t be fooled by some benefactor promising the easy fix for nothing – there’s no such thing as a free meal there will be strings attached I guarantee! Upgrades later at exorbitant cost the usual con ….The situation is a mess I agree but could be fixed quite easily if you recruit some good people managers that will energise,support and encourage the staff and bring in more rigorous performance criteria for the benefit of all….This smells like another sell out to me…
they need to sell out. If you can’t provide safety, roads, power, water, schools etc. then someone else will have to build your infrastructure. govt broke me son and the island is 40 years behind
Progress is long overdue, but at what cost must we sell our souls?????
This guys has no word.
Why are you such hater of your own colleague dude? Undermining the man every chance you get behind his back then smiling in his face. Your underming ways would be your own political downfall.
This is a major leap forward.
Although note that the $10m in cost savings can only be made up of a couple of factors, one of which is staffing costs of the departments (another, although not strictly a saving, might be the reduction in delays in collecting fees).
Its not going to happen. The NDP is an Illusion of transparency. Pure surface talk and M——- knows this.
Residents who got the the conditional permit due to the hurricanes and now got jobs,the work permit application is in the labor department do they have to wait until the papers process seeing they are taking so long ,can one work meanwhile waiting?