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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Nassau, Bahamas - The following is a statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs & Immigration on the coming into force of the new Immigration Amendment Bill:
I
am pleased to announce that following the assent by the Governor
General on Friday 8th May, the Immigration Amendment Act 2015 and the
regulations made thereunder come into force today. This is a pleasing
development and one which will strengthen the hand of the Department of
Immigration as it seeks to stem the tide of unlawful migration in The
Bahamas.
The Act will amongst other things provide for stiffer penalties for
illegal landing, for harbouring illegal migrants and for making attempts
to leave this country to be smuggled into another country. The Act will
also make it an offence to enter into a fraudulent marriage and will
strengthen the powers of arrest of Immigration Officers.
It creates for the first time an Immigration Reserve, patterned after
the Police Reserves. It will be established in the next fiscal year and
in the first instance in islands that have, at present, no immigration
presence. An announcement will be made shortly on when recruitment can
be expected for the reserve.
The Act also creates an immigration status known as a Belonger's Permit
to be issued to those who are born in The Bahamas to non-Bahamian
parents and who are lawfully in The Bahamas. The fee for this is 125
dollars.
The public is reminded that everyone who lives and works in The Bahamas
should have evidence of that right to live and work here. This includes
non-national students. It includes those children born of non-national
parents in The Bahamas.
I thank the public for its continued support of all of the measures
that have been taken so far and those to come to try to manage the
problem of illeg
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