Sandy Filpo, president of the Association of Merchants and Industrialists of Santiago (Acis), says it is revoking the agreement signed with the Haitian Consulate in Santiago. The agreement sought to regularize Haitian workers in Santiago.
The agreement was signed on 1 June 2022 but now the signing Haitian consul James Jacques is being dismissed by the Haitian government, making it challenging to implement the deal.
As reported in Listin Diario, a letter sent to the Haitian Consulate in Santiago, the Acis maintains that “the reasons that gave rise to the agreement with this honorable Consulate General of Haiti in Santiago de los Caballeros no longer exist, and in that sense as of this date the same is without effect and without any legal value.”
Acis calls for a mechanism that allows companies to hire foreign employees in full compliance with the laws of the Dominican Republic. The organization states that throughout its history, Acis has been an entity respectful of the legal and institutional framework.
The statement maintains that when the agreement was signed, the Consul of Haiti in Santiago was in his full faculties and its execution was easy to implement. However, this situation is not the same today, due to the fact that at this moment the Government of Haiti will have to confirm or designate new authorities.
Filpo argues that having workers with regularized documentation would facilitate the work of the immigration control authorities, since they would be able to repatriate those who do not have their documentation legalized.
The businessman indicated that Acis sought with the agreement that the Haitian consulate assist Haitians already employed in productive sectors here in obtaining identity documents in Haiti that would serve to regularize their status in the Dominican Republic.
Filpo says that the Haitians carry out jobs Dominicans do not care to do. Filpo said the agreement had required that Haitian workers present documents from their country to be regularized. The authorities at the Haitian Consulate in Santiago had agreed to assist in the obtaining of the documentation for the Haitians as needed.
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Listin Diario
27 June 2022