Georgetown: Minister within the Ministry of the Presidency with responsibility for Citizenship, Winston Felix, said he is willing to consider the possibility of having international students granted work permits. At the time, he was responding to People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) Chief Whip Gail Teixeira during a parliamentary sub-committee meeting on Wednesday at the Public Buildings.
Teixeira, who chaired the meeting which brought into focus the roles and responsibilities of the Department of Citizenship, asked the subject minister whether the administration would consider the possibility of granting international students work permits.
She said a number of foreign students here have been complaining about the length of time it takes to process their extensions. According to her, this has been a concern particularly for the large batch of Nigerian students studying at the Texila American University.
In response, Minister Felix said he is willing to consider the proposal put by the students, however, he refuted the claims made that the process of accessing an extension is usually a lengthy one.
“I do not have any application for student visa…or extension on my desk for any prolonged period, any delay,” Minister Felix said.
It was explained that international students from Texila American University do not apply for their extensions individually, but through the school’s administration.
“If there is a delay there, I cannot account for that. What I do know is that within a relatively short period, less than a month, we would process them and get them off quickly,” he told the committee.
It was also disclosed that the Department of Citizenship usually takes approximately two weeks to process visas under the five categories: business, employment, courtesy, student and visitor. Delays, however, may occur as a result of the lack of pertinent documents or information.
The fee for a visitor visa has been long set at US$25. The other visas, however, attract a fee of US$140.
The maximum stay for someone with an employment visa is three years; business visas are granted for up to five years and a visitor’s visa for up to three months, Minister Felix further explained.
In 2014, 1473 visa applications under the five categories were approved with business representing the largest block – 790.
However, in 2015 the number of visas approved by Guyana dropped to 1171 but the number of employment visas remained relatively high – 569. Already for this year, 880 visa applications have been approved.
Additionally, 1,117 work permits and extensions of stay were granted for 2014, 1525 for 2015 and at the end of June this year, 194 work permits had been granted.
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