OECS nationals to move more freely soon

CASTRIES (CMC):

Nationals in the six independent member states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are expecting to be able to move freely in search of jobs, armed with only an identification card and an immigration entry/departure form come Monday, as the subregion presses ahead with forging an economic union.

In reaction to the move, some online readers appeared to sound notes of cautious optimism and thinly veiled suspicion.

Nationals of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Kitts and Nevis will no longer be granted limited entry visas to each other's countries.

"At that point, the individual would be granted an indefinite entry into that state once immigration is satisfied that all security and other reasonable precautions have been taken," Lisa Louis-Phillip of the OECS Secretariat's Regional Integration Unit said.

Later

The British territory of Montserrat was expected to join the scheme by September with two other colonies, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, set to follow "at a later date", officials said.

"OECS nationals will require at least a valid (identification) card to benefit from the free movement of labour which takes effect from Monday, August 1," Louis-Phillip added.

"That is important, as well as a completed (entry/departure) form, these are the two most important documents that an OECS national moving to another protocol state would have to present to an immigration officer."

The St Lucia-based OECS Secretariat said yesterday it was making final preparations for the August 1 free movement of nationals from the subregion.