I have now had the opportunity to review the Immigration and Passport (Amendment Act, No. 5 of 2019, and Immigration and Passport (Amendment (No. 2) Act of 2019 (thanks again to the source). NB: These Amendment Acts are no longer in force. They contained sunset clauses and ceased to apply on 1st February 2020 once the fast-track process concluded. The pertinent section of the Immigration and Passport Act (the principal Act is section 16). Section 16 (2) provides three ways for a person to qualif...

Under a “fast-track” programme launched in July 2019, the BVI Government processed 1,321 new applications for belongership and 320 backlogged applications. Of those applications, 1,273 persons were approved. The public has recently been informed that of the 1,273, 688 of these approvals were invalid, as they did not meet at least one criterion of the application criteria. Many of these 688 persons have been registered to vote and if not fixed, may taint the upcoming elections and open the el...