Labour Minister Shane Gibson on Thursday hit back at criticisms over the speed in which it took American celebrity Anna Nicole Smith to receive her permanent residency status.
Minister Gibson confirmed that Ms. Smith, who he said he knows personally, got approval in three months, but also indicated that there is nothing unusual about that.
Ms. Smith, who gave birth to a baby girl two weeks ago, has grabbed headlines both locally and in the United States over the last week after her 20-year-old son, Daniel, died in Doctors Hospital while visiting her.
In his comments on Thursday, Minister Gibson was referring specifically to a recent report in the Tribune in which former Minister of Immigration Dr. Earl Deveaux hit out at immigration authorities over fast tracking Ms. Smithﾒs application.
But Minister Gibson branded his claims as “dishonest” and “disingenuous”.
“I just want to reassure the public that Iﾒll be doing all I can to make sure we continue to reduce the amount of time it takes to process applications for permanent residence, citizenship and also work permits,” he told The Bahama Journal.
“Now, granted this one was done very quickly. We did our research. Itﾒs not the first time. The only difference is when it was done for (Czech financier) Viktor Kozeny back in 1995 when it was done in two months and seven days; [the former government] never tried to have that done across the board like that.”
Minister Gibson said he tries to have all applications processed “quickly”.
“As long as all the forms are filled out correctly and all of the requirements are metﾅas quickly as we can verify it we would be processing these applications,” he said. “We donﾒt want to simply hold on the applications just to say itﾒs going to take six months. If we finish the process within a week, why canﾒt we grant the permanent residency? Why should we just make the person wait?”
He again pointed to the “economic permanent residence policy” under which he said his Ministry gives special attention to certain applicants, and he pointed to Ms. Smith as fitting into this category.
Minister Gibson said Dr. Deveaux may have been giving prospective permanent residents the impression that they are not welcome in The Bahamas.
“I apologize to them for the comments made by Earl Deveaux,” he said. “ﾅMy whole life has been about efficiency and being effective and result-driven and Iﾒm not about to change that now. We will continue to process them quickly and hopefully before the end of this year I can get to them and say instead of it taking less than six months it took less than two weeks.”
A statement from his office said, “It is strange that Dr. Deveaux would now level charges that the processing of a similar application [from] Ms. Anna Nicole Smith in three months would set a ﾑdisturbing precedentﾒ.”
The Ministryﾒs statement explained that there are two separate and distinct paths to the application for permanent residency in The Bahamas.
One is through a long and creditable residence as a contributing member of the Bahamian community, it said.
The other is through significant economic investment in The Bahamas, the statement added.
“This policy of economic permanent residents was put in place before the administration under which Dr. Deveaux served as minister, but extended and increased by the FNM administration,” the statement said.
“In either case, applications before the Department once fully complete, substantiated and investigated should be processed in an expeditious manner. The public should know whether Dr. Deveauxﾒs statement represents a departure by the Opposition from this policy and whether they now believe that applications should b delayed for appearances.”
The statement said that the fact is that the Christie Administration believes in creating efficiency in the process and not unnecessary delays.
While Dr. Deveaux, who is expected to be the FNMﾒs candidate for Marathon, made comments relating to the Anna Nicole Smith application, the party also issued a statement of its own on Wednesday evening.
It added, “Prior to 1993, the system of Coronersﾒ Courts had broken down.”
“The system of having a specialized Coronerﾒs Court has worked well over the past 13 years,” FNM Leader Hubert Ingraham said.
“The need for an efficient system to investigate sudden or suspicious deaths is a matter of grave importance to bereaved family members of deceased persons and to the peace and good order of The Bahamas.
“When returned to office, by the will of The Bahamian people, I commit that the FNM government will amend the Coroners Act to constitute specialty Coronersﾒ Courts, so that all unexplained deaths will be promptly and efficiently investigated, as has been the case since 1993.”
By: Stephen Gay, The Bahama Journal
