Inclusion
The decision to start issuing employment permits for two or more years instead of for just one year is certainly a step in the right direction. While some may want to see is as an election campaign ploy to appease business owners, for the thousands of expatriate workers and their employers who have to go through the hassle of requesting permits and extensions year after year, it is undoubtedly welcome news.
It is not clear what this means in terms of residence permits, but one can assume they will be issued for the same period as the employment permits. Just as important as extending the term of the permits, however, is to simplify the entire process of requesting and issuing them.
It is simply ridiculous that a person who has successfully held a job for sometimes years and years, and has obviously found a place in the economy and society, should continue to live in the kind of uncertainty that characterises one-year permits. That has a negative affect not only on the worker, the employer and the business in general, but also on the community as a whole.
It is very important that law-abiding foreigners who have made the island their home are also made to feel as if they are at home. This will make them act accordingly and be much more likely to invest in their new-found society, rather than send most of the money they make back home to invest it there, because they are not sure if they will be allowed to stay here for any length of time.
In other words, today’s St. Maarten consists of all the people who live and work here, and that is the foundation on which the society is built. What the island needs is more in- rather than exclusion.
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