Guyanese most often overstay in T&T

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:00 by GxMedia

(TRINIDAD EXPRESS).-GUYANESE nationals have featured prominently as both “overstayers and undocumented migrant workers” in Trinidad and Tobago, according to statistics from that country’s Police Service’s Crime and Problem Analysis Branch (CAPA), a research report on invisible immigrants has stated.

The 89-page report, entitled “Invisible Immigrants: A profile of irre­g­ular migration, smuggling of mi­grants and trafficking in persons in Trinidad and Tobago”, was one of two documents presented to the National Security Ministry by the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Observatory on Migration yesterday.

According to CAPA statistics, more than six out of every ten persons who overstayed their time in this country between January 2010 to June 2012 were from Guyana.

A total of 328 “overstayers” were recorded for that period.

According to the research report, Chinese nationals are tied with Guyanese nationals as the number one nationality of undocumented migrant workers in this country.

Nationals from China and Guyana accounted for 35 per cent each of the “undocumented migrant workers” recorded in this country between January 2011 to May 2012, according to CAPA statistics.

More than half of the “smuggled migrants” in this country from January 2007 to April 2012 were from Colombia, the research report stated.

The report yesterday delved into trends of the jobs and living accommodations selected by this country’s “illegal immigrants”.

Some 116 “smuggled migrants” were recorded in Trinidad and Tobago, according to CAPA statistics.

“With regard to living arrangements, there was a perception that irregular migrants typically settle in areas where they can be easily assimilated into wider society,” the research report stated.

The reports stated Guyanese nationals preferred to live in areas where there is a larger East Indian population while Colombians preferred to stay in areas populated with “French Creoles”.

“For example, Guyanese nationals exhibit a greater tendency to reside in Chaguanas, San Juan, El Socor­ro and Aranjuez where there are higher percentages of Indo-Trinidadians as opposed to Nigerians, who settle in Curepe and Enterprise in Chaguanas where there are high­er percentages of Afro-Trinida­dians,” the report stated.

“On the other hand, Latin American nationals reside mainly in Woodbrook and Maraval amongst the ‘French Creoles’, a population into which they can blend, whilst some migrants ventured into Tobago.

“Therefore, the migrants gravitate to areas where nationals with common characteristics and cultu­ral backgrounds reside,” the report stated.