Over 10,000 Guyana Visas, 300 Certificates of Citizenship issued in 2023

Head of Immigration Support Services, Michelle Davis, on Thursday reported that 10,155 Guyanese visas have been issued for 2023.
She made this announcement during the Home Affairs Ministry’s Agency Review and 2024 Projections, held at its headquarters on Brickdam, Georgetown.
Of the more-than 10,000 visas issued, she explained, 4978 were for employment, 66 were for business, 64 were to facilitate students studying, 1764 were for visitors, and 3283 were landing permits.
Further, she said that these visas were issued under various categories, including extension of stay.
Permanent Secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry, Andre Ali, related that 300 Certificates of Citizenship had also been issued for 2023. In the case of marriage, citizenship takes two years after all the relevant documents had been submitted.
In September 2023, a total of 42 persons from 10 countries had received their Guyanese citizenship following the Home Affairs Ministry’s naturalisation and registration ceremony.
“We all should embrace diversity; we can all learn from each other,” the Permanent Secretary told the audience while giving brief remarks.
The ceremony also included remarks from the Head of Immigration Support Services, Michelle Davis, who expressed elation at being part of this inaugural ceremony.
Ali had told Guyana Times that that was the first time such a ceremony had been hosted, thus making it a historic event. He noted that among the nationals who had become Guyanese citizens were Cubans, Brazilians and Indians.
Only recently, a section of the media reported there had been an increase in applications for Guyanese citizenship.
Back in 2019, only 13 Haitians had received Guyanese citizenship since 2015, while 141 persons from 35 different nationalities, including a single Haitian, had being given Guyanese citizenship. The following year, 2020, some 192 persons were given Guyanese citizenship. The successful applicants were from 34 countries, including one from Haiti.
In 2017, nationals from 40 countries were given citizenship. The amount totalled 230 and included seven Haitians. In 2018, some 252 persons from 42 different countries were given citizenship; seven were from Haiti. For 2020, just over 100 persons from 30 countries had received citizenship, including two Haitians.
The Ministry of Home Affairs’ website states that a person is eligible to apply for citizenship by naturalisation once that person shows they are ordinarily resident in Guyana and have been so resident throughout seven years immediately preceding the application; that they are of good character; and that they intend to reside in Guyana.
On approval, the website said, the person would be granted a Certificate of Naturalisation, and would have to take the Oath of Allegiance to Guyana.
Included in a list of requirements published on the Ministry of Home Affairs’ website is that the “applicant must advertise in the newspaper for two consecutive days that he or she is applying to the Ministry of Home Affairs for Naturalisation as a citizen of Guyana.” (G10)