29 Dec 2015

American Samoa immigration amnesty nears end

7:47 am on 29 December 2015

American Samoa's Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale is urging all those who haven't completed the immigration amnesty process to do so by the deadline of next Thursday,

If they are found to be in the territory illegally after that date, they face deportation.

The amnesty programme set the deadline for September 30th, however the Attorney General added the extra time for those whose applications had been approved by the Immigration Board, but had not paid immigration bonds or fulfilled other requirements to complete the amnesty process.

Talauega says as of November the 30th, 813 approved registrants had yet to complete the process:

Of that number, 228 have paid immigration bonds but have yet to take ID cards.

A total of 585 individuals have been approved by the board for the amnesty programme but have yet to pay bonds.

It's estimated that more than 3,000 people have used the amnesty to legalise their immigration status.

American Samoa Vatia Village

American Samoa's immigration amnesty ends Photo: TORSTEN BLACKWOOD / AFP

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