Should CARICOM’s larger members like Jamaica, Trinidad and Guyana jump on the free movement train?
Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines have agreed to complete free movement between the four countries.
Effective October 1, citizens can now move between these four countries without needing a visa or work permit, and stay as long as they like. They can go to live, work, study or vacation with no return date necessary.
But CARICOM’s larger members, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana have not come on board. Why is that? Well let’s examine the situation.
CARICOM already has the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME). Under the CSME, CARICOM citizens with a skills certificate can already move freely throughout the region. I took advantage of this when I first moved to Jamaica from Belize years ago. But the catch is that you have to be among certain categories of skilled workers, or have a university degree to qualify.
This deeper integration among these four countries takes things a step further. It grants nationals access to emergency and primary health care, and public primary and secondary education, within participating member states. It’s also not limited to certain categories of workers.
When you travel to one of these countries, you will get a passport stamp or a digital note that says you can stay with no time limit. You won’t need a special skills card or a separate work permit. You can look for a job, rent a home, or set up a small business, just like local people do.
And families are included. Parents can bring their children, and children can go to public primary and secondary schools in the new country.
The benefit to these countries is that they get to draw from a larger pool of workers by offering them more security. We all know that Caribbean brain drain is a thing. We’ve been losing our educated people to more developed countries for decades.
Free movement gives our people access to opportunities in the entire region, not just our home countries, most of which are very small.
Jamaica, for example, already has a labour issue. Unemployment is at a record low of 3.3 percent, which sounds good. But if you speak to employers, they’ll tell you that it’s really hard to find good workers. There’ve even been talks about importing labour.
Meanwhile, Guyana is going through a major infrastructure boom. The government is building twelve hospitals, seven hotels and dozens of schools. Who is going to work at all these places? Can they train their labour force fast enough? Drawing from a larger pool of CARICOM labour could be a solution.
In Trinidad, however, at least one analyst has argued against expanded free movement.
Economist Dr Indera Sagewan told the Guardian newspaper that T&T is not yet ready to join, pointing to weak job creation, slow growth, and foreign exchange shortages. She added that T&T is already strained by illegal migration coming from Venezuela.
Meanwhile, what about safety concerns? Well, border officers will use passenger information systems to vet travellers before they fly. If someone is deemed a real risk to safety, or would be a heavy cost to the public, a country can refuse entry.
On the other hand, there is an appeal system, so if a traveller feels they were turned back by mistake, or faces trouble after entry, they can fill in a Caricom complaints form at the port.
Officials must review the case within two weeks and, if needed, complete further investigations within eight weeks. This is to protect people’s rights and give clear steps to fix errors.
And that’s the bottom line.
