Haitian Government Obstacle For Haitians To Have Dominican Papers

The Employers' Confederation of the Dominican Republic (COPARDOM) with its strict rules is very critical of the Government of Haiti. The Confederation accuses them for extreme slowness; very few numbers of PNRE applications have been submitted so far and that too, most of them through unauthorized means. Both the Dominican and Haitian authority have different numbers of registration seekers. As per Haitian estimate, the number is over 400,000, but the Dominican authority claims it is around 170,000. The waiting period for obtaining a Haitian passport usually exceeds 5 months and that costs around $110. During the first week of April, the National Archives of Haiti (ANH) have informed that they have opened a set up in the Dominican Republic within the framework of 'Identification Program and Documentation of Haitian Immigrants (PIDIH)' and more than 20,000 birth certificates have been already issued to the Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Brutus has announced that Haiti will open offices in Dominican cities of Santiago (Center), Barahona (South) and in Higuey (east), to accelerate the process of document delivery so that the compatriots living in the neighboring country can apply for PNRE. Until the government can issue them passports, the government would provide temporary letters to the illegal Haitian immigrants and it would serve the purpose of a passport for PNRE registering.

However, election takes precedence over all other matters. We should remain watchful and see whether the sympathy for our compatriots in difficulties in the neighboring Republic is more important than the throne of power. The time left to the expiration of PNRE is less than 90 days-- it ends on June 2015.

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