CASTRIES, St. Lucia (CMC):

The St Lucia Government says it will grant amnesty to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nationals residing here illegally.

It said the amnesty will come into effect from January 1, 2007.

Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony said the amnesty would allow illegal Caribbean nationals, especially the large contingent of Guyanese citizens, to regularise their status once they can prove they have been residing here for more than three years.

Officials note that because many St. Lucians left here in the 1950s for Guyana to mine gold, their descendants have returned to St. Lucia taking up permanent residence.

Other Caribbean nationals including those from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica have also made St. Lucia their home.

Anthony said the Government would not waive the fees required to meet the new regularisation process.

"If they want to regularise their status then clearly they will have to pay their fees to become permanent residents, likewise if they want to be citizens they will have to pay the relevant fees. We cannot be seen to be compounding the legality," he stated.

The Prime Minister made it clear that the amnesty would not apply to criminals, and warned that the government would be adopting strict measures to ensure that such individuals were removed from the new programme.

"I think that the time has come for us to recognise at this point as we continue this environment of illegality that we give those persons many of whom have contributed to our society, an opportunity to regularise their status here."

He said he did not have a clear sense of the numbers, but thought it was between 500 and 1,000.

A special unit is being set up in the Ministry of Home Affairs to facilitate the amnesty, and Anthony warned that once the amnesty expired, the full force of the law would be brought to bear on those who remain here illegally.