A top Caribbean diplomat has described as “economic warfare” the action taken by the British government on Wednesday to impose Visa requirements on citizens of Dominica wanting to visit the former “Mother country”.
The diplomat who did not want to be identified said that the Congress government of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell should be on guard as Grenada could face a similar problem due to its own passport-selling scheme known as Citizenship By Investment (CBI).
He claimed that the Conservative government at No.10 Downing Street has been gathering intelligence, which seems to suggest that some Caribbean islands continue to illegally sell passports to members of the Russian Oligarchy despite a worldwide ban on the business in light of the War in Ukraine.
Speaking to THE NEW TODAY on Wednesday, the official said that the British continue to monitor the situation with these passport-selling islands in the Caribbean.
“They (these islands) have been desperately selling (to the Russians). You all don’t have the intelligence apparatus to know these people – they (Britain) do,” he said.
According to the diplomat, the British government is definitely prepared to engage in “economic warfare” with all these passport selling countries including Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis.
“I don’t need to tell you, I don’t need to be no professor to tell you, you can’t win that economic warfare,” he remarked.
Passport selling has now become the biggest “money source” in terms of revenue for several Caribbean islands.
On Wednesday, the British Home Secretary, Suella Braverman delivered a statement to the House of Commons about the Visa requirement that will now affect Dominica, Honduras, Namibia, Timor-Leste, and Vanuatu.
The Home Secretary said: “Careful consideration of Dominica’s and Vanuatu’s operation of a citizenship by investment scheme has shown clear and evident abuse of the scheme, including the granting of citizenship to individuals known to pose a risk to the UK”.
“The decision to impose these visa requirements has been taken solely for migration and border security reasons and is not a sign of poor relations with these countries.
“Any decision to change a visa regime is not taken lightly and we keep our border and immigration system under regular review to ensure it continues to work in the UK national interest”.
Braverman disclosed that preparations are underway to process visa applications from the new countries.
“There will be a four-week, visa-free transition period for those who hold confirmed bookings to the UK made on or before 1500 BST 19 July 2023 where arrival in the UK is no later than 16 August 2023,” she said.
Dominica now joins four other Caribbean nations which are required to apply for a visa before travelling to or transiting through the UK – Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.
The Caribbean diplomat also warned the regional governments to expect the British and U.S government to soon make further changes to affect the banking sector in the region due to passport-selling schemes.
“They are going to start to make Corresponding Banking relations tighter,” he said, adding that local commercial banks will no longer be able to operate a U.S bank account for anyone including businesses.
He cited the situation that affected neighbouring Trinidad & Tobago and over the serious shortfall in obtaining U.S dollars for business transactions.
The diplomat indicated that the type of measures that the British and U.S governments are moving to employ against those Caribbean islands with CBI programmes “is not a new strategy” but can best be described as an operation to make “the economy scream.”
He warned all those islands with CBI programmes to expect to face mounting pressure as the intention is “to squeeze them.”
He noted that those islands that are heavily engaged in selling passports are showing signs of no longer being serious about developing the cruise ship business, construction of hotels, and agriculture.
He said the proof can be seen from the limited number of projects that should be put down to match the number of passports that are sold under the CBI programme.
“…If you are selling 1500 passports in a year you should have (a certain number of projects) but you don’t have none of that,” he said.
“So it means that deals are just being made – you are selling the passport to collect the money,” he added.