Head of the Census Office Leona Marlin welcomed all persons and provided an introduction.
"Thank you all for coming. We hope to give you information regarding the Department of Civil Registry on the different tasks or functions that we do at the office. We will provide you with details on birth certificates, passports, registering of addresses, among other topics. Please feel free to ask questions. We have some form for you to see and if need be to fill out and bring them by the Civil Registry office. Thanks again for coming."
The officials explained about several important issues regarding the civil registry.
"There are persons that are registered on the French side with one type of information and on the Dutch Side, with another type of information. This inaccuracy or inconsistency will sooner or later catch up the culprits. In the end, persons will be charged for lying on official government documents. It is a crime," the official said. "Information has to be consistent across the board."
Another point that the office wanted to bring across was that people at times are not sure what to do or how to go about or what type of information they should be requesting because of the technicalities involved; therefore, when the Civil Registry clerk ask for information, please do so and not get upset. We are here to help you, the official said.
For example, there are several types of registration forms, so depending on what the form will be used for or to whom the form will be given, depends on what type of registration form the clerk will need to give to that person. So we ask questions to better assist the client.
There are various types of identifications, namely, Drivers licenses, Passports, and Identification cards—all have to be of a valid date, the official said. So if someone comes in with an expired date on the id they are using at the office, then that piece of ID is no good; and therefore the Office of the Civil Registry cannot conduct any business with this person with a non-valid identification.
The official also talked about legal addresses.
If changing of address, you have to bring in a GEBE bill or a permission letter from landlord, his/her id, and signed. Once you are 18 years you have to declare your address, whether living under your parents' house or not.
Civil Registry is not the immigration department. So persons should come to register the child just after they are born so as to get a birth certificate. It is the child's right, and the parent's duty.
If mother doesn't want the father to acknowledge the child, then the father could go to court to have the acknowledgement happen.
For passports of children, both biological father and mother, whether married or not, and child have to be present when requesting said passport and when picking up said passport.
Don't wait till last minute to get or renew passport. Under normal circumstances, passports take two weeks.
The officials wanted the public to know that there are specific countries that the civil registry department receives a lot of false documents.
When people use these, by law the front office has an obligation to report said fraud and call in the police to arrest the person. The clerks, the civil servants from the civil registry are well trained, they go through training just about every week for detection of false documents, to know the laws better, etc. so the public is urged not use dabble in falsification of documents. They will get caught and they will be arrested.
Also some people have gotten false passports or gotten passports under dubious circumstances, this can be reverse. Once it is caught, this person may go to jail.
If a person tries to defraud the Civil Registry, it is the law that the civil registry clerk reports the incident. And as such, the police will come and lock up this person immediately.
For more information please visit the Civil Registry Department or visit www.sintmaartengov.org.
