Americans ordered
to buy return tickets
~ Allege unfriendly, embarrassing encounter ~
PHILIPSBURG--An American businessman whose twenty-year love for St. Maarten resulted in his becoming a local property owner says he has been dealt an embarrassing blow by Immigration. His passport and his wife’s were confiscated on Sunday, October 7, until they had bought return tickets to show they would leave the island within 30 days.
The property owner, who asked that his name be withheld, said that in all the years he had been coming here, he knew that based on the law, American citizens were usually given three months on the island.
He also said the Immigration Officer had chastised him “finger pointing and all” and had been unnecessarily rude. When he asked if this was a new procedure, she reportedly told him if he wanted to stay here longer he must obtain residence papers.
He said several other American citizens, also property owners, had been dealt with in the same manner.
Police Chief Commissioner of the Windward Islands Derrick Holiday said no new procedures were being implemented by Immigration officers at Princess Juliana International Airport. He said indeed it was a requirement for people visiting the island to have valid return documents and Immigration would inform them of the date by which they would have to leave.
Persons wishing to spend extra time enjoying the island have to make a request at the Immigration Department.
Holiday said he would first investigate to see whether the correct procedures had been followed as far as the specific issues were concerned, before commenting further.
The businessman said he had witnessed for years the improvements on the island and, while he had travelled to many other places, he had chosen St. Maarten to buy a home because he loved the fact that it was tourist-friendly. However, he said something must be done about the Immigration officers’ inhospitable treatment of visitors, as they were the first people tourists met here.
“This is a tourism island and the first thing you meet should not be angry Immigration officers. If I were new to the island I don’t think you would be able to get me to come back,” he said. He said he and countless others had purchased million-dollar properties and spent thousands of dollars annually enjoying the island.
While he does not believe this gives him the right to circumvent the laws, he said he believed the laws should be properly applied and executed, in keeping with the name “Friendly Island.”
He said, “I can deal with the roads being as they are now. I mean, they have fixed the harbour and the airport, and they will get around to the roads when they get to it, so that’s fine. But I have loved St. Maarten for the friendly nature and the fact that I don’t get hassled. So have many others and that must not change.”
He said the island must be serious about how it showed its appreciation for the tourists who were its mainstay.
He said all he was asking was that the proper procedures be followed and that these procedures should not be discouraging. He said if tourists had to purchase new tickets or change dates for tickets, it would cost them dearly.
He said he was fortunate in that when he had been asked to buy a ticket, he simply had gone on-line to a travel agency he owne and got a return ticket. For others, he said, the smallest change could cost them hundreds of dollars.
