Governance
Coming home by exemption: a system with no published rules
Stranded nationals must apply to the Minister of National Security to return. The criteria for approval have not been made public.
Four months after the border closed, a citizen who wants to come home still has to ask permission. Requests go by email to the Ministry of National Security and are decided by the Minister.
The Ministry has published approval totals from time to time. It has not published the criteria used to rank applications, the time taken to decide them, or any way to appeal a refusal.
Barbados and Jamaica reopened to returning nationals earlier in the year, using testing and quarantine rules set out in public. Trinidad and Tobago's approach is stricter, and that is a legitimate choice. It becomes harder to defend when the rules are not written down.
Three things would settle most complaints without adding any risk: publish the criteria, publish the average waiting time, and give reasons for refusals.
Sources
Independent reporting by Pearce Robinson. Corrections and responses may be submitted here.
