Trinis no longer need Euro visa

The agreement allows citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to visit Schengen area countries for a short stay of up to 90 days without requiring a visa, as long as the purpose of the visit is not to carry out a paid activity.

The Agreement is provisionally applied from the date of the signature, in order to allow citizens to benefit from the visa-free travel as soon as possible. Trinidad and Tobago joins eight other Caribbean countries that enjoy visa-free travel to Europe.

The Charge d’Affaires of the European Union Delegation to Trinidad and Tobago welcomed the signing and hailed it as a great achievement: “We are pleased to be able to announce today that TT citizens can now travel to the Schengen countries in Europe visa free.

“We know that there are many who have been waiting for this development to plan their trips to Europe and we are happy to welcome them to visit. The doors to Europe are wide open.”

The Schengen area comprises the 26 European Countries that have abolished control at their common borders to encourage free movement of goods, information, money and people, plus four non-EU Member States. Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago can now travel visa free to the following European Countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. In addition, travellers will be able to travel visa free to the three European micro-states, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City. TT travellers to Ireland and the UK could already visit these countries for short stays without a visa even before this visa waiver agreement was signed.

The Schengen area mostly functions as a single country for international travel purposes, with a common visa policy. The Area is named after the Schengen Agreement which was signed in 1985 in the village of Schengen in Luxembourg.

The Schengen Visa Waiver Agreement provides for visa-free travel for citizens of TT to the Schengen countries for stays not exceeding three months. TT citizens can visit the Schengen Area once or multiple times, provided that the total stay does not exceed 90 days within a six-month period (180-days). All the visa waived traveller needs to do is to present a valid passport at the point of entry into one of the “Schengen” countries.

The Agreement covers all categories of travellers, such as ordinary, diplomatic, service/official and special passport holders, except for the category of persons travelling for the purpose of paid activities. In this case, each country of destination in Europe remains free to impose the visa requirement in accordance with its applicable legislation.