About 850 Venezuelan migrants register daily in Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago’s amnesty registration drive for Venezuelans has so far attracted an average of 850 people passing through most centres daily.
And those in line, who are not attended to the same day, receive a chit to obtain a priority appearance subsequently.
Acting National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds confirmed this in an update to reporters at Parliament.
In the Senate earlier he had replied to questions on the issue. The registration allows Venezuelans in T&T legally and illegally to work for a year. The exercise ends on June 14.
Hinds said no registration will be done today, the Eid holiday, “(So) with all we’re doing, we have the interests of the T&T people at hand,” he added.
Based on figures up to Monday, he said about 800-850 Venezuelans average have been passing through systems at the three centres in Port-of-Spain, San Fernando and Tobago.
While there was no global figure yet, he added, “Numbers tell us the process is working very smoothly since increased numbers were noted since last Sunday and (this) Monday. It’s attracting those for whom it’s intended.”
Using the Minister’s figure that means about 4,250 migrants have registered and if the trend continues just over 11,000 would be at the end of the process.
He said those handling processing have been gauging when numbers at centres are enough for the day’s business. Those still in line after the close of business, are given chits to facilitate priority appearance the following day or at a subsequent time within the two-week exercise.
In some instances, business even went beyond the 5 pm end time, Hinds said. He added there are sections that deals with document verification and some cases may take longer to verify and clarify the issue. “As we had cases of people who had fraudulent documents,” he said.
He said tents were erected to protect applicants in line from the changing weather.
