The Governor at a press conference attended by just two media entities today, April 6, 2023, said only 20 of the 48 recommendations have been completed to date and the Minister for Overseas Territories Lord Goldsmith is also not pleased with the pace of the implementation of reforms.

Huge backlog of applications

One of the areas the Governor is displeased with is what he said was the delay in the processing of applications for residency and belongership.

“There is a huge backlog of old applications and since the 1st of January last year over one thousand new applications have been made but little if any progress has been made in dealing with them.”

Mr Rankin said he is working with the Premier and his Office and the Deputy Governor’s Office to find a solution.

“This will require a significant amount of time and resources but frankly this should have happened already.”

Governor Rankin reminded that under the Framework Document, the Government made a commitment to prioritise and allocate resources to the agreed reforms.

Audit on ‘Fast Track Programme’ received- Governor

The Governor also said he was pleased to announce he has received the audit on the 2019 Residency and Belongership Fast Track Programme and that he is working through it in consultation with others as appropriate.

“I look forward to its publication in due course.”

The Fast Track Programme was led by former Premier Andrew A. Fahie to help alleviate a backlog of applications that had accumulated over the years.

More than 1500 expats living and working in the VI for more than 20 years were given certificates of Residency and Belonger at a ceremony on December 16, 2019.

More than 1000 of the persons receiving status were from the ‘Fast Track’ Regularisation Programme.