Free entry to caricom nationals — no sars or aids, please

Caricom skilled nationals who qualify for free movement within Caricom, but who are HIV positive or have SARS or any other “dangerous infectious” disease could be  denied entry into Trinidad and Tobago under the Immigration (Caribbean Com-munity Skilled Nationals) Amend-ment Bill 2003.

This would be one of the consequences of the bill which was passed in the Senate yesterday. Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift in introducing the bill, said it would empower the Immigration Officer to deny entry to any person who is the subject of a deportation order or who is infected with any “ infectious or dangerously infectious disease”. The bill was also amended to include Haiti in the list of countries whose nationals would be eligible for Caricom Skilled National status. Haiti is the newest member of Caricom. He said the new bill aimed at widening  beyond university graduates the categories of persons eligible for free movement in Caricom members states to include artistes, musicians, media workers and sportspersons. It also sought to widen the ambit of  persons qualifying for Caricom national status, to include persons who became citizens by descent, registration, nationalisation and adoption. The bill also would authorise an Immigration Officer to permit the spouse and dependant members of persons who satisfied the qualification requirements of the act to enter Trinidad and Tobago. Previously the act only allowed free movement to the person (not his/her spouse or dependants).  The passing of the bill comes on the eve of the Caricom Heads of Government meeting in Jamaica.

Under the original Act, which was passed in 1996, a person, who qualified as a Caricom skilled national, obtained the right to enter Trinidad and Tobago and stay for an indefinite length of time; and to enter and leave this country without restrictions as often as he/she pleases. The person also had the right to work and own property. All these privileges however had been limited to persons who were citizens by birth.