June 24, 2021
The move by the President came on the same day that his Attorney General announced that the Government has decided to move in the direction of reinstituting visa requirements for Haitians and Cubans.
With the stroke of his pen, President Irfaan Ali has revoked the order which allowed Haitians to enjoy visa-free travel to Guyana.
The revocation took effect on the 22nd of June and essentially forces Haitian nationals to apply for and be interviewed for a visa before they are allowed entry into Guyana.
The move by the President came on the same day that his Attorney General announced that the Government has decided to move in the direction of reinstituting visa requirements for Haitians and Cubans.
The revocation order signed by the President only addresses Haitians, removing Haiti from the list of countries allowed visa free travel and an automatic six-month stay on entry.
The Attorney General has argued that the move to reinstitute the visa requirement is based on suspected smuggling of Haitian nationals through Guyana.
Haitians would usually fly into Guyana via Barbados and Panama and travel to neigbouring Brazil or French Guiana where there are large Haitian populations.
The Opposition has accused the government of going against the principles of CARICOM by putting the visa requirement back in place. Opposition Spokesperson on Foreign Relations, Member of Parliament Amanza Walton-Disir said there must be a better plan to address concerns about people smuggling.
The Government has expressed concern that while thousands of Haitians travel to Guyana, there would be no record of the majority of them leaving and they believe that points to them leaving illegally and falling victims to people smuggling.
Haiti is a full member of CARICOM and under the CARICOM Charter, citizens of member states are allowed an automatic six-month vacation stay in another member state once they meet all immigration requirements.
