Canadian man, son detained for overstaying tourist visas

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A FATHER and son from Canada are being detained in Port Moresby for overstaying their tourist visas, says Immigration and Border Security Minister Westly Nukundj.
But Thomas Phinnemore, 75, and son Joel Phinnemore, 45, who arrived in the country on Feb 29 and were to have left on April 28 said they could not do so because of the Covid-19 lockdown including the closure of the borders.
Thomas first arrived in the country as a missionary in 1972 and settled with the people of Tewai-Siassi. Son Joel was born in Goroka in 1978.
After arriving in February this year, they travelled to Tewai-Siassi for a ceremony. They were arrested by police and brought to Lae then back to Port Moresby.
Nukundj told Parliament yesterday immigration officials “received complaints from the people of Tawae-Siassi” about the two “who were doing some work that was not welcomed by the people.” “We further received complaints that the two men were not working according to the district development authority,” Nukundj said.
“We recognised that they were Canadians and that they arrived on tourist visas. They broke the law by overstaying their visa. Tourist visas have restrictions of three months.
“I signed the deportation orders to allow them to leave the country however restrictions were implemented before both men could leave. Thus they remained in the country.
“So we allowed them to remain in a motel accommodated by the immigration centre.”
Tawae-Siassi MP Dr Kobby Bomareo had questioned in Parliament why the two were staying in a motel.
“We have international visitors and when they have issues with our laws, they are kept at the immigration centre. Why are these two men kept in a motel?”

8 comments

  • All the international flights were cancelled and how do you expect them to leave this country during COVID-19..?? Are they the only two to overstay their tourist Visa’s..? Don’t think so? How about the Hundreds of Asians who have overstayed there visas and you concentrating on these two who have been around this country for donkeys years?? There some thing not right here.

  • The two, father and son are genuine people who have been in PNG for some time and also his son was born in PNG and has right to settle in PNG. Can those responsible do the right thing by chasing all the Asians doing business without proper documentations? What is the logic here?

  • Just because Asians are very good at Bribery so those responsible officers simply plays their logic and shut their mouth with big amount of money and walk silently away….how can you sent away these two father and son during this covid-19 lock down when all the international terminals are restricted….common sense has to prevail..

  • If the son was born here then he is a PNG citizen. Also, the father served as a missionary so please treat or deal with them with care and respect.

  • Treat them with respect…if the son is born here he is automatically a png citizen,.. Why are you trying to chase them away?? Chase the Asians not this genuine people…

  • Common Sense must prevail folks:
    1) The immigration officials “received complaints from the people of Tawae-Siassi” about the two “who were doing some work that was not welcomed by the people.”
    – The question is, what were they involved in that upset the community? Find out.
    – Their reputations are put at stake as a Missionary Family. They (immigration officials) should tell us what were they involved in so we all can make a better judgement.
    2) They overstayed their visa, nothing is genuine about this, every country has their immigration laws.
    Why are these two men kept in a motel?”
    Who is paying for their expenses? Simple: Tax Payers.
    3) When a child is born from a foreign country by an expatriate, the child will decide when he is 18 if he wants to be a citizen of the country he was born in or the country where his parents originate from.
    – He is 45 years old, a grown up man. He already chose to be a Canadian. Can’t you guys see. Offcourse he was born in PNG but he is not a PNG citizen. Get the facts right.
    Overall, they were given fair treatment and well taken care of, so maski lo Yumi toktok nabaut.

  • sounds like some unchristian church politics here. probably they built the church, gave their lives for PNG, one was born here, and now they come back and the crooked church leaders who benefited from all the missionary’s hard labor report them. probably the missionaries expose the corruption of the crooked church leaders who want to keep their positions and keep the church offerings. amazing the police and immigration can close their eyes to all the crooked chinks that you can see sitting over every cash register till and almost every store & kaibar in PNG stealing from PNG economy, yet they can arrest and make an issues out of unpaid volunteer missionaries.

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