It’s easy to enter VI with fake documents- SFC Report
It was while testifying before the House of Assembly’s Standing Finance Committee during the 2016 Budget deliberation that the Acting Chief Immigration Officer Mr Ian B. Penn told law makers about another issue.
Equipment in VI cannot detect fake documents
In response to a question from the Leader of the Opposition, Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3) when he asked Mr Penn if there are Machine Readable Equipment in the territory, the Acting Chief Immigration Officer told the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) that “the current system includes readable equipment, however, it cannot detect the authenticity of the documents.”
This can lead to persons coming to the Virgin Islands with fake documents, if the equipment cannot detect the authenticity of travel documents, including passports.
The Opposition Leader, Hon Fraser, also raised at the SFC meeting that he took a morning ferry from West End, Tortola to Jost Van Dyke and that there was a ferry at the dock in Jost Van Dyke with passengers waiting to be cleared by the Immigration Department, however, there was none on the island to clear the boat which came from the US Virgin Islands (USVI).
Boats must wait; No Immigration Officers
Hon Fraser stated that the same Immigration Officer clearing the boat came on the same boat from West End with him. The Leader of the Opposition and Member for the Third District suggested that either persons are told not to come early or someone is available to clear passengers at all times.
The Ag Chief Immigration Officer said he has something in place to address this situation where “Customs Officers would sometimes hold the documents until the Immigration Officer arrives and then the passengers are dealt with later on.”
The Member for the Second District which includes Jost Van Dyke, Hon Melvin M. Turnbull told the Committee “the difficulty is the USVI does not follow the proper schedule and it could pose challenges to the Department.”
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