DR only has 90,000 foreigners in its files
They are working with Haiti to create a registry of Haitians which businessmen can legalize and iss
Diario Libre
SANTO DOMINGO. The lack of controls which for years prevailed in the country regarding the control of foreign citizens has produced as a result that today in the files of the General Directorate of Migration there are only 90,000 legal immigrants of different nationalities of which 11,000 are Haitians.
This situation in large part, and according to the Director General of Migration Jose Ricardo Taveras, is due to the lack of a technological platform and that the existing controls are insufficient.
He explained that as a result of the problems in the system, foreigners that are in the data base possess the ID card, which is not counterfeited, but they have no type of documents. In order to correct this anomaly they issued a resolution granting facilities with the aim of depositing the documentations.
"We have obtained a new data center, we have a greater capacity, now we have made a star-type design where all the institutions converge in the data center, but this is a process which we are carrying out," he emphasized as he took part in the Dialogo Libre program hosted by the director of the Diario Libre, Adriano Miguel Tejada.
He said that the new system has allowed them to interconnect all the airports of the country with the database at Migracion.
Taveras also reported that Migracion has started a process with companies to legalize and regulate the labor market of foreigners, especially Haitians, and that they now have 19,000 requests from diverse sectors, mostly farms, and other agricultural ventures and construction companies.
The companies that are working on this issue have been very cooperative and they are financing through salary advances for their employees the paperwork, and they are helping to get the documents," he noted.
He detailed how at the present time they are in conversations with the Chancellery with the idea of dealing with the issue within the framework of the Mixed Bilateral Commission with Haiti.
He said that the proposal is that of granting a special authorization through which a provisional immigration status is issued which could be within a 6 month timeframe and provides those citizens with their documentation. The process has a cost of about RD$9,000.
In a similar mode, he announced that they are working on the figure of "Frontier Inhabitant" which will serve to control those who daily cross the frontier and carry out legal commercial activities.
Together with this, he said that the agency will convene an international tender for the manufacture of the carnet which will document the foreigners.
"This electronic card should have a chip with fingerprints, with facial and eye recognition, and will help in having a trustworthy control, it is a document that today is done with state of the art technology," he said.
The idea is, according to his explanation, to coordinate with the Haitian authorities in order that they prioritize the documentation of their citizens that the country is willing to regulate. He revealed that in Haiti there is a project of identification by the Organization of American States which has managed to census five million five hundred thousand (5.5 million) citizens and although it is not a confirmed information, he feels that with this documentation the Dominican Republic could work with it.
For the legalization of the Haitians they will apply the profile that is established by the Migration Law which calls for the immigrant to be a useful person for Dominican society, with some kind of training or a type of labor required by the market.
Likewise, the official said that he could not talk about a specific number of undocumented persons in the country, which are not just Haitians, "there are many people here irregularly."
Regarding the illegal Haitians he said that he has information that there is a census carried out by an international agency which places the number at about 800,000.
He stressed the fact that the situation of the illegals in the country comes about in spite of the fact that there is a important improvement in the frontier controls.
Taveras made it clear that Migracion is working in the legalization of the foreigners and that at the right time they will launch their units into the streets to carry out a survey with the objective of have total control of them.
"We cannot act outside of the law, before anyone could come as a tourist and nothing happened, the person was legalized, at this moment no, you have to come with a visa, besides you cannot come as a tourist and stay," he said.
This situation in large part, and according to the Director General of Migration Jose Ricardo Taveras, is due to the lack of a technological platform and that the existing controls are insufficient.
He explained that as a result of the problems in the system, foreigners that are in the data base possess the ID card, which is not counterfeited, but they have no type of documents. In order to correct this anomaly they issued a resolution granting facilities with the aim of depositing the documentations.
"We have obtained a new data center, we have a greater capacity, now we have made a star-type design where all the institutions converge in the data center, but this is a process which we are carrying out," he emphasized as he took part in the Dialogo Libre program hosted by the director of the Diario Libre, Adriano Miguel Tejada.
He said that the new system has allowed them to interconnect all the airports of the country with the database at Migracion.
Taveras also reported that Migracion has started a process with companies to legalize and regulate the labor market of foreigners, especially Haitians, and that they now have 19,000 requests from diverse sectors, mostly farms, and other agricultural ventures and construction companies.
The companies that are working on this issue have been very cooperative and they are financing through salary advances for their employees the paperwork, and they are helping to get the documents," he noted.
He detailed how at the present time they are in conversations with the Chancellery with the idea of dealing with the issue within the framework of the Mixed Bilateral Commission with Haiti.
He said that the proposal is that of granting a special authorization through which a provisional immigration status is issued which could be within a 6 month timeframe and provides those citizens with their documentation. The process has a cost of about RD$9,000.
In a similar mode, he announced that they are working on the figure of "Frontier Inhabitant" which will serve to control those who daily cross the frontier and carry out legal commercial activities.
Together with this, he said that the agency will convene an international tender for the manufacture of the carnet which will document the foreigners.
"This electronic card should have a chip with fingerprints, with facial and eye recognition, and will help in having a trustworthy control, it is a document that today is done with state of the art technology," he said.
The idea is, according to his explanation, to coordinate with the Haitian authorities in order that they prioritize the documentation of their citizens that the country is willing to regulate. He revealed that in Haiti there is a project of identification by the Organization of American States which has managed to census five million five hundred thousand (5.5 million) citizens and although it is not a confirmed information, he feels that with this documentation the Dominican Republic could work with it.
For the legalization of the Haitians they will apply the profile that is established by the Migration Law which calls for the immigrant to be a useful person for Dominican society, with some kind of training or a type of labor required by the market.
Likewise, the official said that he could not talk about a specific number of undocumented persons in the country, which are not just Haitians, "there are many people here irregularly."
Regarding the illegal Haitians he said that he has information that there is a census carried out by an international agency which places the number at about 800,000.
He stressed the fact that the situation of the illegals in the country comes about in spite of the fact that there is a important improvement in the frontier controls.
Taveras made it clear that Migracion is working in the legalization of the foreigners and that at the right time they will launch their units into the streets to carry out a survey with the objective of have total control of them.
"We cannot act outside of the law, before anyone could come as a tourist and nothing happened, the person was legalized, at this moment no, you have to come with a visa, besides you cannot come as a tourist and stay," he said.
Diario Libre
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