A 24-year old woman is said to have been forced to leave the country on November 8 by her employer despite the fact that she was married to a 33 year old Palauan man and that an amnesty program was in effect.
The woman who worked as a waitress at Business Class bar in Malakal is said to have overstayed her permit which expired on October 14 of this year and therefore was made to leave.
Per advice of their attorney, they were instructed to wait until November 1st when the amnesty program was to start to avail of the amnesty. According to the couple, Labor and Immigration were pushing for her to leave based on the employer’s insistence and had confiscated her passport and marriage documents they presented.
The Labor officer that was asked about this said man was drunk when he came in with woman and that they may have had fake documents which is why they were confiscated.
In an interview before the lady was made to leave, she said that her employer was determined to have her leave the island and this was due to internal problems with another employee. She said she tried to get help from Labor but was told by Labor employees that “the only way for her to stay is to keep asking the employer”.
The woman may return to Palau later as a spouse of a Palauan.