WILLEMSTAD - The Minister of Justice recently announced that his ministry will start with a trajectory of Responsible Integration for certain people that are currently residing undocumented on the island. Together with the Admissions Service, the Minister of Justice is preparing to launch this trajectory.
In 2020 the Minister of Justice together with several government departments, made an extensive analysis to determine what is the best way to deal with the group of undocumented people on the island. What has accelerated the process which led to the Responsible Integration process is the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even though before the pandemic started there were already undocumented people on the island but due to the situation there were no regular flights between Curaçao and countries in the region. This is the reason why there were no deportation. In certain cases, it was not known where these undocumented people were residing. What is known is that a large part of this group is working in Curaçao.
Next to the humanitarian reasons relating to the pandemic, one of the considerations for this trajectory is the fact that Curaçao could benefit from the contribution to the treasury through taxes and social premiums once these people are integrated in the community.
Those who will be considered are the ones who have entered Curaçao legally but became undocumented. They also comply with all the requirements to remain in Curaçao. Also, they should have entered Curaçao before March 13, 2020. On that day, the government announced the first measures to combat the spreading of the COVID-19 virus.
The government says that even though they have already announced this process, it has not initiated yet. They are currently preparing all the necessary procedures to initiate the project. The government department that will in charge of this project is the Admissions Service (immigration). Once the project starts, those that are qualified can start with their application.