Low turnout as migrant card distribution begins

RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Few­er than 100 mi­grants turned up at the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um in Cou­va yes­ter­day, as the dis­tri­b­u­tion of Mi­grant Reg­is­tra­tion Frame­work (MRF) cards be­gan. How­ev­er, some ap­pli­cants faced dif­fi­cul­ties find­ing au­tho­rised pay­ment lo­ca­tions, while oth­ers strug­gled to get time off from work to col­lect their doc­u­ments.

The slow start to the ex­er­cise came de­spite 20,242 ap­pli­cants be­ing rec­om­mend­ed for reg­is­tra­tion fol­low­ing a se­cu­ri­ty vet­ting process, with el­i­gi­ble mi­grants re­quired to pay $710 be­fore re­ceiv­ing their cards and ac­com­pa­ny­ing Min­is­ter’s Per­mits.