Immigration-Speech from Hon. Maxine Maclean
 

I was watching the barbadian televison, and the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs said explicitly that if one is married to a bajan, one can work whilst waiting for the citizenship to be processed. The next day I phoned the immigration people just to confirm and to know what one is supposed to do- next point of call. After 2 days of trying to phone them , I eventually spoke to the receptionist who told me that they never heard the minister saying that, I then said to her that ,means obviously she was not watching the same programme I watched. After much deliberation with her, she called a senior lady who told me they would send me a work permit application form in the post, since I am in UK, and we take it from there. The form arrived this week and I see there is a place where your potential employer is supposed to sign, and this leaves me in a round and round situation coz I have to look for an employer, and again that will depend if that employer is willing to wait for me until I have this work permit, coz I am not sure how long it will take. I just want to know from those who have applied for work permits how long they take.

Re: Immigration-Speech from Hon. Maxine Maclean
 

Hi

I did not see this speech but find this very interesting.

I am in Barbados and married to a local (almost 2 years now), when I first applied for citizenship I was told that I would not be able to work. I have since been told that I can work provided I have a work permit, now I have been told by various people that these permits are just not currently being issued..not sure how true this is though.
Someone else has told me that if it doesn't get approved that you have to leave...does anyone know if this is true for married people???
It is very confusing and frustrating as immigration don't stick to telling you any one thing, it's always different stories.
Also would an employer keep a job open for you for however long it takes for the permit to happen??

J

Re: Immigration-Speech from Hon. Maxine Maclean
 

I thought maxine mclean had been removed as foreign affairs minister ??? she is not handling immigration i heard cos of soo many issues caused - where did you see this programme in the UK you said?

So many rumours and no one really knows anything bout immigration at the moment its one unholy mess and im in the middle of it - dont matter what rules they say there re dont expect anything to happen within a decent time limit and you wont be dissapointed

Re: Immigration-Speech from Hon. Maxine Maclean
 

True, dipidy, am really not expecting anything for the time being, just was interested to know what others think about it and to know if there is anyone who has gone the work permit route.

She was on national television and the presenter was a Mr Wickham. My hubby who is in Barbados at the moment saw that speech as well, I saw it on BEN tv in UK. On that programme they introduced her as the minister of foreign affairs and, yes, there is somebody else who is in charge of immigration but well , since its the same government, I thought they knew each others' rules and regulations, or shud I say laws of the country,but it seems the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

Re: Immigration-Speech from Hon. Maxine Maclean
 

That is a common theme.... :unsure: