In July last year, it was announced that the British Government was considering placing visa restrictions on Dominicans traveling into the United Kingdom.
The UK was in the process of its first global review of visa regimes in relation to the Commonwealth Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines).
Given the close historic, economic and political ties Dominica has with the United Kingdom, the introduction of a visa regime was considered a very significant issue by the Government of Dominica.
As a result of the proposed changes to the existing policy, Dominica and the UK engaged in a six-month period of detailed dialogue to examine what actions needed to be taken to address concerns and mitigate the need for a visa regime to be introduced.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit established a special committee to coordinate Dominica’s response and to ensure that all the concerns raised by the UK were dealt with in a timely and efficient manner.
The committee was comprised of officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Legal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Police Service, Immigration Division, and the Dominica Air and Sea Port Authority.
At the end of the review period, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Home Office in the United Kingdom determined that Dominica had in fact demonstrated a genuine commitment to put into effect credible and realistic plans, with clear timetables, to reduce any risks to the UK.
With the improved systems and new legislation in place, the Government of Dominica has been assured that the Government of the UK will not impose additional travel restriction on Dominican citizens wishing to travel to the UK.
The UK Government recently stated, “that a visa requirement for Dominica nationals remains unnecessary”, adding, “Dominica nationals who wish to visit the UK for less than six months as a tourist or family visitor will be able to continue to do so without the need for a visa”.
Improvements to Dominica’s immigration system are an on-going process and considerable investment in technology and training will be necessary going forward. However, as a result of the improved systems currently in place, both Dominica and the United Kingdom will benefit from more secure boarder control and a more efficient immigration process.
Once again I consider the Prime Minister as a man with a vision for Dominica. He thinks like me and understand the development of Dominica and the growth of the country depend on him and him alone. The people of Dominica elected him, because they knew That he has a future to build Dominica to meet all Dominican needs to the best of his ability. This is a major peace of development for Dominican, this open a great door for both countries, Dominica is not the only country that will benifit from this deal. England have a lot to gain from this deal. I have to say the UK is looking for economy growth, otherwise they would never open their doors for Dominica in such a manner. However, I have to admit this is good for Dominican. Again I encourage the Dominican Government to make every effort to safe guard such good relation with the UK. There should be good immigration laws to protect Dominican against foreigners holding Dominican pastport that are not native Dominican. And I hope that we can get such deals with other countries in the world. Dominican can began to count their blessing, because a huge door is about to open in the development of dominica. The outside world is not safe anymore. Families are looking to escape to the Islands and Dominica will be successful among them all. So we need to open the mountains to make room for the growing population. We are heading for a million people in the next Five years, and so we must be ready to recieves and accommodate those coming to us.
Good luck Mr. Prime Minister.
Hi can anyone please tell me what is required for a Dominican citizen to visit the United Kingdom as I really cannot get a straight answer. Please help!!
First and foremost let me thank both Government for their decisions on us Dominicans when travelling to the UK. I am thankful for all families and friends who have someone in Dominican or the UK. Myself and brother was born in England and brought up in Dominica as a babies in nappies and the Dominican Government did not ask Grand-mother for visas for both myself and my brother who was born in another Country whose parents are Dominican… So for these reason I am able to travel freely but not only that I can invite my long lost friends families and just to have a good time. We Dominican never take advantage of people and their country we come to better ourselves make a contribution to life and that is not a wrong way to behave.
I am honoured we do not have to find money to go to Barbados anymore and this was putting a strain on our pockets.. I feel we should thank god for this new break through and those who have a few dollars for the economyin the uk come and enjoy a holiday and come and see and travel it is not a bad idea.. The Uk has English families living on the island of Dominica some are tourists themselves and this would be too much for an English man to handle when he knows he can travel to Dominica when he wants therefore it is only right we should be able to enter UK freely too just pay your ticket and have your spending money surely someone will put you up or pay hotel fees which works out much cheaper than family… there are caribbean ships passing through the Uk therefore there are benefits for both Governments. LET US BE THANKFUL AND CHANT LIBERTATION…PEACE AND ;LOVE TO MY DA PEOPLE AND FRIENDS FEEL GOOD…CHRISTINE ROSIE HENRY
i don’t understand why a simple visa issue, can generate so much negative comments, come on people we don’t need any name calling, only positive comments, i for one favour visa free to enter the uk, it will help the young people to go over to the uk to learn their culture and life style
Every year countries undertake visa reviews. It might not be the same countries every year but it happens. Even Dominica does it. I’m happy that we no longer need visas however it does not make it easier to enter the UK. An individual still undergoes a very rigorous examination upon arrival at the port of entry. I’m happy that over the years the governments have been able to implement processes which has increased passport security and whatever other measures have been put in place which has convinced the British officials that they should not implement visa restrictions on Dominicans. A country can place visa restrictions on any country. Being part of the Commonwealth does not dictate internal regulations of ensuring a country’s security. If we did not have measures in place to convince the British that our documents are not a security risk then for sure they would have put visa restrictions.
Every passport states a persons place of birth. It does not matter where you are born once you become a citizen of a country there is no distinction as to a true citizen or one who is not. A citizen is a citizen it is not the place of the person checking the passport to determine if that person is a true citizen. It is left up to the officials of a country when someone applies for its’ citizenship to do all the due diligence to determine whether or not they issue citizenship to an individual.
I agree the Government should approach the EU to remove visa restrictions like St. Kitts did. It would make it so much easier to travel to Europe.
I wish people would be sensible and think of what they are writing before they write it. Some of the comments on here make Dominicans seem very ignorant. And when we do not know what we are speaking about either 1. Don’t say anything or research your thoughts and then come back and make your comment.
Long Live DA.
Laborites finally have something to talk about….Enjoy….Cuz good news about your Government(even though they are lies) doesn’t come very often..Cuz the bad news are mos def not lies!!!
Big-up to the administration for cleaningup its act in this regard.
I GOING TO BOOK MY FLIGHT BEFORE THEY CHANGE THEIR MIND PAPA!
we all know is not native d/cans doin all the crime in the u.k,,,, sheesh,,, how much u think we stand out in those countries,,, when u have haitains,,,guyanese,,, jamaicans n trini’s etc cmon,,,, tell our gov’ts to stop sellin passports to rogue individuals who go to u.k n elsewhere to do money laundering etc,,, when these guys get caught the first passport they flash is ours,,, they do business sayin they are dominicans,,, now on our passport if u r not a native should have an area which says,,, place of birth is bora bora etc,,,, so the int’l community will no specifically if one is natural dominican or a business person with our passport fronting to be a d/can
mouth of the south do you live in the UK? if you are then you don’t know what you talking about, if you’re not then you are just a little I*@”£T who is just talking from your “&%.
because I can tell you for sure it have allot of Dominicans in the UK that not even there for long and some of them don’t even have papers and playing bad man like they in Dominica. So mouth of the south get your facts right. As your name on here all the time talking about stuff you don’t really have a clue about. Let me give you a clue, all the other caribbean countries you mention, the Uk have details on all of them and our population is very small so when they check the figures on Dominicans in the UK it looks very bad your *5&%£”….
No need to be rude Uk Dca…..mouth of the south has a valid point just as you do…is the same sh&^ that went on in Canada why they put visa restrictions on us too….The majority of D/cans in the Uk are genuinely trying to make a positive change in their lives legal or not…of course you will come across a few fools playing part big man because they screwing lil british women…and good luck to them 99 days for the criminal 1 day for the police. But the fact remains there are all kind of characters with our passports who haven’t spent a day in D.A and we get the blame for shit we haven’t done.
if so then how much d/cans do the u.k deport every year,,, of course every nation have peeps who do illicit activities but u implying like d/cans in the u.k doin mafia type business lol,,, i bet the u.k have less than 100000 NATIVE born dominicans,,,, so i don’t think we add up to the other lands,,, but with all ur insults,,, n other bloggers also,,, i think even admin can vouch that MOTS never have to resort to name callin n hurling insults to make his point whether u choose to agree to disagree or not
WHAT CRIME ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? IT WAS A CLAMP DOWN ON IMMIGRATION! JEEZ! thats how people talk and not knowing anything
MOTS if you knew the facts you would not be making that kind of comment. If you knew the amount of Dominican small-time gangsta’s that in the UK mostly concentrated in the east/south-east/south of London u would stay with your mouth open. Unlike many in the U.S they tend to keep a very low profile and act as model citizens when they are in DA.
you do not know what you talking about i live in south east london and we do not have small-time gangsta’s get your facts right mate
u just always sour for every issue.
Now THAT’s a government that’s working!!
So why is the Government still selling passports. do you know that the government did not have one stroke of negotiations to do? due to certain regulations under the commonwealth laws the UK was anable to apply the visa restrictions on the commonwealth countries. tell the Government stop fulling you people. Call your relatives in the UK and find the facts on this matter.
why dont u stop flapping your GUMZ
SO HOW CANADA CAME TO CLOSE THEIR DOORS UNLESS WE A VISA IS ISSUED AND YET THE MOTHERLAND CANT? IF THEY HAVE GOOD ENOUGH REASONS THEY CAN.. YOU GUYS JUST FULL OF HOT STEAMING SHIT. CITIZENSHIP EH GO BE A 2ND CLASS
If what you say is true, then I stand corrected
why dominican selling passport i guess people like u will not go far cause talks like what u gave keeps them putting restrictions on us. YOUR DAM FOOL A DONT YOU KNOW WHAT WWW MEANS THE WORLD WIDE WED U CRYING DOWN YR OWN PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT SELLING PASSPORT SMALL MINDED … U CAN TALK LOCAL BUT DNO HAVE TO SCREEN ALOT OF REPLY ESP TOWARD THE POSITIVE THINGS
@SLAMHARDER
Because Canada closed its doors to ALL immigration for over a year, and then put very very strict rules on immigration and to stop illegals. Its not just Dominica that got blocked.
After the” Mother country” rape and plunder our resources they want to prevent us from visiting them!! UK hold your R’a&^
WELL SAID!
if the ‘mother country’ raped and plundered you why you wanna go there anyway??
You obviously have a third grade education! This is a statement in response to the article articulating the point that there should be no visas. I never in my response stated I wanted to go there. Where I am, the UK is the furthest thing from my mind! IF I CHOSE TO GI THERE I DO NOT REQUIRE A VISA… Ok genius! I am just saying for those peeps from DA and the Commonwealth that desire to go there they should not be hindered after all what the Mother A$@ Country did. Comprende senor/señorita !
Great job by the officials from the PM’s office, the Ministry of Legal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Police Service, Immigration Division, and the Dominica Air and Sea Port Authority.
Thank You For Your Hard Work
why couldn’t they do the same for Canada? Lie they Lie.
Man tell England to go hold its rasc@@#t eh man.
They were our mother country, after they used us, abused us, refused us, and then spit us out on the world’s stage without a dime to our name, they still wanna come and talk about visa restriction? Well Dominican people should start flooding England and try to make a good living to ease up themselves from the bondage of poverty that they, the mother colony, kept Dominicans in for so much generations.
We sitting right between Martinique and Guadeloupe, look at their development compared to us. England ever gave us anything for right now we have to come and bend over and fold in other to appease them?
For the amount of Asian terrorist bursting bomb all over England, and all them other foreigners, is on poor small Dominica, your weaned child, all you have strength?
Man tell England hold its ……
I watchin’ still….
ALL YOU REALLY STUPID…. listen to de kind of DUMB comments all you putting up…. LIke you people don’t embrace the future and just hold on to the past… THATS WHY SOME OF ALL YOU STILL IN TOU LApeh because is Rabbit brains all you have… STUPESSSSSSSSSS
IF EVERY COMMENT HAD THEIR IP ADDRESS SHOWN I BET YOU ALOT OF THESE COMMENT WOULD NEVER BEE SEEN..SPECIALY THE NEGATIVE ONES.. ALL THESE BULLSHITTERS HIDE BEHIND A WALL
i know right
It would be safer if persons would require a visa because they can almost be assured that they stood a chance of getting in for at least a month. However, people spend huge sum of money to buy a ticket to England only to be rejected.
Sorry but not true..Even if u have a visa they can still deny you from entering if they have suspicions on anything.. So NO not beter to have a visa. If they suspect sumn is cause they have reason to. mayb sumone in your family acting like a neg up there or some stuff you did flagged you. C’mon now.
So where are all the negative commenters? Look the PM do something Posisitve for the Nation where are the comments of good job? Ohhhh I see Is only when LIES and Fictitious Bullcrap come from Blue Blue yall have sumn to say.. Y’all don’t care about the development o the Nation yall a bunch of FAKES. None of you all are real Dominicans. Y’all rather be 2nd and 3rd class citizens of the US Canada and UK. Carry on ppl.
BY THE WAY GOOD JOB MR PM THANK YOU.
NEXT WORK ON CANADA WE NEED TO GAIN BACK THEIR TRUST MR PM
Mind your business well. Stop letting the Government full all you. Go and read your commonwealth laws. There was no way the UK could implement visa restrictions just like that. do your homework
YOU TOO DONKEY!!! DOMINI CANADA CLOSE THEIR DOORS IN OUR FACE WHAT STOPING THE UK FORM DOING IT? THE BIG BOSS GO DO YOU OWN DAMN HOMEWORK
but Jamaicans DO need a visa to visit the UK!
Wowza, problem soelvd like it never happened.
This is great. Kudos to Skerrit and his Special Committee. Later for the naysayers..
For the people who try to blame the gov. of DA it was election year in the Uk. every election year UK gov. always brings up immigration. They know there immigration comes from europe,not DA.
Good negotiating skills would like to commend the PM and his team for producing good results cause if they were bad results we all would be on his back. Still there is much too be done in the country, creation of permament jobs for the youth, thus reduce in crime and migration and brain drain”
i wander want LENNOX, ANGILO, MATT @ JERRY, EDISON CHENVILE JAMES, THE MAJIE FROM BWIE, SISTER WILLY, THE UWP AND THE LIST OF 29 WOULD HAVE TO SAY TO OUR PRIME MINISTER AND GOVERNMENT RIGHT NOW. IS IT SOMETHING THEY NEED TO GET PRAISE FOR? SHOULD THEY BE COMPLEMENTED FOR THEIR GOOD NEGOTIATION SKILLS? OR MAYBE U ALL SHOULD CRITICIZES THEM FOR A JOB WELL DON?
LETS HEAR YOU GUYS.
as a traveler, i must commend the persons responsible for putting things in place to allows us dominicans to continue to travel to the UK visa-free.
Thanks! This is why I voted you guys. To look out for the well being of the citizens ot the commonwealth. Next, should be the Schengen area.
THANKS TO THE FATHER THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT THATS GOOD NEWS . NOT ALLAH OR BUDDHA HAILE SELASSE . MUSLIM ALWAYS’ MATTHEW 11 ; 25-30 MY FATHER HAS GIVE ME AUTHORITY OVER EVERYTHING. NO ONE REALLY KNOWS THE FATHER EXCEPT THE SON AND THOSE TO WHOM THE SON CHOOSES TO REVEAL HIM. MY BROTHER HOLY BIBLE .
all u never ask all u self y they want da people to obtain visa? Dominica citizens have issues. They causing too much havoc abroad…. they spoiling everything for d innocent.
When the issue was 1st brought up it was stated why ALL of the Caribbean Commonwealth states were under the microscope and radar. It’s not Just Dominica.. However we have proven that we are not at risk to Security. Few and I repeat very few citizens have mal ways.
I commend the efforts of the officials to sustain the ties between the UK and Dominica to facilitate an easy travel arrangements for Dominican nationals. I appreciate the response from the Dominican legislature, kudos to them!!!
suck england and america
we can go venezuela and colombia
u serious nah lol,,,, i know u joking
I am very pleased with the results. Thank Allah
allah is fictitious. a figment of your imagination. There is only one God jesus Christ. i’m saying this to your because i love you
Allah is the Arabic word for God. Jesus Christ is NOT God.
GOD is a pagan word
Please…!!!!….Jesus Christ is not God. He is the Son of God.
Jesus Christ is god therefore any other God is fictitious.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades
Wow: I do not want your love. It is a false one and of lip service! After disrespecting Allah you offer ‘love,’ thanks but no thanks.
You all are behaving so silly.
folks, folks, folks. please don’t argue over your imaginary friends on here.
The true God name is Jehovah and his son name is Jesus, Jesus Christ shed his blood for all of us so that we can have a second chance in life? (We inherit the sins from Adam & Eve) by showing how much we love him, being obedience, baptize and repent for our sins. Jesus said love your neighbors as I have loved you! Jesus said truly I say to you, unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Someone might ask you how a man can be born when he is old. He cannot enter into the womb of his mother a second time and be born. Tell them Jesus said most truly I say to you, unless anyone is born from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Jehovah God.
@ Jehovah: While the name for the Most High is Jehovah in English, Allah in Arabic, Yahweh in Hebrew. Jehovah Witnesses is not the correct way. Firstly, it was started by Charles T Rusell in 1875, secondly, it teaches that Jesus is a god thus they invoke Jesus as a god besides Allah, this is polytheism and ascribing partners with Allah in worship. This is the worst sin as this is a crime against Allah directly. Thirdly, Jehovah Witnesses believe that Allah has an offspring named Jesus, this is polytheism to assert that Allah has an heir to His Kingdom. Fourthly, the bible is not the word of Allah; the bible has many versions, filled with contradictions, some has 66, 72, 80+ etc. There is no consistency. The New World Translation of the Scriptures and the King James Version for example have major differences in their content. We see verses have been removed and added.
Another point that makes Jehovah Witness’ on error is, they consume pork. The messiah peace be upon him never consumed pork. None of the prophets did so. Additionally, their women do not observe modesty in their dressing. The other day I saw a baptised, ministering Jehovah Witness with an extremely short skirt. The skirt reached half way her lap, way above the knee at minimum requirement. This is a woman who came at my home to minister ‘Jehovah’s word.’
All praises be to Allah there is a very good friend who was an elder in St. Maarten, he left the error of Jehovah Witness and embraced Islam.
The prophet Muhammad said, any jew or christian who hears of me and do not accept me will take his seat in the fire.
So Muslim always if my name is John , when I go to Guadeloupe is my name JEAN. If I commit a crime and my documents say John Paul, if I have to travel to France will my police record day Jean Paul. Creator name is YAHWEH.. God is a pagan word, and not a proper noun. I have facts.. Prov 30:4
His name is the same no matter what language
Was it not jesus who was made to sit on the right side of the father. THE LAST THING WE HERD OF
JESUS.
@Homeboy: I can read and write arabic very well. I am a student of the language. There is no letter P in arabic. If someone is named Pamela in English, naturally in arabic it will be changed. An arab may end up calling her Bamela because that is the closest word. There were languages before Hebrew so how did they call the most High? While the God and Bondie have pagan origins and it’s better not be used; Jehovah, Allah and Yahweh, when one looks at the meanings of these terms there is nothing wrong with this. What is worst is saying that Yahweh has an offspring; this is pagan!
@Fire: Do you think that the Creator of the universe has a left and a right side for the messiah to sit by? You think Allah has direction like left, right, north, south etc? Allah is the creator of these directions. All this is ascribing the Most High like His creation which is dangerous and oppressive.
thank u Pm and officials for negotiating, resulting in the postive.