Important Public Notices

UNHCR’s offices will open to the public on June 1st by appointment only. Should you need to contact UNHCR regarding a matter, please consult the contacts listed below:

For matters regarding your registration appointments, please contact the Registration Centre:
[email protected]

For questions about interviews, please contact:
[email protected]

For urgent matters, please contact any of three hotlines via phone, text or WhatsApp:
+1 (868) 296-3881
+1 (868) 280-3529
+1 (868) 309-7394

For general matters, or matters regarding COVID-19 preparation:
[email protected]

Living Water Community and UNHCR will resume their pre-registration and registration activities of asylum-seekers remotely as of 26 May 2020. Requests to seek asylum can be made by phone as of 26 May 2020, from 8 A.M until 12 P.M, Monday to Thursday.

Asylum-seekers are persons who seek international protection because they fear returning to their country of origin where they are at risk, and where they do not benefit from the State authorities’ protection.   

To seek asylum, please contact Living Water Community by phone as follows:

Mondays: 281-8737 or 329-0734

Tuesdays: 281-8737 or 329-0734

Wednesdays: 279-4422 or 296-4271

Thursdays: 279-4422 or 296-4271

Fridays: no applications received.

Interviews will be preferably conducted through a WhatsApp videocall.

NOTICE ON REGISTRATION

UNHCR will start conducting registration interviews by phone as of 26 May 2020. UNHCR will only contact the most vulnerable persons and will schedule interviews by phone. Only persons with interview appointments will be registered. Interviews will be preferably conducted through a WhatsApp videocall. Persons without an appointment should not come to the office and contact [email protected] instead.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, UNHCR has extended the validity period of expired and expiring cards until 31 August 2020. Persons with expired cards will be contacted and scheduled to renew their cards at UNHCR’s office when possible. Persons who require the re-issuance of their card due to loss, theft, deterioration, confiscation or destruction have to send an e-mail to [email protected] and will be contacted and scheduled to get their card re-issued.

If you are an asylum-seeker or refugee who reports to the Refugee Unit in the Government’s Immigration Division, please e-mail [email protected] one week before the expiration of your Order of Supervision.

In your e-mail, please submit the following:

1. Scanned copy of the Order of Supervision
2. Full name
3. Contact number 
4. Email Address

If you do not have a scanner at home, here is a list of scanning apps you can download to your smartphone.

The Government has made some changes to its original regulations.

• Unless you work in an essential service, or you are conducting business with an essential service, you must stay home until April 30, 2020.

For the updated ‘Stay at Home’ regulation from the Government in English, click here.

For list of essential services translated by UNHCR in Spanish, click here.

• Everyone must now wear a mask in a public space.
• All retail food, wine and spirits, and catering services must be closed until April 30, 2020. This includes dine-in, pickup and delivery. This does not include groceries and markets, who will stay open and still deliver — however, with shortened hours.

BUSINESS HOURS SHORTENED

The Government has changed the business hours of essential services:

• Discount stores (e.g. PriceSmart), markets, supermarkets, fruit and vegetable stalls, bakeries and “parlours” – must close by 6PM.
• Wholesale stores, distributors, manufacturers of food, medicine or other necessities – must stop distributions by 4PM.
• Pharmacies – must close by 8PM.
• Electrical and plumbing services, hardware stores –  can open from 8AM – 12PM, Mondays to Saturdays only.
  

These updated regulations will be enforced by the police.

• The Minister of National Security updated the rule of meeting in groups. Until April 20th, please refrain from gathering in any public place in groups larger than 5. 
• Please stay at home unless absolutely necessary to go outside to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
• Exceptions to staying at home can be made for people who work in essential businesses, or people who need to leave to visit these business places (for instance, the supermarket, fruit stall, bank, pharmacy, health centre, etc.)
• The Government’s “stay at home” measures will end on April 15th, 2020, or until further notice. Read more here.
• If you work at an essential business, please carry your employee ID at all times, as well as a note from your employer stating your profession where possible.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH MEASURES

• The Ministry of Health hotline is 877-WELL (9355). Please only call as a last resort after reading the material available on COVID-19. Please see resources below for more information on COVID-19.
• Please see the Ministry of Health’s list of health facilities here. Please note that both nationals and non-nationals are eligible for testing.

PROTECTING YOURSELF FROM COVID-19

• Do not place your hands on your face, as this increases chances of spreading viruses from surfaces to your body.
• Please wash your hands frequently. See instructions in this video.

The Government will implement stay at home measures effective Sunday, March 29, 2020 at 12:00 midnight until Wednesday April 15th, 2020.

During this period, only essential businesses and service providers will be allowed to operate. These essential businesses and service providers include:

1. Ministries and staff of the GORTT
2. Judiciary, industrial court, legal services
3. Meetings of Parliament, Cabinet, Tobago House of Assembly, committees 
4. Diplomatic Corps
5. Health care facilities, pharmacies, hospitals, laboratories, ambulance services, funeral homes; suppliers of medical supplies; dentists, optometrists, physical and occupational therapists, ophthalmologists
6. Police services, Defence Force, Fire services
7. Janitorial and maintenance services concerning the provision of health, hospital, water, electricity, fire, sanitation, civil aviation, and telecommunications
8. Strategic services agency at the Ministry of National Security
9. Immigration
10. Utilities (e.g. providers of water and electricity, telecommunications)
11. Public work facilities: sewerage, sanitation, mains, traffic signal maintenance
12. Fleet maintenance, 
13. Detention centres, prisons, rehabilitation centres
14. Social workers; workers who provide social welfare support to the  socially displaced; elderly, geriatric, convalescent homes, social services, NGOs that work with vulnerable people. 
15. Support to ensure effective removal of hazardous waste
16. Financial services under the FI Act (e.g., banking, co-operative societies, credit unions) remittance houses, support for these (ATM machines, cash in transit).
17. Provision  of essential janitorial andsanitation, and other  services to personal residences (only live-in domestic workers, plumbers, exterminators, electricians etc.)
18. Private security firms and Estate Constables, Special Reserve Police
19. Public transport (water and land). However, it will be operating at 50% capacity.
20.  Logistics services (cargo for the essential sectors) 
21. Only repair and maintenance service and garages providing direct support for essential services. 
22. Packaging and bottling.
23. Postal and shipping.
24. Aviation and Maritime operations. Movement, storage and delivery on/off ports. Customs and Excise.
25. Retail services such as Restaurants (only takeaway and delivery), groceries, markets, bakeries, supermarkets, vegetable stores or shops, convenience shops, discount stores (e.g., PriceSmart), wholesale shops, hardwares. Social distancing maintained. 
26. Workers supporting groceries, pharmacies and other retail.
27. Inland Revenue, Treasury
28. The Media
29. Production of food and care of animals (e.g.,farmers, zoos, veterinary services).
30. Energy services, oil and gas. Provision: only essential workers for operations.
31. Seismic research unit, UWI
32. Hotels registered under the Tourism Act 
33. Only construction workers engaged in the construction of healthcare facilities 
34. Kiln and furnace workers inside manufacturing operations, for essential and non-essential services

Please note that this is a summary of the complete list, available here.

• These businesses and institutions will not be operating at full capacity. Only essential staff will be called to work. 
• Additionally, public transport will still be operational, but at reduced (50%) capacity.
• The police service will support to enforce these measures. If you are considered essential staff and have to go to work, please walk with your national identification where possible, as well as identification from your workplace. The government has requested businesses to provide a letter for their essential employees to carry.
• If you are going to the grocery, pharmacy, bank, or to engage in business from any essential service provider, you may be asked to explain where you are going.
• All non-essential businesses will be barred from operation until April 15th, 2020.
• The country’s borders remain totally closed to both nationals and non-nationals.

As of today, the government has confirmed 66 cases and 2 deaths from COVID-19 in Trinidad and Tobago.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH MEASURES

• The Ministry of Health hotline is 877-WELL (9355). Please only call as a last resort after reading the material available on COVID-19.
• Any person who has recently travelled to Trinidad and Tobago from another country is expected to self-isolate for 14 days.
• Please see the Ministry of Health’s list of health facilities here. The Ministry has maintained that both nationals and non-nationals are eligible for testing.

Cash Assistance Update:

Please note that the procedure for applying for cash assistance has been affected by office closures due to COVID-19. New information will be issued via e-mail, and appear on this website, once it is available.

Also, please be aware that inaccurate information may be circulating about cash assistance. Each application for cash assistance is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and without discrimination on the basis of nationality, religion, time period in Trinidad and Tobago, race or ethnicity.

If you have already made a request for assistance, please note that you will receive another communication from UNHCR within two weeks informing you of the status of your request (approved/not approved).

Yours respectfully,
UNHCR Trinidad and Tobago

The Government is discouraging people from gathering in groups of 10 or more. The Government also announced that it would increase patrols to enforce this rule.

Additionally, meeting in large groups can pose a health hazard which may promote the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Please heed this advice and practice Social Distancing — maintaining at least a 1 metre distance between yourself and someone who is coughing or sneezing.

BE CAREFUL OF INFORMATION FROM UNOFFICIAL SOURCES

The notice in the photo below, which has been circulating on WhatsApp, is NOT an official message from UNHCR or the UN. The website “Oficina Digital” is NOT associated with UNHCR or the UN.

Official correspondence from UNHCR looks like images below, or may be sent via SMS.

If you click a link from an unverified source, you may be putting yourself at risk.

Please note that UNHCR’s registration centre, located on the corner of Keate and Pembroke Streets, Port of Spain, will remain closed to the public until March 29, 2020, until new notice. 

COMMUNICATION

For scheduling matters, please contact the Registration Centre:
+1 (868) 2353810
Monday – Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm
Email: [email protected]

For urgent matters, please contact the hotline:

+1(868) 2963881
+1 (868) 280-3529
+1 (868) 309-7394

For general matters, or matters regarding COVID-19 preparation: [email protected]

Please note that UNHCR will be communicating all updates to the situation via e-mail, SMS, and through members of the community. We ask you to continue to pay attention to communication issued by formal channels — including the government, UNHCR, PAHO, and the WHO.

Yours respectfully,
UNHCR Trinidad and Tobago

On 16 March, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Keith Rowley, announced steps the government would take to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). These measures include:

• From midnight on Tuesday 17 March 2020, Trinidad and Tobago’s land and sea borders will be closed to non-nationals for 14 days. This includes arrivals at airports. Some exceptions will be made, as in the case of health care workers. Cargo ships will be allowed to dock, but crews will not be allowed to leave the ship.

• All bars are to remain closed. Restaurants are asked not to have dine-in services, instead offering pickup and delivery.

• More than 25 people should not gather in a public space, including churches and religious organizations. Everyone is asked to take personal responsibility to avoid the need for enforcement by authorities.

• Schools and institutions of learning will remain closed until April 20, which includes the Equal Place/Espacio de Equidad (https://equal-place.com/) programme. If your child is enrolled in the Equal Place programme, please stand by for additional information from UNHCR.  If your child was scheduled to do the Secondary Entrance Assessment, which was scheduled for April 2, announcements about changes will be made by the government later this week.

• The government will ask banks to make deferrals on loan payments and not to charge interest on credit cards. The government will ask landlords to forbear with tenants. The economy may be supported by Trinidad and Tobago’s Heritage and Stabilisation Fund if necessary.

• The formation of a number of Cabinet Sub Committees, which will focus on education, finance, and the social impact of COVID-19.

Please see the government’s official press release here and the official video release here.