With just days to go before the border reopens on July 17, Government has announced a mandatory travel document to enter Trinidad and Tobago.
“Before you enter, you need to get a certificate from TTravel Pass,” advised Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young yesterday at the launch of the web portal where the authorisation document can be accessed.
Speaking at the Ministry of Works and Transport in Port-of-Spain, Young hailed the website (TTravelPass.gov.tt) as a milestone in COVID-19 recovery.
Young said this document is to ensure that travellers provide proof that they are vaccinated and for non-nationals who are not yet inoculated or partially vaccinated, an opportunity to declare that they have paid for their quarantine stay at a state-approved facility.
The process for application can only take place within three days or 72 hours before the date of travel.
The traveller will need to provide passport information, a negative PCR test taken no earlier than 72 hours before arrival, a vaccination card (for fully vaccinated passengers), confirmation of paid state-supervised accommodation (for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated passengers), itinerary information and general health information.
Young said it is prudent that the state knows exactly where non-vaccinated nationals are during their quarantine period and this digital data will help. He said passengers must also provide proof of payment for state-approved transport.
“So, nationals that are non-vaccinated you’re not going to have your family picking you up at the airport or your friend, part of the package is that you paid for your hotel room and you paid for approved transport from Piarco to your hotel.”
He said students who attend regional universities and were not vaccinated will benefit from state-provided quarantine facilities.
The travel authorisation document has a scannable QR code attached to it as a security feature. Young said this applies to those coming in by boat as well. It was reiterated that non-nationals who are not vaccinated will not be allowed in at this time.
However, he said one category of unvaccinated non-nationals that is under consideration for an exemption to the rule are those in the oil and gas sector.
With respect to children, Young said they will not need this document.
“Children who are with a vaccinated parent or guardian are permitted to come in and not required to quarantine but they will be required to provide a negative PCR test three to five days after arrival.”
Young warned that declaring false information on the application carries with it a serious fine.
“The fine has now been increased to $350,000, plus six months in prison.”
Young called the website an “excellent IT platform” and he is confident that measures are in place if the portal fails.
When Guardian Media asked what was the contingency plan for such an occurrence, Young said, “What if Amazon goes down one day, what if PayPal goes down? You just have systems in place to get it back up as quickly as possible, so we’re hoping that there are no issues.”
Hotlines will be set up and manned from 8 am to 4 pm for queries. The numbers will be announced by the Ministry of Communications.
Guardian Media was told that the website (TTravelPass.gov.tt) would have been operational from midday yesterday but up to late afternoon, the web page only announced that the website was “Coming Soon.”
