Approximately 125 work permit exemption applications are presently pending at the Department of Labour and Workforce Development of which some date back to February 2019.
This is according to the Minister for Labour and Immigration Vincent Wheatley, who made the disclosure during the recent Sitting of the House of Assembly.
Minister Wheatley was responding to a question posed by the Opposition Leader Marlon Penn who asked the minister to disclose the total number of work permit exemptions which were pending at his ministry since February 2019 to date.
The minister replied stating that a total of 125 work permit exemption applications were pending from the following categories.
These included: 24 from marriage, 63 residing, 22 from the minister’s discretion and 17 awaiting status from immigration.
Penn then asked a subsequent question to the minister to find out what his ministry was doing to resolve the backlog, especially in the marriage category.
Minister Wheatley responded by making it clear that a work permit exemption is not a status and therefore was not a high priority. However, he said that efforts will be made to get the backlog reduced before the end of this month.
“Let me make it clear that an exemption is not a status, it is not something that is a right to speak, it is not Belonger or Residency. So, a timeline is not necessarily applicable here to it. The one that you should be more concerned about is Residency and Belonger. Those there which are privileged so to speak I think should not be held up. No one has been waiting for three years. I can assure you that they will be expedited in short order. In very short order those that are pending will be dealt with before this month is out,” he explained.
I too received calls
Wheatley, who is also the minister responsible for Natural Resources, said he did receive numerous calls from persons who themselves are awaiting approval of their work permit exemption application.
“We were in an unusual time last year till now during the pandemic so we put certain things on hold as these things are very time consuming and were not our real priority, it’s not a status but it will be taken care of in very short order. I did get some calls myself so I understand persons may be anxious for various reasons. But again, an exemption is not a status,” he reiterated.
Opposition leader Penn said he was going to meet with the minister privately to have him address some of the names on the list that have been awaiting approval for years.