By Staff Writer
ROSEAU, Dominica, Jul 2, CMC – Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit Thursday said he hopes the United States would “at the soonest opportunity” reconsider its visa restriction policy that has affected several nationals seeking medical care as well as to further their education in the North American country.
Skerrit recalled that in February this year, the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, had indicated that Washington would review the visa arrangement by June of this year.
“It is for them to do that, and it’s not for us to do that. We believe from our standpoint in engaging officers of the US government that Dominica and I would also speak on behalf of Antigua and Barbuda would have taken all of the actions that we believe, though not officially by official note from them, but we believe that would have taken all of the actions that would cause the United States to reconsider its position on the visa restrictions of Dominican citizens and Antiguan and Barbudan citizens,” Skerrit told a news conference.
In an executive order issued last December, President Donald Trump said that, apart from Dominica, nationals of Antigua and Barbuda and Haiti would also be affected by the immigration policy.
Trump had said that during his first administration, he had restricted the entry of certain foreign nationals into the United States to prevent national security and public safety threats from reaching US borders.
He said that some of these countries have offered citizenship-by-investment (CBI) without residency requirements, which pose challenges for screening and vetting.
Under the CBI programme, several Caribbean countries, including Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, offer citizenship to foreign investors in return for making a substantial investment in the socio-economic development of these countries.
Trump said both Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica have “historically had CBI without residency” and that the entry into the United States of nationals of these two countries as immigrants and as non-immigrants on B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas is hereby suspended.
He said consular officers shall reduce the validity of any other non-immigrant visa issued to nationals of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica “to the extent permitted by law”.
Skerrit told reporters that while Roseau has been holding discussions with Washington on the issue, “it’s not a decision for the government of Dominica to make.
“Now, one understands in the scheme of things in this world and with the issues occupying the minds of the United States government at this time, you would also appreciate where they would place such a matter.
“And so we do hope and urge the United States of America, with which we have had longstanding cultural and family ties. We have spent millions of our money at American universities over an extended period of time, and certainly during this, the reign of this government, we spent a lot of money in America educating our children, our citizens.”
Skerrit said that he is hoping to facilitate students to go to university, to facilitate people to go for medical care where they need to, and to visit family and friends, adding that Dominicans with valid visas have been “travelling with no real hassle at the ports of entry.
“ So that continues. But it’s for those of us who do not have a visa that we would like to ensure that they have the opportunity, if they so desire, to access a visa. But visa issues, we all have to accept, are purely a decision of the country.
“Like us in Dominica, we have visa restrictions on many countries, and there are many countries in the world where you need a visa, whether you are an ordinary passport holder, an official passport holder, or a diplomatic passport holder; you need a visa to go to certain countries.
“…and so that’s the reality, but we do hope that there can be a reconsideration on this matter at the soonest opportunity, and so we look forward to that, but we continue to engage the United States at all levels on this matter, individually and collectively,” Skerrit told reporters.
CMC/cj/ir/2026