Immigration Ministry trying to track down 20 prohibited migrants

There are 20 prohibited migrants that the Ministry of Immigration is currently trying to track down.

This has been confirmed by Minister for Immigration Viliame Naupoto while responding to questions by Opposition MP Jone Usamate on the measures being implemented to address the issue of illegal migrants in Fiji, including repatriation efforts.

Naupoto says the Ministry was given a budget of $100,000 to pay for deportation where $48,000 remains and it seems like this amount will be used for the remaining 20 migrants.

The Minister also says the latest removal was done today and there was one last Saturday where the country of destination paid for removal on Saturday and today's removal is paid for by the State.

He says to avoid the issue of illegal migrants they have to get advance information of the passengers before their arrival through the API PNR tool, for which they are making budget submissions.

While responding to a question by Opposition MP Rinesh Sharma on migrants fleeing their job and if there is a monthly follow-ups or feedback system for the employers or employees, Naupoto says they are in the process of completing the review of the Immigration Act 2003, and one of the changes they are putting into the Act is to sharpen up the idea of issuing infringement notices.

He says if an employer employing foreigners is not extending permits on time, the employer and the employee can get issued with an infringement notice.

Naupoto also confirmed there are a little over 5,000 migrants who were registered as prohibited immigrant as they came into the country with a visitor permit and then got a study permit but when the visitor permit expired, the system registered the study permit and did not cancel off the visitor's permit.