Crooks sold passports, legal applicants snubbed
For the last several weeks we’ve kept a low profile on the immigration story as the police gather evidence for their investigation into the illegal sale of Belizean nationality. But while that probe progresses there is another side to the scandal, perhaps no less shameful. News 5’s Janelle Chanona reports.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
With strong evidence already establishing that dozens of foreigners who never set foot in this country obtained Belize passports illegally, News 5’s continuing investigation has revealed that many immigrants legally entitled to become Belizeans by virtue of long-time residence has been given the run-around by Belmopan.
Mendy Tsai, Belizean Nationality Applicant
“When we came to Belize we lived in King’s Park for half year then we moved to Ontario Village and we lived there for half year again. Then we bought a land in Teakettle Village then from there we stayed there until now.”
Janelle Chanona
“What year was that?”
Mendy Tsai
“That year when we came to Belize, that was in 1994.”
This is Mendy Tsai. She and her family filed for nationality in 1999.
Mendy Tsai
“Some of us like my cousin, we can do it by ourselves, so we go through the process. So that’s why we didn’t ask any agent to help us because we say we have been living in Belize five years so we can do it by ourselves. And that is according to the law, when we are living in Belize for five years we can apply for the nationality.”
But three years later the Tsai family is still without their nationality papers.
Mendy Tsai
“We wait for, after a half year we went to immigration, check and then they told us probably it will be another month. I come back and check and every month we go back and check and they keep telling us to come back another month or another week.”
Janelle Chanona
“And what were the reasons they gave you to keep coming back?
What was taking so long?”
Mendy Tsai
“Sometimes I have been asking why they doesn’t want to give us nationality or why the paper take so long and sometime they would tell us to wait, or most of the time they would tell us they are not issuing any nationality to Chinese or Taiwanese.”
According to immigration officials in Belmopan, sometime during 1998-1999, the then minister of the department, Jorge Espat issued a directive stating that all Indian, Chinese or Taiwanese persons applying for nationality were to be put on hold. While we could not reach anyone for official comment on why that was done, Tsai’s story makes another disturbing accusation. She claims officials at the Immigration Department actually referred her to the licensed immigration agents–even though they earned the right to naturalisation by residence and were not buying a passport.
Mendy Tsai
“I ask them how can I do it? How can the nationality get processed? Then they told us that we ask the agent to help us, but because of the member of family is a lot we have about eight receipts and each receipts we’re charged a lot. I have been asking an agent, they ask me to ask an agent and I did, but it would cost a lot.”
Janelle Chanona
“Who was the agent that they sent you to?”
Mendy Tsai
“They have been giving the name, I remember the name, but I don’t know if I should talk about that.”
Janelle Chanona
“Okay. How much did that person, the agent tell you it would cost to get your passport, nationality?”
Mendy Tsai
“Different agents they charge different and I have been asked one agent they told me that to get it processed for one week they would just charge us five thousand.”
Janelle Chanona
“And you had eight people in your family applying, so that would have been forty thousand dollars?”
Mendy Tsai
“Sometime the agent would charge by one receipt or per family, but because there are eight receipts, mean they would be eight family.”
With the papers attached to such a high price tag, Mendy Tsai says she and her family just want what they are entitled to.
Mendy Tsai
“I don’t know how long we can wait for that and we want to follow the process that we can do. Because we, I have been, my family has been thinking, if we ask the agent, what is the reason we have been living here so long. We can do it by ourselves.”
Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
Viewers may recall that in July we visited a Taiwanese community at mile twenty-five on the Western Highway. The people running the grocery shop there, also long-time residents of Belize, told us virtually the identical story as Mendy Tsai. There may be some relief in sight, however, as sources in Belmopan have indicated that the new Minister of Immigration, Assad Shoman, has today given orders to clear up the backlog in the department and begin to process all those applications which are complete and satisfy the legal requirements.
