You can now swap one island paradise for another – no visa required. A groundbreaking new deal has made it possible for citizens of Barbados, Belize, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines to live and work freely across each other’s shores. Think of it as the Caribbean’s equivalent of the EU’s free movement zone - sun, sea and seamless borders.
EU-style deal promotes free movement across Caribbean borders
The agreement, which came into force on October 1, removes the need for visas, work permits or residence applications between the four nations. The aim? To slow the Caribbean’s brain drain, giving young professionals a reason to build their futures at home instead of heading for jobs in North America or Europe.
Free movement between the island nations has been a long time coming. Decades of negotiations, in fact, between members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a group of 15 countries including the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, and Grenada.
David Comissiong, the Barbados ambassador to Caricom, described the deal as a ‘breakthrough’ in creating a truly borderless Caribbean with a single market and shared economy.
He said, according to The Guardian: ‘We are virtually the same people. We have no historical animosities against each other, and we are very similar culturally. So, this is a breakthrough, even though it’s only four countries.’
For now, the deal covers just Barbados, Belize, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines, but the plan is bigger. It’s hoped that other countries will soon join, turning the Caribbean into a true free movement zone where island-hopping could mean job-hopping, too.
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