New Services Unit coming to increase Immigration efficiency

Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, September 29, 2023 – In an effort to meet the turnaround time for documents, the Immigration Ministry is creating a new Services Unit.  Arlington Musgrove, Minister of Immigration explained that currently, the Department is failing to meet its target, necessitating a new approach.

“For products under the Border Force, which are Residence Permits, Home Owners’ Permits and Visas, we have a commitment of 21 days, which we are absolutely not meeting and therefore the plan is for the creation of a Services Unit where these products will be processed from, which will be separate from our main immigration functions.”

This will then free up Border Force officers to work on protecting the country’s points of entry.  The implementation is part of the second phase of the Border Force plan.  Phase one is due to launch on October 30th.

As for other documents handled by Immigration, including work permits, there are new concessions to improve that process as well.

Musgrove explained that work permit renewals can now be processed without police records and medical, and applicants can be given three months on conditional approval to produce these documents.

The pace of police records and other documents has long been a gripe of residents across the country.  With the Police records system now fixed, the Immigration Ministry will follow suit with the hope of creating a more efficient public service.