Immigration Dept. clarifies regulation for foreigners doing volunteer work

By ANGELO ARMBRISTER

Freeport News Reporter

The Department of Immigration clarified its position yesterday on the procedure of foreigners applying for work permits to perform volunteer work.

This clarification comes in wake of the recent arrest of a foreigner who was carrying out voluntary work without a permit.

Another lady, who preferred to remain anonymous wrote to The Freeport News with an account of the events regarding the arrest of the young British woman, who did not have the proper paperwork for offering her voluntary services.

"This young woman, who has been giving her time freely to help at The Crisis Centre, the library, and was now helping in a kindergarten for free, was arrested by the Immigration people and has spent the night in jail."

She was told that to be allowed to do any volunteer work, one has to have a letter from the Immigration Department giving their permission. Failure to produce this letter was the reason for the volunteer's arrest.

Superintendent of Immi-gration Roosevelt Newbold told The Freeport News yesterday that any non-Bahamian wanting to do volunteer work in The Bahamas would require the sponsor, charitable group or organization to write into the Department requesting permission for the individual to work.

The letter Newbold explained must specify the terms and type of work that the person will be doing, adding that after the request is reviewed and meets the satisfaction of the Department, the individual or organization is given the okay.

However, if it is determined that the work will in any way provide some form of gain for the volunteer or organization, then the fees of a regular work permit will be charged.

"If it is considered work at that point then it is treated as a regular work permit," he said. "What we consider as work is any duties performed by a person which will bring reward or some form of payment not necessarily money."

The Freeport News went out into the streets to find out how other persons felt about these regulations and while some felt that it is simply regulations that need to be followed, others felt it would be so discouraging for those that help out when many Bahamians don't have the time or the interest to help.

In her letter, the anonymous writer feared that the ramifications of the Immigration regulations are too numerous to contemplate, as it relates to all the organizations where foreign volunteers are involved.

"I personally know of over 100 women involved in one or many of these groups," she revealed.

Meals on Wheels, the Crisis Centre, the Home for the Aged, the Library, the Children's Home, the Adult Literacy Program, the Humane Society, the Red Cross, the Cancer Society and the Rand Nature Centre are among those groups.

"As many of us expats do, since we do not have the right to work — whether we are retired, winter residents or are married to some legally employed husbands with the proper work permits — we throw ourselves into volunteer work in one or many of the charitable organizations on the island," her letter states.

Noting that no one she knows has or ever had any permission from the Immigration Department to do volunteer work, the writer said it would be interesting to find out what percentage of foreigners make up the volunteer staff of these organizations.

© 2007 The Freeport News