UNDER WHAT LAW?
August 18, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom, Source
If you are from certain countries, to enter a developed country you require a visa, which must be obtained before you arrive in that country. Developed countries are pretty strict with these requirements, and it would by highly unusual to find someone who arrives at one of the top capitals of a developed country without an entry visa.
On the other hand, there are developing countries which issue visas to visitors upon arrival. The law does provide for travelers from certain countries to obtain visas before they arrive, but in many instances you can be issued a visa upon arrival.
If you are travelling from India or Cuba, you do require a visa before you enter Guyana. But there is nothing preventing the authorities from issuing a visa upon arrival.
Recently we learnt that eight nationals of India were denied permission to enter Guyana because, in part, they did not have visas upon entry.
But what prevented the authorities from granting the visa upon arrival? Surely this could have been entertained. Guyanese go all over the world on holiday visas and never return. Why should we be so strict with our entry permits when we have a small population and it would not be hard to find an alien in Guyana?
Well it seems as if there may have also been other considerations as to why the Indian nationals were denied entry. One of those considerations is that the eight men did not have return tickets. This issue of not having a return ticket was dealt with in the landmark decision that was handed down by the Caribbean Court of Justice, as was the issue of show-money. In this age of credit cards and electronic ticketing, not having a return ticket and not having show-money shouldn’t be a basis for denying anyone an entry into a country.
It needs to be ascertained just who was responsible for denying entry into the country, because according to the law there are persons who are authorized to do this.
There is no disputing the fact that the local immigration authorities have exclusive discretion in deciding whether a person should be admitted. It is a dangerous thing to place such discretion in the hands of immigration authorities as the experience with immigration authorities in Barbados has proven.
What is needed is a rule-based system of law to guide the process of entry permit. It should not be left to the exclusive discretion of the immigration authorities. One suggested means of dealing with the issue is for the immigration officer or his superior to exercise a judgment based on guidelines enacted in law. If the person denied entry is not satisfied, that person can ask for a review by some superior authority.
What made this particular case interesting is that the airline that brought the men was denied the right to take off because it refused to take the men back. The law is very clear. If you bring someone who is an alien to Guyana, it is your responsibility to take that person back. The airline therefore had a responsibility to transport the men back, regardless of whether they thought that the men should not have been denied entry.
What needs to be clarified – and here again the media will not do it – is what right does the immigration authority have to refuse an airline from departing simply because it refuses to take on board aliens? Where is the authority under the law for such action?
Perhaps we need a Commission of Inquiry into this action. But then again, this is yet another issue which will not bother the media in Guyana.