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More expected on Belongership before year-end

A section of Tortola. (BVI News photo)

Governor John Rankin said he expects to hear more from the government about reforms before the next three months elapse, particularly in relation to applications made for the issuance of residence and Belonger status in the territory.

While observing recently that Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has responded positively in relation to the challenges about the delay in processing these applications, Governor Rankin suggested that there was still more work to be done in this area.

“We’ve had this large backlog of applications for residence and belonger status and I think we all know of cases of people who have been waiting many years for their applications to be processed and for decisions to be taken on them,” Governor Rankin said. “So my concern was to deal with those applications under the current law as it stands.”

He added: “It’s a lot of work required to deal with that backlog and I hope very much by the time of my next quarterly review to be able to report on real substantive delivery of dealing with those applications between now and then.”

The Governor pointed to the review done on residence and belongership by Kedrick Malone and shared that it was useful to read since it makes recommendations for future arrangements for residents that are seeking such status.

For the moment though, the Governor insisted that those who are applying under the current law and current rules deserve to have their applications dealt with, and said he raised this issue with the Premier.

According to Governor Rankin, the Premier reached out to the United Kingdom for technical assistance such as research on immigration flows and processing citizenship applications. Governor Rankin said some of this information has already been provided to the government.

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10 Comments

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  1. What About says:

    ppl waiting 20+ years for PERMANENT RESIDENCYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

    Like 13
    Dislike 1
  2. Hmmmm says:

    Andrew opened a can of worms when he started this fast track and made a real f..king mess. Played right into UK hands and all the current Premier is doing is traveling and doing concerts, showing no concern about standing up to the British.

    The people are getting screwed why isn’t the UK concerned about a code of ethics for the House of Assembly why isn’t that in the reforms.

    Like 9
    Dislike 4
  3. See says:

    I will never forget the elections you could see who they wanted to win. Imagine a judge ruling against a thief who was found guilty. To go back to the supermarket where he stole the item and put it back on the shelf and everyone pretends that it never happened.

    The actions to open back up the House of Assembly were based on a former Attorney General who was never asked to defend himself wrongly advised the Government allegedly.

    So now it was pushed through and now we face I guess the floodgates opening up for a particular people. Governor, you are not fooling the people who thought you would be focusing on stamping out the corruption and when asked you see matters are still been investigated. Come on.

    Like 3
    Dislike 2
  4. LG says:

    Many of us have been here for more than 20 yrs, paying work permits and taxes, this is home.
    if you are committed to BVI and you are a model citizen you need to be treated fairly and get your application handled in a decent time frame.
    there are not so many applications in that it should take more than 2-3 months.
    it is demoralizing to live in a country where it seems you are not wanted even though you contribute much more than the average.

    Like 5
    Dislike 2
  5. Dear gov says:

    I will be putting my application to naturalize and bypass this Belongers it is top long I’ve applied with no avail

    Like 1
    Dislike 2
  6. ReX FeRaL says:

    Why is this dictatorial Governor up in immigration mix?

    Like 5
    Dislike 2
  7. shark says:

    this country gone to the dogs

    Like 2
    Dislike 6
  8. COLONIALISM 2023 says:

    It is quite clear what the governor and the UK are doing in the Virgin Islands. They are using immigration to destabilize the country to change the
    demographics. Already Virgin Islanders are a minority in their country and the governor continues to push for more foreigners to be granted status so that eventually they will be easily voted into the House of Assembly and rule the Virgin Islands. It is a pity that the native Virgin Islanders do not have the guts to stand up and take back their country instead they prefer to victimize anyone who speaks out against these colonial tactics with their house ni**er mentality.

    Like 6
    Dislike 2
  9. Speaks volumes says:

    Wicked people

  10. @hmmm says:

    Andrew sis what was best
    He was going do 15 years u all made noise
    He listened acknowledge and said 20
    Nobody perfect nobody ain’t no darn Saint
    Andrew will get his blessings for doing what he felt was right
    He may have slipped or got sucked in to what’s he in that don’t make him a monster
    There’s good and bad in all of us dont fool yourself or others

    Like 3
    Dislike 4

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