Travel clearance vital
THERE appears to be misunderstanding about the writing-off of the $650million Tertiary Education Loans Scheme (TELS) debt, as some recipients have complained of being stopped at the airport because of their loans.
This newspaper has received several complaints from frustrated students who either planned to travel abroad through the National Employment Centre (NEC), or to emigrate.
In response to queries from this newspaper, the Ministry of Employment, Productivity, and Industrial Relations said those who have been students under TELS could be prevented from travelling for employment opportunities under the New Zealand Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Work Scheme and the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme if they failed to obtain prior clearance from the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS).
“To ensure that Fijians selected under the labour mobility programs are able to travel, they are being advised during contract signing to request written confirmation from FRCS for travel clearance as sometimes there are delays with the information system being updated,” the ministry stated.
“Apart from the advisory provided prior to departure, the Department of Immigration is also provided with the list of workers who intended to travel for verification purposes to avoid any disappointments due to “stop departure”.
“The ministry has been relaying this message to the selected workers on several occasions, however, a few chose to ignore the advice provided and are being stopped at the airport border control. The ministry can only provide the necessary advice to the selected workers; however, they must take full responsibility to ensure that there is no hindrance to their travel under the scheme.”
According to the ministry, it does consult with the approved employers to make arrangements for those who had been stopped, to travel at a later date.
When contacted, TELS chief executive officer Dr Hasmukh Lal said while they are not aware of complaints, they do, at times, get cases where a student or graduate gets stopped at the airport.
However, he said this was done purely as a result of obtaining travel clearance.
“Please note that TELS debt was not technically written off, but the loans were converted to bonds,” he said.
“This means, that instead of repaying loans, a graduate is to serve the country via paid employment.
“Therefore, those who have not served their bond via service to the country and do not obtain travel clearance from Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) are stopped at the airport.”
He added that from 2017, the power to travel and bond clearance for TSLS funded students and graduates was done by FRCS.
“For bond clearance for the service done as per bond period, FRCS verifies employment records with FNPF employment history.
He said this process did not mean that FNPF money was going to be surrendered to or deposited with FRCS.
Dr Lal said NEC cases directly liaised with FRCS for clearance.
These questions were also posed to Minister of Finance Professor Biman Prasad.
He told this newspaper, they were aware of certain issues that have risen, and he confirmed that the previous TELS debt was converted from loans to bonds.
“People who want to leave, they have to make some arrangements,” he said.
“FRCS and TSLS, they’ve been working in a positive way to support people who want to go and who can make arrangements to pay. The new scholarship scheme is bonding the students. You get scholarships, you study free. You work for that many years for the country. If you don’t, if you want to leave, then you pay. And that’s only fair.
“Those people who are in the old system, which have been converted to bonds, if they’re going, they can make arrangements, and some of them have.
“So, we have been having issues there, but I think we have a system to deal with it.”
Meanwhile, Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) acting CEO Malakai Naiyaga said all scholarship bonded students who intended to travel abroad need to obtain a travel clearance from FRCS seven days prior to travel.
“Additionally, students who have fully paid their student debt or have completed serving their bond need to ensure that they obtain a full clearance letter from FRCS,” he said in response to queries.
“Specifically, those emigrating must also clear their debt before travelling and obtain a full clearance letter from FRCS. If they have served their bond, the TELS debt will be apportioned accordingly.”
Mr Naiyaga said those going for overseas employment must obtain a temporary release from FRCS prior to travel, for which they needed to submit their passport biodata page, overseas travel bond form signed by two guarantors, letter from TSLS confirming outstanding loan or bond service amount, return date to Fiji, a Time -To-Pay Arrangement (TTPA) with FRCS for bond repayment, which must be 20 per cent of the bond amount or preferred amount (whichever is higher).
Mr Naiyaga said this included visitor’s visa, overseas employment, study, official travel, medical, sports, migration, and blanket exemption.
He added FRCS was unaware of any instance whereby students were told to surrender their monies in FNPF accounts prior to departure.
“FRCS has conducted massive awareness on this issue, and we are still doing so through mainstream media, advertisements (includes advertisements in The Fiji Times), social media platforms, webinars, et cetera.
“We wish to reiterate our call to TELS students to ensure to obtain a travel clearance before travelling.”