Red tape hobbles foreigners’ regularization: Haiti envoy

Santo Domingo.- Haiti ambassador Fritz Cineas on Wednesday blamed the slow progress of the National Plan to Regularize Foreigners on hurdles and difficulties with applicants.

"Unfortunately this program is extremely slow because as far as I know, the number of citizens who’ve been regularized hasn’t reached 150. That’s what I’ve been told, so I see that it’s a very slow program, because there are countless administrative obstacles," the diplomat said.

He said his government cooperates with the plan but admits they can’t issue documents to its citizens as quickly as they’d like.

Among the factors delaying the process Cineas cited his compatriots’ difficulties in obtaining residence certifications. "A Haitian who works here, or who works or has lived in a batey to get someone who will swear that they’ve been here eight or ten or fifteen years, it’s hard, nobody wants to sign, they have no friends, no one else."

He said another hurdle is that there are Haitians who’ve worked as domestics for a long time or in other trades, and their bosses don’t want to sign their proof of employment. "Some people are afraid to do it, others don’t do it because of malice."