10 January 2014 | Comments
Fiyanna Maggot and Tina Sim, St Helena Immigration Officers, were recently funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Fund, on placements in the UK.
Fiyanna and Tina left the Island on 18 October 2013 and returned on 11 December. Both travelled around the UK on exposure visits to Hounslow, Stansted Airport Liverpool Airport and Farnborough Airport.
During their visit to Hounslow’s UK Border Agency Office, Fiyanna and Tina, along with other international delegates, attended a class covering the forgery of passports.
At Stansted Airport, training involved observation of Immigration operations within the Airport, as well as witnessing the inspection of suspicious packages. Immigration and Customs services are combined at airports in the UK.
Fiyanna commented on her experience:
“There are several differences between UK Immigration operations and the tasks we perform on Island. During the training, I also witnessed a wider nationality base for inspection and Immigration procedures. For example, in the UK nationalities are separated for inspection of passports on their arrival. This does not happen on St Helena.”
Tina and Fiyanna agreed:
“The most important airport visit for us was Farnborough, due to its size. The airport is small compared to others, and has measures in place that we can adopt on Island, when working at the airport.”
Fiyanna has been with Immigration for 23 years and has been on training previously, covering aspects of passports and nationality. Tina has been with the Immigration Office for two and a half years. Both thanked the Police Directorate for making the training possible.
Exposure and training visits to the UK allow individuals to view international and best practice services – placing them in a better position to implement new and improved practices on St Helena.
SHG
10 January 2014
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