Immigration officer dispatched to Barbados

TIMES INT'L

– issues affecting Guyanese to be addressed

Guyanese in Barbados are facing a number of immigration issues even as Guyana is yet to appoint an honorary consul to that fellow Caricom country.

Director General of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Elizabeth Harper, told Guyana Times International that an inspector from the Central Immigration and Passport Office has been dispatched to Barbados to deal with issues affecting Guyanese in Barbados.

She explained that the decision to send the immigration officer to Barbados was taken because of “the many calls from nationals living in Barbados, most of whom call the Georgetown office to find out where the consul’s office is located on the island.” Meanwhile, in a release issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry on July 23, it was stated that an immigration officer from Guyana will travel to Barbados to conduct duties at the consul office.

Inspector Tyrone Chapman of the Central Immigration and Passport Office travelled to Barbados to conduct consular duties for Guyanese nationals. He is operating from the small conference room at the Amaryllis Beach Resort in the Garrison Historical Area, Palm Beach, Hastings, Christ Church, Barbados from July 25 to 30.

Guyana has been without an honorary consul in Barbados since May 2010, following the death of Norman Faria. Faria had served as Guyana’s honorary consul for 16 years.

Recently, Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, while speaking on the appointment of a new honorary consul to Barbados, said that the ministry has received applications from persons interested in the position, but a suitable person has not yet been selected.

She declined to identify a timeframe when one would be chosen, but noted that the government has been making provisions to address the immigration needs of Guyanese living on the island.

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