KINGSTON, Jamaica – Prime Minister Bruce Golding has dismissed a report in a US-based publication that he is the holder of a United States Registration Card or Green Card visa.
A Jamaica Government Information Service (JIS) statement said that the allegation had been made by the “US-based media entity called Caribbean Voice”.
“While noting that he had applied for and obtained a green card, as far back as 1978, that visa was surrendered when he deferred his plans to do post graduate studies in the US and to return to Jamaica to support the JLP in its preparations for the elections that were held in 1980,” the statement said.
It quoted Golding as saying that in 1977 he had decided to pursue post-graduate studies abroad, and was accepted into Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
“At that time, he applied for permanent residence to enable him to work part-time in the United States, in order to meet the cost of living and studying there. The application was approved in August, 1978.
“However, he subsequently decided to defer these plans, in order to assist the JLP in its preparations for the elections that were eventually held in 1980. “Before being sworn in as a Minister, in November 1980 Mr Golding went to the US Embassy and surrendered his alien registration card, and was granted a non-immigrant visa, which has consistently been renewed since then,” the JIS statement noted.
The issue of legislators holding dual citizenship or having pledged allegiance to foreign countries has been a major matter here with both the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the main opposition People’s National Party (PNP) taking legal action to have Members of Parliament removed on the grounds of having contravened the island’s Constitution relating to the election of persons to Parliament. (CMC)