UK’s visa policy unfortunate – Skerrit

ROSEAU (CMC):

The Dominica government Thursday described as “unfortunate” the decision of the United Kingdom (UK) government to impose, with immediate effect, a visa regime on Dominica and several other countries.

“We appreciate that at this time the imposition of visa requirements will create an inconvenience for many of our citizens who visit the UK for vacation, to visit family and who transit the UK frequently. This, however, does not prevent Dominicans from travelling to or through the United Kingdom. Dominicans are still welcome in the United Kingdom,” Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a radio and television broadcast on Thursday.

London said the decision to impose the visa requirements on Dominica, Honduras, Namiba, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu” 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.”

In statements to Parliament on Wednesday under the heading ‘Changes in Immigration Rules’, both the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Suella Braverman and the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Migration and Borders, Lord Murray of Blidworth, said nationals of these countries will also be required to obtain a Direct Airside Transit Visa if they intend to transit via the UK.

They told legislators that “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”.

Dominica is among a handful of CARICOM countries with a Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI) through which foreign investors are granted citizenship of the island in return for making substantial investment in the socio-economic development of the country.

In his broadcast, Skerrit described the decision by London as “unfortunate”, but that it will not permanently hurt the island.

He said that every country has a right to continuously review its own immigration policies and attitudes to address what it sees as contemporary challenges, and indeed opportunities. “The decision of the United Kingdom to suspend visa free access to the UK for holders of passports from a number of countries, including Dominica, must be understood in that general context.”

The British government, he said, has made it clear that this decision to suspend visa-free access, does not represent a deterioration of relations between the two countries nor is it indicative of any diplomatic or other fall-out.

“They have cited concerns with our CBI programme and I wish to assure the Dominican people that several changes have already been made to the structure and management of our programme and in the weeks and months ahead, we will continue to implement additional measures to strengthen the programme.”

Skerrit said that his administration takes this matter “very seriously and we will increase our efforts in showcasing our robust due diligence and risk mitigation efforts on all fronts”.