According to the Immigration & Passport Ordinance, a person is eligible to apply for Belongership status when they’ve been an ordinary resident for not fewer than 10 years. But a government policy implemented in 2006 mandates that a person only qualify for Belongership after 20 years.

During a hearing before the ongoing Commission of Inquiry (COI) late last week, Dr Smith was challenged about the audit report which said the 2006 policy was not in accordance with the law.

While acknowledging there was a difference between the law and policy, Dr Smith — the former leader of the National Democratic Party — said his government had the latitude to make decisions as it saw fit.

He cited the Immigration & Passport Ordinance’s use of the term stating that a person may be granted a Belongers certificate if he/she has been ordinarily resident in the territory ‘for a period of not less than 10 years’. He said it is this term that gives Cabinet the latitude to make its own policy.

“It says ‘not less than’, so it could be 12, 13.” Dr Smith reasoned.

How the policy was rolled out

According to the former Premier, his administration’s policy did not say that persons could not apply at 10 years. “The policy says that the [Immigration] Board would make a recommendation after considering the 20th anniversary of resident in the territory,” he said.

Essentially, in the former Premier’s view, there was nothing to stop Cabinet from setting a higher threshold than 10 years.

Dr Smith told the COI that the Cabinet of the Virgin Islands at that time developed a policy based on the facts of the law.

“In my mind, there is no need or no reason that policy and law cannot exist. In fact, it always exists,” Dr Smith said.

Why two decades?

In explaining the rationale of having a 20-year threshold of granting status, Dr Smith said giving Belonger status is a significant thing in most countries.

“A country has to be careful about how they go about doing this. We looked at several different countries. We looked at America. For example, it takes at least 10 years or more before this can happen, much more. My son took probably 15 years. We look at a country like Monaco, and only three people were given Belonger status or citizenship in a year, and that was by the Crown Prince. So, there are various ways in which countries decided when, when the time is right to give citizenship,” Dr Smith explained.

He also said it is important that expats who are accepted into the territory are thoroughly assimilated into BVI culture.

If that did not happen, he said, it causes conflict between the persons who were there before and those who come after it.