Persons bearing passports from the Commonwealth of Dominica now need a visa to travel to and transit to the United Kingdom.
UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, made the announcement today in a statement to the House of Commons. The visa restriction was imposed on Dominica, Honduras, Namibia, Timor-Leste, and Vanuatu.
In her remarks, Braverman commented: “Careful consideration of Dominica’s and Vanuatu’s operation of a citizenship by investment scheme has shown clear and evident abuse of the scheme, including the granting of citizenship to individuals known to pose a risk to the UK”.
“The decision to impose these visa requirements has been taken solely for migration and border security reasons and is not a sign of poor relations with these countries. Any decision to change a visa regime is not taken lightly and we keep our border and immigration system under regular review to ensure it continues to work in the UK national interest”.
She said arrangements are in place for nationals from these countries to apply for visas.
Braverman said an exception is being made for nationals of these countries, who have confirmed bookings, the travel visa-free to the UK no later than 16 August 2023.
Following this, the UK plans to annul the visa-free agreement with St Lucia in August and subsequently with Grenada in September. Similarly, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, and St Kitts and Nevis will face the same action in October, November, and December respectively.
The step has come into effect as the first step of the launch of the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) and it is expected that in December 2023, the UK government would announce these countries under ETA.
Dominica joins Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica as the Caribbean countries whose passport holders need a visa to enter the UK.
Dominicans can still travel to 144 countries either visa-free or with visa-on-arrival access making their passport the 34th most powerful globally.
As per the reports, the visa-waiver agreement with Caribbean nations offering Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI) will be sequentially suspended in phases. The visa-free travel agreements with other OECS or additional Caribbean countries are likely to be suspended in the coming months.https://writeups24.com/caribbean-nationals-will-require-a-visa-to-travel-to-the-uk-starting-from-dominica/amp/