First meeting on the immigration bills is postponed

At the last sitting of the House of Representatives on November first, the government tabled three amendment bills following public outcry in the immigration and visa scandal. The bills include the Immigration Amendment Bill, the Belizean Nationality Amendment Bill and the Passport Amendment Bill.  The first of the three bills deals with the issuance of permanent residency permits and makes way for a visa vetting committee, while the Belize Nationality Amendment Bill addresses the streamlining of requirements to obtain Belizean nationality by registration.  Those proposed changes also provide for stiffer penalties, including a fifty thousand dollar fine, as well as a mandatory prison sentence of no less than five years.  A National Security and Immigration Committee is also to be established as an oversight body.  That working group was to have held its inaugural meeting at the National Assembly Building this afternoon to consider the aforementioned proposals but with short notice it was postponed until later this week.  While no immediate reason was offered for the deferral, it is known that there are significant errors in its drafting.