Katrina Yearwood is now the acting chief immigration officer, replacing Annette Mark who vacated the seat at the end of October.
Yearwood is the daughter of long standing parliamentarian Sir Robin Yearwood.
Chief of Staff Lionel “Max” Hurst said she is yet to receive her instruments of appointment confirming her as head of the Immigration Department.
“She (Mark) has vacated already and the young woman (Yearwood) has taken over. The governor general has to hand her an instrument, I don’t think that has happened as yet. She is in situ as the lawyers like to say, she is seated in the place,” Hurst said.
Mark tendered her resignation on July 10, at which time the government had requested that she continue in the post until October.
Mark had asked the government to consider someone from within the Immigration Department to replace her. Many were critical of Mark’s appointment citing that she is not Antiguan but originally from St Vincent.
She was initially hired on a six-month contract from June 1, 2015, replacing Lieutenant Colonel Ivor Walker as head of the department after he was returned to the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force (ABDF) from where he was seconded in 2009.
Mark worked in the Office of the Attorney General, Ministry of Legal Affairs as director of anti-corruption, and the Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy (ONDCP), where she was a legal advisor from 2012 to 2014.
