Ascension : Immigration Training For Police
Submitted by The Islander (Police Ascension) 01.05.2008 (Article Archived on 15.05.2008)

Last week we saw the arrival of Daniel Jones from the UK Border Immigration Agency. The purpose of his visit was to deliver a two day workshop on Immigration Control procedures.

Last week we saw the arrival of Daniel Jones from the UK Border Immigration Agency.  The purpose of his visit was to deliver a two day workshop on Immigration Control procedures. The training coincides with the Entry Control Ordinance that came into effect in October of last year. Many of you are fully aware of this Ordinance as it was circulated for public consultation. The purpose of the ordinance is to have stringent measures over entry control to the island. To give you an insight of the workshop which entails, the 

Categories of persons not exempted and those exempted as per Ordinance. For ease of reference, the exempted persons are set out as follows:

(a)           Active members of Her Majesty Armed Forces;

(b)           Persons in service of the Crown in right of Her Majesty’s Government of Ascension;

©             Employees of the Ascension Island Government;

(d)           Employees of the U K Government, of St Helena Government or of the Falkland Islands Government, visiting Ascension on duty;

(e)           Officially accompanying dependants of the above;

(g)           Persons in the service of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation when visiting on duty;

All other categories of persons require the approval from the Administrator to enter the Island.

We focus on Current and Future Immigration pressures if their is an influx of passengers, how we’re able to cope and the resources needed. Passenger profiling and interviewing, is a system used to determine the status of that person for the purpose of their visit and their credibility. How genuine documents are produced with techniques for verifying their genuineness and the different types of travel documents. As it happens, there are instances whereby persons present themselves with a travel document, which is not genuine. There are however fraudulent passports of different types in circulation which we will pay particular attention to. We did problem solving in critical incident in the likely event information received of an unexpected aircraft. This was brain-storming exercise in being able to reach a successful conclusion.

At both the Air and Sea terminals the Immigration Officials will have access to four stamps, depending on the purpose of such category, which are; Tourists leave to enter for six months, Business leave to enter for three months, In Transit leave to enter of one week and Landing Permit leave to enter Ascension for three days. An entry permit to be applied for within that time. All of these categories are employment prohibited. An application for an extension  to a Tourist or Business Entry permit must be made to the Administrators Office at least two weeks prior to the expiry of the Entry permit.

All persons landing or departing Ascension are required to complete the arrival and departure cards. The training was seen as beneficial and officers are now fully conversant with the new procedures.

Have a pleasant week

Constable Karen Williams