The Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC) and the sporting community have thrown their full weight behind proposed sweeping changes to the country’s immigration framework, labelling them a “game-changing” opportunity to combat a shrinking local workforce and elevate national sports teams on the global stage.
Appearing before the joint select committee on the economic and productive sectors to discuss the Immigration and Barbados Citizenship bills, BEC executive director Sheena Mayers-Granville said managed migration is an essential remedy for the country’s current demographic challenges.
“We welcomed the opportunity to review and comment on these two pieces of legislation, and we reviewed them especially in the context of the Barbados population policy,” Mayers-Granville told the committee.
“There we identify issues that we as a people are grappling with: our shrinking working-age population, our aging demographics, and declining fertility. It is clear through the population policy that managed migration is a part of the solution, and the bills, in our view, support that policy.”
The BEC head highlighted the value employers see in expanding citizenship by descent to grandchildren and great-grandchildren, creating clear pathways from permanent residency to citizenship, and facilitating intra-corporate transfers.
But she raised concerns over “ministerial finality”, flagging section 13 of the Citizenship Act, which exempts the minister from providing reasons for denying an application.
“We flag that as potentially in direct tension with our constitution, which provides for the right to a fair hearing before an independent authority,” Mayers-Granville cautioned, urging that denial decisions be subject to a final review process.
The committee’s chairman, Dwight Sutherland, acknowledged the concern but noted that some details must remain confidential, stating: “When it comes to national security, those meetings are closed-door meetings.”
Mayers-Granville countered that while the confederation respects national security priorities, the legislation applies a blanket restriction to all denials.
“If the denial was not a matter of national security, but for some other reason, what harm is it to inform the person that this is a reason for your denial? It may be something that can then be reviewed and may have a different outcome,” she argued.
Chief parliamentary counsel Mechelle Elie explained that the current policy of withholding reasons for decisions has traditional roots, but noted that modernising the draft is a policy decision for the ministry.
But JSC member and independent senator Andrew Mallalieu shared the view that a minister must retain total discretion, warning that over-explaining decisions could cause complications.
“I think that we’ve had a number of presentations that have raised the same point and I think it has been well ventilated that the minister does need to have discretion to simply deny.”
The proposed legislation also received strong endorsement from the sporting community, with BEC council member and Barbados Olympic Association general manager Glyne Clarke explaining how the restrictive old laws have directly cost the nation international medals.
“The sporting community joins with the BEC in supporting these bills, which we believe are long overdue,” Clarke testified, noting that regional rivals routinely field teams bolstered by their global diaspora, leaving local athletes at a disadvantage.
Clarke shared historical examples of sporting figures who were barred from representing Barbados at major multi-sport events such as the Commonwealth and Pan American Games due to unresolved documentation regarding their lineage.
“We could have benefited from many more medals if she had the opportunity to represent Barbados when she was younger,” Clarke said, referencing a local squash champion. He added that in 2014 the national rugby team had to compete at the Commonwealth Games with a diminished squad because several highly skilled players with Barbadian grandparents did not possess passports.
“In summary, as a sporting community, we believe that these bills provide a game-changing opportunity for sport in Barbados by giving us the opportunity to expand our talent base as a small nation,” Clarke said. “It helps to remove the eligibility barriers… and I believe it will help us to strengthen our international competitiveness when we face international competition.” (RR)
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