(Trinidad Guardian) A non-national of T&T can work in this country for 30 days without a work permit for one time only during a year, Housing Minister Edmund Dillon has pointed out.
Dillon gave the information in the Senate yesterday following queries from Opposition Senator Wade Mark on what action was being taken by Udecott against contractors who “openly flout” T&T’s Immigration laws by continued employment of non-nationals without the relevant work permits.
This followed yesterday’s T&T Guardian exclusive which revealed some 70 workers had been fired from the Red House project because they lacked work permits.
Dillon said, “Udecott has taken an initiative – whereby when the issue was brought to the public domain – they wrote the contractors outlining the Immigration laws regarding work permits. Additionally, Udecott has done random checks at all their sites between July, August and this month and has assured me that to date there is no one on any of their sites – non-nationals – without the relevant work permit.
“I also want to put into the public domain the Immigration laws. You have to do a lot of investigation. Non-nationals can come into this country – as long as they declare to the Immigration officer – and they can work without a work permit for 30 days. They can do so for once in any one year. So there are people – non-nationals – who can work for 30 days in this country without a work permit.”