And while Fonseca doubted on the legitimacy of the photocopies Barrow held, the man whose signatures who appears on the cards, Immigration Director Jose Carmen Zetina says, doubt not; he says the cards are real, he signed them and he stands by them. He stopped by our studios for a candid interview today.
Jose Carmen Zetina, Director of Immigration
“My response to that Jules is that yes as you showed me just know about the residence cards, it is in respect to ten families that had applied through what we call a new policy for investors coming to Belize. And these investors, it is something the Minister and I had discussed as to the feasibility of encouraging people to come and invest in Belize and it was that that we decided to do it on a trial basis for ten families. It is actually ten families that will be coming to Belize as potential investors.
But the condition to that residency, as you rightly stated out, is that they would have had to take a deposit of US$15,000 to show that they are prepared to come and invest. Because what we are seeing when we started the program, on a trial basis, it is a trial because we have stopped, it is only ten, we have stopped it. We are going to see what this turns out to be, ten families coming to Belize to invest and they have shown the proof that they have the wherewithal for that matter and I don’t see anything wrong, like I said it is a matter of policy.
It is a matter of policy when you are dealing with residency and this is a case of policy decision that we decided to grant resident status to ten very potential persons.”
Jules Vasquez,
You know there is a standard practice which says that in order to be eligible for permanent residency for a year.
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“That is the policy requirement, that you should be here for one year, at least one year to be considered for that matter. Again it is all dependent on the Director of Immigration to decide whether there is a need to grant you the permanent residency.”
Jules Vasquez,
So but these people have gotten their cards without having entered the country?
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“Yes that is it because we know that each permit that you have in the Act itself states that persons can enter to do certain things.”
Jules Vasquez,
Something seems wrong Mr. Zet to grant someone permanent residency status who has never been in the country of Belize.
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“No nothing is wrong Jules. As I said the legislation, when it deals with other permits, in the Act right, you can come and get a dependent permit even before you are here in Belize. There is nothing to say you have to be here in Belize. If you read the Act, literally it tells you any person may enter as a dependent or as a worker. I can grant, as the Director of Immigration, and nothing is illegal about it.”
Jules Vasquez,
These people are from mainland China and you know there are a number of immigration concerns with that country. There are many people trying to flee that country and to gain some document that gives them status from anywhere in the world which gives them the freedom to move. If they buy these PR cards or if they...
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“They are not buying it you know, they are qualified under the condition of granting it.”
Jules Vasquez,
So if they do it then we have legitimized them and they are able to move throughout the world saying at least we have a permanent card from Belize.
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“Well I don’t know if they are free to move around the world Jules but the only thing I can say is that having a permanent resident card tells them they can come to Belize. That is the only thing I can guarantee.”
Jules Vasquez,
How many is the total number that have been issued? Total number of cards?
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“I cannot really tell you because what I can recall is that in some applications you only had the wife and the husband as applicants...but what I can say is that it was ten applications that we processed but we issued more than ten cards. I cannot tell you exactly but I have the records that could tell you how many cards were issued in connection with this.”
Jules Vasquez,
Have these people arrived in the country yet?
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“I can’t recall.”
Jules Vasquez,
Sir but you say you are keeping an eye on them, that they are ten families, but you don’t even know where they are at this point. You don’t if they have left from China, you don’t know if they are here. So are you keeping an eye on them?
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“Yes we have the names. We have the names.”
Jules Vasquez,
But does someone know where these people are in terms of...
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“That came through our foreign office right. I don’t know. Locally I can tell you no because there is no local connection with these people. I am telling you, no local. Now it is a different case if somebody had applied and they have a local contact then it is easy to be traced. But in this case I can’t say where they are.”
Jules Vasquez,
Do you all do security checks on these people to who we grant permanent resident status to?
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“No. It is not a matter of we have to do it. Unless the person is of concern to the Director, let’s just say as a former Commissioner of Police I would require Special Branch to do a background check. But not in all places. Like I said it is something at the discretion of the Director to do.”
Jules Vasquez,
There another document which the media has received which says that it shows visa returns from the Bangkok Embassy of Belize from 11th August 2005 to 31st March 2006 and it in that it says that this Embassy issued 102 Belize visas of which 95 visas were mainly to people, nationals of the People’s Republic of China and they were approved by yourself.
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“Yes. That is so if that is the record, I don’t know. Maybe it is more, I don’t know. My thing is that yes these applications were processed, sometimes through people that are living in Belize, their families, maybe their wives coming in. Jules I have found out in many cases at times that in many cases you find out that the people coming in were to join their husbands and wives having resident citizenship. In the past they were given a very hard time to enter, you know why.
My position as the Director is that any person who legally qualifies must enter. You, your wife, and two children, and you haven’t seen your children for five years—come on man. How can I close the door to your wife. As human beings we should encourage family unity.”
Jules Vasquez,
Sir but you are aware of the international immigration concerns about people, particularly trying to find their way in the USA and using Belize as a forwarding point and so using the Belize Visa or in this case a PR Card simply to get here and then to move on to the USA. Don’t you think we need to be more vigilant in the issuance of these things?
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“We are vigilant Jules. We are vigilant, we are not careless. We recognize that there seems to be a problem but you can’t close all the gates because of that. You have to take your chances sometimes. I am prepared take the chances sometimes. I don’t see anything wrong to have initiated that sort of program here. It is an investment. The money is here at the Central Bank so what is the problem?”
Jules Vasquez,
Are you aware that this could be interpreted that the Department of Immigration in Belize is somehow facilitating human trafficking?
Jose Carmen Zetina,
“No. As I told you earlier, you’re going to close all the doors because of a concern about that thing. Definitely we are not here to condone any human smuggling, we are fighting it for that matter. We are fighting trafficking in persons, human smuggling. Just today we had about eight to ten persons in custody for the same thing.”
