CARICOM nationals ufficient funds - Felix
e mind of an immihat “something is
eview is presently id that an exercise r to check on peraddress they gave me of these address”, he said. hat foreigners are ving addresses that at the Deputy Chief er Dale Alves was ent to check on this. on officers have to careful when they rs to this country. deny anybody the na. We want to welt there is some care be exercised. The ers much be recogkeepers”, he said. nding to follow-up ommittee member, Dharamlall, Felix her someone who port and indicated ng at a resort for a ad US$200 in their be allowed entry.
nt funds”, he said grilled by Teixeira ot satisfied with the d the Minister how ation officer would he person has. nse said that this ned through quesdicated
that she has many Caribbean never been asked y she is traveling
don’t look like a ough your passport you might be an ”, he said to chuckmmittee members. he knows there is a mmigration form declare if you have your possession. in Barbados and are profiled and to the latter, he country has been on Guyanese as
Greenidge added that they probably do not ask Teixeira how much money she travels with because she “does not fit the profile”.
Felix continued that the advance passenger list can be useful. “There have been some very glaring cases where even if you want to allow the person to enter you have to consider if you allow them when the money runs out what next”, he said.
He added that it is not the authorities’ desire to be turning away visitors but “again the gatekeepers must… respond to the situation as it occurs and make the right decision in the interest of the security of Guyana”.
Felix was continuously pressed on the criteria used to determine insufficient funds and the point was even made that person may use credit cards or get money through money transfer agent, Western Union. He however explained that the total circumstances have to be looked at to determine whether a person seeking entry into Guyana had enough funds to support his or her stay.
Meanwhile, documents presented to the committee showed that a total of 366 Guyanese have been deported from eight countries from January 1, 2015 to June 30 this year. The bulk was for overstaying followed by illegal entry.
According to the figures provided, 157 Guyanese were deported from Trinidad; 119 overstayed their time and 26 entered illegally. With regards to Suriname there were 134 deportees; 100 for illegal entry and 31 for overstaying their time.
Barbados had the next highest number of Guyanese deportees. Of the 60 persons 40 overstayed their time. Stabroek News