Delays in immigration

PANAMA. Delays in the Immigration Department is the number one complaint for foreigners and their lawyers according to an article published in El Siglo.

Many Migration lawyers are beginning to believe that the phenomenon of the Bermuda Triangle was transferred to the Office of Visa 2, the National Migration Service (NMS) on Cuba Avenue.

Instead of planes and boats in the Caribbean, of foreigners seeking to acquire residence in the country, disappear from this office.

"It is not a novelty to be told that they cannot find the file," said Raul Andrade, president of the Law Society Specialist Migration Affairs (ADEM).

The situation should not surprise anyone. And is that with paper work in boxes pulled and put into any space that still remains free. It is not an easy job for the officials of the department to locate any document.

"There is no point having good workers if the system makes their work difficult," explained one of the lawyers whose client obtained a negative result and who tried to report the inconsistencies. He preferred not to disclose his name.

Sometimes you can see lawyers who break the protocol and get together with staff trying to find documents in the middle of the mess.

“This is just one of the difficulties with the current administration of NMS. Nobody knows where everything is,” said Andrade.

Members of the ADEM, criticized the behavior of the director of Immigration, Sinisterra Clovis, who apparently delays proceedings by not signing documents or given the authority to another person to sign for him.

Weeks ago, Sinisterra sent to the National Bar Association (CNA) a list of more than 3,000 files that he recently signed, with the idea that lawyers will notify those affected. Later he complained that there was a backlog of more than 7,000 files.

Following the request of the director, some lawyers went to Immigration and said that they found that the list contained cases that were already resolved. "They are playing with us," claimed the attorneys, who added that the list should be published first in Visa 2 and not at Bar Association.

Sinisterra said in several occasions that once the Immigration Department is moved to its new premises in Plaza Edison, the system will improve expediting the process.