New online process for travel exemptions from Monday

AFTER months of complaints and lawsuits over delays in being granted exemptions to return to TT, citizens abroad are now being asked, starting Monday, to use an online application system even if they applied before.

TT’s borders were closed in March as a measure to curb the spread of the covid19 virus.

National Security Minister Stuart Young, at a news conference at his ministry in Port of Spain on Friday, said while applications will continue to be addressed on a case-by-case basis, the system was created to facilitate an increasing number.

He also said there was need for the authorities to better verify the information on applications and prioritise those who need to return home.

The portal, which will be available on the ministry's website, will allow applicants to enter their travel information, including when they last left TT.

"All of this is being designed to make it easier to manage,“ Young said.

"Right now when I see people saying I have applied 22 or 23 times and they're sending an email, very often those 22 or 24 (emails) were backlogging the system because the people who had to go through it would see 22 emails on the same day.

“What that meant was that other people were being lost in between that.”

Citing the challenges faced by the UK's National Health Service, with hospitals were being filled to capacity and resources becoming scarce through a second wave of covid19 infections, Young said efficient border management was crucial to avoiding a similar situation here.

Young also said he was not concerned about the possibility of the system being hacked. He also said he raised, with the portal’s developers, the possibility of a website crash owing to the number of people who may be visiting the site when it goes live on Monday.

"That's why it's taken us a little bit longer to launch than I would have liked. It is one of the things we're very cautious about and very aware of.

"I'm not the person building the system, but it is something they are aware of and things have been put in place so let's hope it doesn't happen."

He said based on the government's information, citizens stuck outside of TT fell within four categories; people who were unaware of the lockdown during the early part of the pandemic; people who left TT for extended periods owing to their citizenship status; people who were living and working illegally abroad and now wished to return; people who have lived abroad and no longer had valid TT passports.

Young also noted that once exemptions were granted, some applicants then asked for later flights which he said placed other people at a disadvantage.

"I had an instance where someone told me their sister is coming up to Miami tomorrow so they're going to stay up here and spend some time with her, and then they asked to be put on another flight down the road.

"Of course when you're dealing with other people, because there is a line, the queue is moving. Those things potentially jeopardise the equity of the system."

He said while such incidents would make the process difficult to manage, there would be circumstances where officials would have to use their discretion and show some flexibility particularly where someone has a health emergency.

Young called on citizens to carefully consider whether travel was practical at this time and warned that if they left TT there would be no guarantee they could return in two weeks’ time.

For people entering and leaving the country on business, he advised them to continue to apply for exemptions using the e-mail addresses corptravelexemption@mns.gov.tt for exemptions to enter and corpdepartexemption@mns.gov.tt to leave.

Unique features

You can only fill out the form once

(If you're applying for yourself and family members, it's the information for yourself and family members in the same form)

Previous applicants will have to reapply on the system from Monday

Each form produces a uniqe identification number

The new system has a tracking feature as e-mails are sent to show how far along the application has progressed

The system allows for applications to be prioritised depending on responses to questions on online forms

Forms are a statutory declaration i.e lying about information on the form can be considered a criminal offence.

Immigration Division to collaborate to verify information on individual applications