WORK PERMIT FOR VENEZUELANS EXTENDED

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The National Security Ministry announced today that the duration of the Work Permit Exemption granted to Venezuelan Nationals in Trinidad and Tobago has been extended to the end of next year - 2025.  This, as the issue of the participation of registered and non-registered Venezuelans in the local economy was the subject a recent post- Budget panel discussion.  Juhel Browne reports.

Transcript

00:00The National Security Ministry announced on Friday, November 8, 2024, that the duration

00:06of the work permit exemption granted to Venezuelan nationals in Trinidad and Tobago has been

00:11extended to December 31, 2025.

00:15In a media release, the National Security Ministry said that, in the coming weeks, a

00:19list of approved ministers' permits will be posted in tranches to the Ministry of National

00:24Security's website and social media pages.

00:27That list will indicate when persons holding those work permit numbers must visit the relevant

00:33immigration office to collect their new minister's permit and update their registration cards.

00:39The ministry said information on the collection requirements and process will be outlined

00:44to registrants in a subsequent media release.

00:48This year, the participation of Venezuelans in the Trinidad and Tobago economy was raised

00:53by former Planning Minister Dr. Bohindradat Tiwari last month during a virtual post-budget

00:59discussion which was hosted by the Trade and Economic Development Unit of the University

01:04of the West Indies St. Augustine campus.

01:07We have immigration now from Venezuela, from the region, from elsewhere.

01:11That is only going to increase.

01:12It's going to increase all over the world.

01:15It's going to increase all over the hemisphere and we might as well prepare and organize

01:20for it and develop a strategy for it because it can be an asset that we build in order

01:27to build the economy and the opportunity and the diversity of opportunities.

01:35Economist Professor Roger Hussain also addressed the issue as he referred to 2023 and 2024

01:41finance ministry data which he said showed, quote, a clear change in the structure of

01:46production of non-tradable goods in favor of non-energy non-tradable goods which in

01:52turn will put a substantial amount of pressure on the stock of foreign exchange, end quote.

01:58No one seems to be paying attention to the impact of the unregistered Venezuelans on

02:06the structure of production.

02:08We will change the probabilities of where the Venezuelans work if we insist that they

02:14are registered because when you are unregistered, the literature is clear, you would go and

02:19work in the informal part of the non-tradable sector.

02:22And by insisting that they are registered, we increase the probability that they would

02:26migrate into the formal part of the tradable sector.

02:30Economist Dr. Rebecca Gokul-Boseland said there was a missed opportunity in the government's

02:352025 budget.

02:37We can also pick up from this framework that the stock of migrants have been allowed to

02:42assimilate into sectors that do not generate foreign exchange, but rather absorb it.

02:48And in the context of declining output in sectors, that sustainability or sustainably

02:56generating foreign exchange is needed.

02:59And in that regard, the context and in that regard, the stock of migrants is not being

03:06efficiently utilized at the national level.

03:10Earlier this week, the Finance Minister spoke on the issue of foreign exchange and said

03:15he is set to begin talks with local business chambers and other stakeholders to determine

03:20whether the honour system for the distribution of forex, which has been in place for the

03:24past 25 years, should be replaced with a more regulated one.

03:29Jule Brown, TV6 News.

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