According to reliable information reaching SMN News, the immigration department is refusing to accept any of the BTA receipts since the Minister of Justice is yet to put a policy in place which would allow applicants of the category 1 and 2 to remain on the island until their documents are processed.
The source said immigration personnel are not able to identify which of the receipts are authentic from those that were forged since the Minister does not have a policy in place and all of the forms used during the extension process were for extensions only. The lack of policy also diminishes the rights of the immigration department to allow those persons to remain on the island thus forcing the immigration department to implement the laws based on the current LTU policy.
SMN News further learnt that those persons who applied for the category 1 and 2 during the extension period are not in the computer system. The source further explained that the BTA team accepted the applications with the intention of putting in the information on the applicants at a later date in the system, but since the arrest of three members of the BTA team and the process placed on hold indefinitely, many persons who submitted their documents and paid their processing fees at the labour department are not in the system, thus hindering the admittance and expulsion process. "Determining which of the receipts are authentic is practically impossible for immigration authorities."
In an invited comment, Chief of Police Peter De Witte said he held a conversation with the Minister of Justice, and was informed by him that due to the ongoing investigation into the process of the BTA requests, that everything was put on hold until further notice.
De Witte said according to the verdict of the Judge dated January 15th 2011, case No.004/2011 there was no new policy in place, reasons for the immigration department maintaining the previous mandate of the Minister of Justice on all Immigration matters and applying the current LTU regulations.
The immigration department appears to be holding fast to the position that the BTA process was open only to persons seeking to renew their BTA permit, and will not recognize any first time applicants neither for category I or II. Those who arrived after 2005 and filed BTA applications are even worse off, as the Minister has repeatedly stated, as recently as last week during questioning by Parliament, that he did not change the BTA protocol in which all who arrived after 2005 have to leave the island. The court ruling in which the judge seemed to agree that the BTA was only for renewals appears to have stiffened the resolve of the immigration to demand a written policy from the Minister of Justice in order to deviate from their position.
First time applicants of Brooks Tower for Category 1 and 2 permits who applied during the BTA extension project which began last November are now facing the possibility of deportation if caught with the BTA receipts. Raids by the immigration department can begin as early as next week SMN News learnt.
Another controversy surrounding the BTA permits is that the Ministry of Justice is yet to have in place a protocol between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labour which outlines the rights of the BTA category 1 holders who were granted a 3 year permit. Based on the current laws, the Ministry of Justice is solely responsible for residency permits and not labour permits and persons who were granted a three-year residency permit and do not have a working permit are working illegally on the island.