Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says he has asked the United States to allow Vincentian passport holders visa-free entry into the country.
“Comrades, while the NDP pursuing policies which would make it difficult for you to get visas to go to America and also threatening your entry without visa to Britain and Europe, make it difficult for you to get a visa to go to Canada, what is the Government of St. Vincent doing at the moment? We are trying to get a visa-free status for you to go to America,” Gonsalves said in Bequia on Thursday.
He said that he wrote a three-page letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on April 22, requesting visa-free entry in the United States.
Gonsalves’ Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration is seeking a sixth consecutive five-year term in office in a general election on Nov. 27.
Two independent candidates have been nominated to contest the polls, which pundits expect to be a straight race between the ULP and the New Democratic Party, which is trying to make it back to governance after 25 years in opposition.
Gonsalves read parts of the letter as he campaigned in support of the ULP’s Northern Grenadines candidate, Carlos Williams, who is making his second bid to win the seat.
“‘Your Excellency, I am formally requesting that favourable consideration be granted for nationals of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, to be accorded a waiver of visa to enter the United States of America as visitors, subject to the usual conditions, such as those touching on and concerning the visitor’s good conduct, security record and his or her possession of a sufficiency of funds requisite for the period of the visit’,” Gonsalves quoted the letter as saying.
He said he was making the formal request “on account of the unique circumstances of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the altered and altering global condition of migration and geopolitics”.
Gonsalves told Rubio that SVG is the only country in the English-speaking Caribbean which does not have diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China and does not have a citizenship by investment programme.
“‘Our diplomatic relations are with the Republic of China, Taiwan and … this country does not sell its citizenship and passport under the euphemistically titled citizenship by investment programme or otherwise’,” Gonsalves further quoted the letter as saying.
He told Rubio that the request for visa-free entry into the US for Venezuelan nationals “may be a novel one coming from a Caribbean country.
“But nationals of St. Vincent and the Grenadines already enjoy such a visa-free status to numerous countries globally, including the United Kingdom, the 27 members of the European Union under the Schengen arrangements, and the United Arab Emirates,” Gonsalves said.
He said Vincentians have not abused their visa waiver status in any country which has accorded them this privilege.
“Importantly, these countries are fully satisfied with the high-quality security of our passports and relevant source documents such as birth certificates and marriage certificates.
“I am sure, too, that your immigration authorities are likely to confirm that our nationals in the USA are overwhelmingly law-abiding, hardworking, ambitious and stuffed with common sense about life and living; in short, worthy and oftentimes exemplary contributors to the commonweal of the United States of America, and indeed to their homeland of origins in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
Gonsalves said he went on to mention the differences between SVG and the United States, and Cuba and Venezuela.
He noted the geographical location of SVG, adding, “It is where it is, and the USA will always have a huge presence in our lives, living and production in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
Gonsalves told Rubio that he felt certain that Washington’s favourable consideration of his proposal would reverberate to the advantage of both the United States and SVG “in the changing circumstances of the global political economy”.
Meanwhile, he told party supporters and media audiences that the US State Department referred his letter to the Department of Homeland Security.
“And towards the end of September, a meeting was to take place between an official of that Department of Homeland Security and myself. Unfortunately, that meeting did not take place because the official had to go off on an emergency,” Gonsalves said.
He said he was keeping in touch with the United States authorities on the proposal.
“This matter will not be resolved before elections. I do not know whether the United States of America will accede to our request, but you notice I have put it on the agenda,” Gonsalves said.
He said he had had “certain relevant conversations with certain officials I am not prepared to divulge.
“But the point I want to make the NDP trying to choke off you being able to go easily to the United States and Canada, and threatening your visa-free status with Britain and Europe, making it difficult for you to do financial transactions in US dollars,” he said.
Gonsalves had spoken previously about the proposal but gave details of the letter one day before POLITICO, a US news website, would report that Rubio had instructed US diplomats to consider obesity alongside various chronic medical conditions as among the reasons to reject foreigners seeking US visas.
POLITICO said Rubio’s guidance is a relatively strict interpretation of the federal government’s “public charge” rule.
“That rule bars prospective immigrants from entering the country if they are deemed likely to later require public assistance, such as Supplemental Security Income and funding from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program,” POLITICO reported.
Gonsalves is desperate if he thinks Vincentians will believe that he unilaterally can call for visa-free entry to the US. We already forget that Trump didn’t invite a single Caribbean PM to his inauguration.