Black Immigrant Daily News

Barbadians, who had a US visa issued by the US Embassy – Bridgetown, and which expired over the past four years or less, can easily renew their visa without having to endure an interview.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the resumption of services at the Embassy in Wildey, the renewal interview waiver has been extended to 48 months.

What is the Renewal Interview Waiver Process for Non-Immigrant Visas?

US Embassy Bridgetown’s Renewal Interview Waiver (RIW) process allows certain individuals who are renewing their visas to forego the visa interview. Please read all the information below to determine whether you qualify for the RIW process. RIW applications can only be submitted by mail.

What is needed to qualify for the waiver?

To qualify for the RIW process, you must meet all the following criteria:

You are a citizen, resident and passport holder of BarbadosYour previous visa was issued at the US Embassy – Bridgetown;You are renewing the same category of visa;The current passport you are applying with is the same nationality passport which contains your previous visa;The prior visa was issued for its full validity;The prior visa expired less than 48 months ago;You have not been arrested or convicted for any criminal offenses; andYou must be able to submit the passport containing your previous visa.

Who else besides Barbadians can benefit from this waiver?

If you are a citizen, resident and passport holder of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, or Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and meet all the other criteria listed above, you would also qualify.

Which visa categories are eligible for the RIW process?

The following visa categories are eligible for the RIW process. RIW applicants in the following visa categories must submit the following documents with their visa application and passport:

Temporary Visitor for Business/Pleasure (B1/B2)

DS-160 application confirmation page

Alien Crewmember (C1/D)

Official letter from the airline or cruise line verifying employment and confirming arrival/docking dates in the United States

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

A recent Cayman court judgment, delivered on June 29, 2022, noted that a man, who is Jamaican by birth and who is serving a 14-year sentence for attempted murder of his Caymanian wife, asked the court to consider how the single matrimonial asset should be dealt with as between the parties. Ultimately, the judge ruled in favour of the Caymanian wife, saying that she should have the matrimonial home in its entirety, for reasons outlined below.

Reasons for judgment

In order to reach his decision, the judgment outlined that the court had to consider the Matrimonial Causes Act, which says that the court has the powers to make orders for the disposition of matrimonial property, including the matrimonial home, varying any settlement of the property of the spouses made in consideration of the marriage and varying any other settlement of matrimonial property.

In this particular case, the court also considered English cases which discussed the conduct of married couples and how such conduct be analysed to determine the fair distribution of a matrimonial property.

The question is whether the conduct is “obvious and gross” and whether the effect of the conduct is sufficient to displace what might otherwise be the fair division of the matrimonial assets.

The judge said.

The gross conduct

The obvious and gross conduct referred to by the judge in the judgement was gruesome. It detailed the man chasing his wife and chopping her in the back of her neck, then chopping her leg, followed by a continued attack.

My legs were also chopped off by the Petitioner and even after reattachment and five surgeries, I will never be able to walk properly again. I have a permanent limp and one foot is noticeably shorter than the other. I will never be able to jog, swim, ride a bicycle, walk quickly, dance, or things I so love doing.

My doctors have advised me that the incompatibility in the coordination of my gait likely result in me having hip issues as I get older. The toes on my right leg have been adversely affected as they have now turned inwards.

I will wear an ankle foot orthotic (ATO) brace to help control the instabilities in my lower limbs for the rest of my natural life. I will never again wear high-heeled shoes. I no longer have sensation on the soles of my feet as my nerve endings there have been permanently destroyed.

In the attack I lost a piece of my ear and l am in constant pain from the scars which run from my ear across my neck down my back along my spine anal sleep in my shoulder muscle most of that shoulder muscle is now non-existent as a result of the attack.

The wife explained, according to court documents.

Judge’s decision

After looking at the relevant factors and the law, the judge said that there was no doubt in his mind that the man’s conduct was obvious and gross, with a stark and striking “gasp” factor. He said that the woman was “lucky to survive the attack.”

In the circumstances, in the exercise of his discretion, the judge said that he thought it was fair that the former matrimonial home is awarded to the Caymanian wife in its entirety.

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

ZIZ Midday News presented weekdays at 12PM streamed live on YouTube and Facebook @ZIZOnline, ZIZOnline.com and aired live on ZIZ Television. For more news and follow-ups to the stories presented in the ZIZ Midday News, ensure to check out the ZIZ Evening News presented every day at 7PM.

Subscribe to ZIZOnline: http://bit.ly/2VO9Utl

Visit ZIZOnline.com: https://zizonline.com/
Find ZIZOnline on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zizonline
Follow ZIZOnline on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zbconline
Follow ZIZOnline on Instagram: https://instagram.com/zizonline

Watch LIVE on ZIZ Television and https://zizonline.com/tv/channel-5

Also, listen LIVE on ZIZ Radio 96.1FM and https://zizonline.com/radio/live/

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

Letter send to ANR from ABS Staff member:

We are pleased to advise that we have received overtime payment cheques from submissions which we made last year.

These include outstanding payments for overtime amounts which we identified that were not previously submitted and overtime up to Whitsun 2021.

We will advise those persons for whom there are cheques individually.

Kindly note that cheques will not be given to third parties and a valid photo ID must be presented in order to collect the cheque.

ALSO READ:

The Dark Side of ABS Television Radio Exposed – Part 1

Dear Editor,

It’s sad to hear about the most recent news reports coming out of ABS Television/Radio. We thank Antigua Newsroom for giving all Antiguans and Barbudans and opportunity to be heard on its popular platform.

No one at ABS should feel that they untouchable and above reproach from the PS and Minister in charge of the ministry.

I have kept quiet about everything that I’ve personally experienced and what I’ve seen other employees go through but after finding out one of my media colleagues could have had a mental breakdown, I was moved to finally start penning the other side of the story, the horror story.

There are stories and harrowing experiences that the public don’t hear about unless they are a close friend or family of an, ABS employee, and that is sad.

Absolutely sad how the spirit of so many employees may NEVER be able to recover from the emotionally and psychological abuse.

Can we blame one person though?

The answer is simple and in short “NO”.

The type of behavior being dished out to employees has been enabled by and supported by the Minister, PS and even the management team who dare not go against this individual’s way of doing things and handling business.

This only empowers the individual to continue doing the things they do with no regard for human life and livelihoods.

The management team will victimize and belittle employees who work tirelessly to ensure that you the public wake up to the TV channel being on air!

We turn on our TVs nightly and we have a news broadcast to watch – all on the backs of the same employees who are abused, misused and mistreated.

United We Stand! Divided We Fall! Employees at state owned ABS take one step forward and ten steps backward. For years ABS employees have been fighting for their basic workers’ rights, issues that should be on the fore-front and of immediate focus of management to keep employees contented, happy and fulfilled.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

UPP Leader Blasts Gaston Browne for Repeated Premature Announcements About the Sale of Jolly Beach Resort

After several consecutive failed acquisitions of the Jolly Beach Resort, The PL or UPP HL cautions Gaston Browne that premature public statements  are extinguishing the hopes of workers.

The Government has announced that it found a buyer for Jolly Beach on at least five different occasions.

The last three included the Nikki Beach Group out of Europe, Mr. Rob Barrett of Elite Island Resorts and most recently an unnamed new investor.

The Government needs to be more sensitive and mindful that people are waiting on their severance to pay off bills, start businesses and get their lives back on track.

These workers owe people and have families depending on them.

Sufficient planning should precede any public announcements that involve people’s livelihoods.

“What the Jolly Beach, LIAT, and CAS workers need is relief,” says UPP Political Leader Harold Lovell. “As the government seeks investors to rectify these situations, efforts must be made to offer relief in the short term.

This relief could include compassionate payments, advance payments on severance, speedy access to business funding and training opportunities, the extension of loan guarantees, the negotiation of loan moratoria and a moratorium on APUA disconnection.”

The UPP continues to express it’s grave concern over the delays in providing short term relief to address the mental anguish that workers endure, as the ABLP continues to make reckless political pronouncements.

ALSO READ:

While Cabinet has reaffirmed plans for the dilapidated Jolly Beach Resort to reopen its doors by this November, the body’s spokesperson has revealed that Elite Island Resorts will not be taking it on as had been previously announced.

Speaking at Thursday’s post-Cabinet press briefing, Minister of Information Melford Nicholas said that “the principal owners of the Elite Island Resorts have declined any further participation”.

Hopes had been high that the chain which operates a string of successful resorts across Antigua would be the panacea to bring the once-thriving beachfront complex back into operation.

Nicholas said while the Minister of Tourism Charles Fernandez was not present in Cabinet on Wednesday, he had asked Cabinet to consider a memorandum of agreement between the government and “another vacations entity” who wished to be involved in the project, but he was unable to disclose the interest’s name at the time.

“It is a well-known brand and I believe in the next week or so we will be in a position to indicate that we have come to an agreement,” he explained.

“The matter is now before the legal department and once that is completed, I believe the Minister of Tourism will be in a position to indicate what we are going to do with the Jolly Beach Resort.”

In early June, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said that under the agreement with Elite, owned by businessman Rob Barrett, US$10 million would be invested into the property as part of a loan to the government.

The money would have gone towards the repair and rebuilding of several of the hotel’s structures, according to Browne, and also aid with compensating the resort’s former workers who are collectively owed more than EC$7 million in severance and outstanding pay.

Efforts to sell the property also hit a snag in recent months after it was revealed that there is a US$15 million charge on it by a creditor.

Minister Nicholas said that matter is still before the court and the government is awaiting a decision.

“Should we be successful in getting that matter lifted, then I think it clears the way for the full operationalisation of a newfangled Jolly Beach and we are certainly interested in getting that done.

“The government itself has put up some funds and funds have already been secured. So, I think it’s just a matter of days before the renovation of Jolly Beach starts to take place,” he explained.

The government is hoping that the resort will open in the winter season in order to capitalise on an increased desire to travel globally as the world recovers from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that drastically limited travel.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP

NewsAmericasNow.com