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I stand corrected if the law is on the books so let me rephrase

Dessalaines since perhaps you had problems with the location of the link I sent, here is one from an Antiguan government web site which shows laws on the books www.laws.gov.ag/bills/2006/electronic-transactions-bill-2006.pdf#search=%22HE%20ELECTRONIC%20TRANSACTIONS%20BIL%22
It is headed Quote:

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA THE ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS BILL, 2006

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Dessalaines you keep missing the whole picture. Let me simply re-post a comment I made to you sept last year showing that non nationals not only pay their way but are also used a the mule:

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a better picture of this money making enterprise #8 tenman » 2011-09-08 16:06 Projected Revenue from Immigration related services (Work Permits, Extensions etc were at least 10 million ec in 2010) The 2011 budget estimates which can be found at www.ab.gov.ag/gov_v4/_pdf/finance/Antigua%20Budget%20Estimates%202011%20-%20Volume%201_2011.pdf Projected Revenue from work permits in 2010 was 5, 652,898 and Projected revenue for 2011 is $4,283052 Revenue from extensions for 2010 was projected at 3,350,000 and the projection for this year is 3 million Immigration service fee revenue for 2010 was projected at 200K Police cert of character for 2010 was 98, 900 police reports for 2010 was 56K Registration Naturalization fees for 2010 was 576,000 fees for issuing visa 2010 was 109,050 There are no actual figures, according to this report, for as far back as 2009

These figure do not even include how much SS and MBS takes for letters
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"...therefore it is imperative in these hard economic times that it (ministry) finds ways of covering those costs and generating income."

I am not saying the government should give everything for free, but my gosh, they are using the, "hard economic times" as a scape goat. Isn't this the same economy that is sending the citizens into poverty? The citizen can't even afford electricity and water anymore. Where does the tax dollars go?

Is there a new budget release recently that mention cutting taxes then charge for other things such as letters? This sound more strategic to me with the people in mind.

Stationary should be already factored into the yearly budget. The specific ministries owe this duty to their constituents. And I'm sure that the person** and take the letter off the printer don't earn much more than minimum wage. Furthermore, I dearly support the previous comment about utilizing technology for this purpose.

Government, Take your hands out or the people wallet. Dang it!!!!!

The govt. incurs lots of added cost at the taxpayers expense and do not pass it on to the target market. At ABS the govt. pays a spanish speaker to repeat the news in spanish, thats our tax payer dollars wasted. Most SS and MB forms have to be printed over in two languages also. When the French or Arab community gets larger should we have the news repeated in 4 languages and reprint the forms in 4 different languages also.
Applications for immigration extensions are footed by the taxpayers also - the applicant only covers the cost if the application is successful.
The US embassy applications are mostly computerized and they charge a non refundable fee just for applying.
The ministry of education should charge a classroom overcrowding fee also for any class size over 23 students. Most of these institutions should find means of funding themselves so we do not have to sell our passports to make ends meet.

I stand corrected if the law is on the books so let me rephrase. The government has no mechanisms in place to accept e-mails as a means of verification (and you know exactly what I mean here).

I disagree with you on costs - even providing translations in another language (we only do it for spanish speakers ) incurs a cost. Someone has to type the letter, print it, get it signed and handed to the applicant - that at least two persons not including the research on the student that has to be done prior.(you should know better) The cost may be a 'hidden' one but a cost nonetheless

Dessalines, thinking perhaps this is another law which simply sits on the books unimplemented, I phoned a lawyer friend of mine, who stated that the courts now accept emails as evidence

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Stressedout what you suggested would be easier and clearly makes more sense than what they have decided to do. We are talking quasi government agencies here. Simply setup email addresses for whatever department will respond to these request eg. verifysocialsec.com. A specific person in education will email (using a policy mandated government email address) asking if this person with SS# is up to date, and the person would simply respond yes or no. If there is a legal issue where the client must first give consent, have them fill out whatever consent form and simply scan and attach it to the email seeking verification
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I have to ask this question since every Government Department seems to be doing Immigration's job. For instance the Transport Board, Social Security and now Ministry of Education.
Somebody had better tell Jackie that Ministry of Education cannot hold anybody's passport. Dr. Cort come forward.

Dessalines when I first heard of this ridiculous policy, my mind went to possibility of you and I approaching government to offer them a method to have the different systems speak to each other. I figure your political connections may get us some meetings with "high" officials, but then, reality dawned on me, I was reminded this is Antigua and we are both of African decent and local. In addition, its my opinion, that this exercise has nothing to do with the cost to the ministry of providing (unnecessary) letters. Its more about another indirect tax measure and as usual its always easiest to pick on the non nationals
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Dessalines one one of the earlier things the government did was to make electronic documents legal. The bill is called THE ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS BILL, 2006 and can be found at unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/tasf/unpan024799.pdf. Honestly you need to pay more attention to parliament

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E-mails are not legal documents under law in Antigua (yet). Emails do not have a written signature, government department letterhead or seal if necessary. In addition a file has to be created for every individual with the requisite paperwork.
As for OECS citizens or students this requirement would not be necessary come June 2012 when free movement for OECS citizens SHOULD be in full effect by law.

If the govt says it is expensive to distribute letters, why dont they e-mail the information to relevant authorities, this will illiminate the use of paper and ink, whilst cutting down on cost attached to the usage of both.

The immigration office needs info on John Doe, send an e-mail to SS MB BOE requesting the required info, and they can e-mail it to the Chief Immigration Office, etc.

We all need to cut cost, the schools need $20.00 to process letters, now the MOE needs $20.00, parents are barely able to send their children to schools, you have to pay lab fees at the school (i.e Computer & Science Lab) what more???????????????

I thought the Prime Minister once said to stop 'TAXING THE PEOPLE OUT OF EXISTENCE".

If they want us out of their country I think it would be wiser for them to ask us to leave kindly, so we will pack up and leave quietly, and then CARICOM OECS and other countries can form an embargo on this country.