Dear Editor,
On December 9 the funeral of my very good friend ChingMing took place and I was there as his only local – and very good – friend. This is because since the last more than 10 years he has been living and working here in St. Maarten – such has been in an island-country and with local people with which and whom he barely had any social cultural connection.
Up to this day such a requirement is not a factor that plays a role in the granting of a residence permit to live and work on our Dutch Caribbean islands nor in our mother country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is true that a little more knowledge is required when requesting the Dutch nationality but also is known that a little bit intelligent person can pass the related exam by just following a course of a couple of months.
Receiving – especially a permanent residence paper – to live on any of our islands should be considered of such an importance that every recipient of it should be filled with pride for the benefits it brings along. ChingMing’s departure would then have also been much more socially – and personally – fulfilled.
In my opinion it would be – for the petitioner of a residence paper as well as for our immigration department – more fruitful and beneficial to provide more attention to mentioned social cultural requirement.
Elco Rosario
