Dr. Virginia Albert-Poyotte announced on Monday 12th June, 2023 that an investigation is underway into the immigration office following claims made via Unitedpac Saint Lucia.
“Disturbingly, it has come to light that certain employees within the passport office have been colluding with third parties, often referred to as “coyotes,” to exploit desperate individuals. These unscrupulous intermediaries would charge exorbitant amounts, surpassing $700, to facilitate the acquisition of passports. Subsequently, these third parties would then make payments to the complicit individuals within the passport office to secure the passports.” the account claimed.
Poyotte says after visiting the office she has witnessed the lack of limited human resource capacity to deal with the volume of work at the office.
She says in the event someone owns a business privately that aids in getting passports and citizens choose to pay extra money to obtain their passports from said businesses that is their choice however, it is in the interest of the government if those businesses are partaking in receiving the passports unlawfully through the immigration office.
“As recent as Friday I did an impromptu unannounced visit at the department to examine what was happening internally with regards to the process and there I actually witnessed the time frame it takes to process one passport and with that, the immigration department did inform that they process about 200 to 300 passports per day and that is the capacity so there I realized that we may have limited human resource capacity to deal with the volume of work that’s there. The issue in regards to persons paying extra money to obtain their passports, if somebody has a private business and Saint Lucians want to patronize that business that is their choice what is of interest to the government is what happens in the immigration department and I will concentrate my efforts and energy in that area.” she disclosed.
“If it is found that persons within the department facilitate any activity that is unlawful, then the Ministry and the government will deal with the station. The point that was raised about different companies charging persons for passports, once it is a legal entity the government will not engage in that, but we will explore what is happening at immigration to find out if there is any illegal activity facilitating something that is not acceptable and creating distress for the public.” she added.
She says allegations were made against a specific officer who has chosen to take legal action to defend his name however the Department of Home Affairs will investigate the process for obtaining the passport from said private businesses and whether there are persons on the inside facilitating.
“ Well, there were some allegations that were made, and one of the officers was accused so we are actually going to find out whether there is any truth to the matter however, the individual has decided to defend his name by proceeding on a legal matter on that matter, but when it comes to the department of home affairs, we will find out what the process is on whether they have anybody inside the department that facilitates anything that causes a delay for the public to get their documents.” she shared.
Photo: immigrantinvest.com
