The Migration Service is established with corporate arrangements consistent with good migration governance and that allows the organization to effectively deliver against its operation

The EMM-II project in East Timor was designed to respond to an environment of fundamen-tal organisational change, as the government implemented the decision to establish the Migra-tion Service as an autonomous agency outside the national police force.  In addition, GoET had indicated a desire to undertake a revision of the Immigration and Asylum Law under which the migration agencies operate.  

In the context of this fundamental reform, the following seven themes were identified as areas of focus for the EMM-II project from 2009 to 2011:

1. Successful establishment of the Migration Service as a non-police agency;

2. Improved border processing using a risk-based approach;

3. Improved management and planning skills for senior officers;

4. Improved visa processing and higher quality decision-making;

5. Implementation of an integrated border management system;

6. Improved inter-agency coordination; and

7. Training and ongoing support.

This report provides information on project activities undertaken in the fourth period from

1 September 2010 to 31 March 2011.

Key achievements of the project during the reporting period include:

Installation of the second stage of the Border Management Information System (BMIS)

In February 2011, officers from the Portuguese Immigration Service, Servico de Estrangeiros E Fronteiras (SEF), travelled to Dili to install Phase II of the BMIS.  With the project’s support, SEF successfully installed the Visa Module, upgraded the PASSE database to enable synchronisation capability, and initiated a training programme of border and consular officers. The system was officially inaugurated in April 2011 at Dili airport, and is in an ongoing on-the-job training mode at Batugade border port and Dili Sea Port since August 2011. On the other hand, new visa labels are being developed, review of passenger flows at the airport is underway and officers are being trained in the use of the visa module.  Processes are also underway to extend the system to all offices, border posts and consulates.

Outcomes of the Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) meeting of 9 September 2010

The broad-ranging work of the EMM project was clearly evident in the MSC meeting of        9 September 2010.  The Committee considered the draft revision of the Immigration and Asy-lum Law, border entry policy involving the development of a green list of countries eligible for visa on arrival, and improvements to visa processing arrangements, particularly processing of work visas. The project has worked closely with counterparts in the development of each of these policy issues supporting inter-agency cooperation on immigration issues at both senior and operational levels.

Deployment of the first Migration Attachés

On 4 November 2010, the first two migration attachés were deployed to East Timor’s consu-lates in Kupang and Denpasar, Indonesia.  This was the culmination of several years of plan-ning and training, and the support of the EMM project was acknowledged in the deployment ceremony, co-hosted by the Foreign Minister and the Secretary of State for Security.  In particular, the ‘emergency’ support to facilitate visa on arrival restrictions expedited the need for business processes to be developed and training to be provided to the attachés.  The attachés have been successfully working at the consulates since November 2010 and the project continues to provide support to their work in processing visas for travellers to East Timor, which includes their integration in the BMIS network for visa processing.  

Baseline Assessment regarding Management and Planning Skills

The project completed a baseline assessment of the management and planning skills of Senior Officers within the Migration Service.  The report closely analyses the senior leadership in their understanding and use of management techniques and provides a basis for ongoing monitoring of their management skills development.  The principal recommendation of the assessment is that Senior Officers would benefit from a management development pro-gramme.  The report was submitted to the Secretary of State for Security and the Migration Director, and the recommendations are now being followed up by the project.

Technical Advice and Support

As a matter of routine, the project provides very close technical and policy support to the Migration Service, as well as the Legal Advisor within the office of Secretary of State for Security, and the Consular Affairs National Directorate within the Foreign Ministry.  Particu-lar areas of support have included: preparations for the Bali process meetings in March 2011; input into the infrastructure needs at the multifunction border posts in Batugade, Salele and Sakato; preparations of joint ministerial meetings with Indonesia; and technical opinions in relation to specific immigration cases.