GUYANESE in the diaspora continue to receive support from key agencies in Guyana, especially regarding the application for and processing of key documents, among other matters.

During its quarterly stakeholders meeting held on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, the Diaspora Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation engaged representatives of several agencies on how to enhance the services provided to the Guyanese diaspora.

While giving an update on Diaspora engagements for 2022, Head of the Diaspora Unit Rosalinda Rasul reported that there were approximately 1,000 successful engagements with the diaspora last year.
“And by 1,000, we don’t mean inquiries. These are actual things that people wanted to get done such as medical missions, investments, guidance on employment and we were able to engage people who want to come back with their skills,” Rasul informed.

She applauded the agencies for their firm collaboration and support while also raising concerns from the diaspora pertaining to accessing services in Guyana, where certain transactions are difficult to complete due to the absence of digitisation.
In this regard, Chief Financial Officer of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), Christian Tebogah underscored that systems, polices and processes have been adjusted by Go-Invest to be more accommodating.

According to Tebogah: “We’re looking at the online chatbot as well so people engagement can be facilitated, and we just started to use the CRM tool so we’re now able to manage projects digitally. We still have our manual system because we’re trying to do a hybrid system.”

The round table discussion saw recommendations from the Guyana Revenue Authority relating to concessions. Manager for the Tax Exemption Processing and Verification Division, Roopnarine Singh advised against shipping items to Guyana before approval is granted.
Director of Operations, Central Housing and Planning Authority, Denise King Tudor contributed to the conversation by emphasising that the Guyanese diaspora, when applying for house lots or young professional homes, essentially must have an understanding that they must satisfy all requirements.

“Once an application is submitted, they must produce a letter form the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation proving that they have remigrated and the next step, to have an interview done,” Tudor said.

Directives for parties desirous of being married were illustrated by Registrar General, Raymon Cummings. He posited that persons living overseas for more than six months must be in Guyana 15 days prior and a minimum of four days if one party resides here.
In order to focus strategically on the diaspora, Head of the Diaspora Unit pledged continued partnership with key agencies to implement and guide the Guyanese diaspora, using the initiatives and suggestions to facilitate seamless, efficient and quality services.
Other representatives who participated and offered recommendations in Tuesday’s meeting were Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, Kamrul Baksh; Marcia Sealey of Immigration Support Services; Dianne Jordan of the Remigration Unit; Stephen Telford of Central Immigration and Passport Office, and Tavia Rodney of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission.