Thirty-six people were sworn in earlier this morning as citizens of Barbados.
This is the first set of new citizens since Barbados became a republic on November 30.
During a ceremony held at the Barbados Immigration Department, Princess Alice Highway, St Michael, Minister of Home Affairs, Information and Public Affairs, Wilfred Abrahams, said there was a restructuring in the department that led to enhanced service across the Government entity.
He said one of the major changes was an attitude adjustment which was required to deal with the backlog of work and to facilitate clients better.
“The Immigration department was that department in Government associated with long delays, they associated it with backlogs, they associated it with all sorts of bad things, Nobody ever wants to go into [an] Immigration Department anywhere in the world, but I can say that there has been a complete shift and turn around, in not just the perception of the department, the output to the point where the backlog is almost down to zero,” Abrahams said.
The Minister welcomed the group to Barbados and congratulated them on their new journey as citizens. He also encouraged them to invest in the island so that Barbados as a nation would be a better place for future generations. (SB)
