Governor says TCI is growing fastest in the Region, but TCI Citizenry not benefitting

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, March 9, 2023 – Legal Migration is contributing to a rapid population growth rate for the Turks and Caicos, now the Governor of the territory is labelling the islands as “the fastest growing Caribbean country” amidst concerns that an insufficient number of those people are able to become full citizens of the TCI.

The Governor, Nigel Dakin, in an instagram post on Saturday March 4th said the country was growing at a rate of roughly four percent confirming data shared in 2022 by Arlington Musgrove, Minister of Immigration and Border Services.

On an annual basis, 1,000 applicants successfully receive British Overseas Territory Citizens (BOTC’s) status, but only around 60 of those people become official TCI citizens, said Governor Dakin.

“There are many who were not successful and feel aggrieved. Judicial Review is pending; if the process was followed correctly by the Commission it will withstand review – if it wasn’t, a remedy is needed.”

The Governor exposed, in a striking photograph, what it looks like when he is about to confer citizenship onto individuals approved by the Status Commission; he informed in the Instagram message that he wholeheartedly accepted the 42 recommendations and would sign the documents making the approved applicants full fledged citizens of the British Overseas Territory.

For those whose applications were met with a nod of approval, there has been a lawsuit filed and others expect the Governor to intervene.

“I accepted the Commission’s positive recommendations in their entirety. What the Ordinance does not allow me to do – correctly in my view – is second guess those the Commission do not recommend.

While I appoint the Chair, I was clear if the Premier and Leader of the Opposition could agree, I would accept their shared recommendation. They did.”

The Governor maintained that by law he was not allowed to second guess the members of the TCI Status Commission, which, as a body approves and rejects applicants seeking citizenship in the Turks and Caicos.

He also revealed that while he had appointed the Chair of the Committee, it was an action on the advice of both the Government Administration and the Opposition for a very specific reason.

“This is because I believe that while it was essential to start this process, it was also important to ensure the Turks and Caicos Islanders felt full ownership. The growth has been discombobulating – on present projections the population in 1980 (7,000) will grow to ten times that, in less than a lifetime.”

The potentially landmark lawsuit against that Commission broke the dam on the polarising views on the matter of one’s pathway to citizenship in the Turks and Caicos.

The Governor’s report also followed Minister Musgrove, who in a press conference in February said this population growth is not coming from birth or citizenship approvals but from residents who hold Permanent Residency Cards and then become naturalized as BOTCs.

Dakin continued: “How a stable nation is built with an asymmetry between those who “Belong” “de jure”, and those who “belong” “de facto” is a sensitive issue.”

Nigel Dakin has long been calling for a frank discussion on the highly contentious issue.