T&T citizens greeted with joy the news that T&T Ambassador to Belgium Margaret Allison King-Rousseau will sign an agreement today to allow this country’s nationals to travel visa free to much of Europe. Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran confirmed, in a brief telephone interview yesterday, that there will be a meeting today, during which an agreement will be signed permitting visa-free travel to the 26 countries of the Schengen area in Europe.
The agreement will be signed at the margin of the EU-African Caribbean and Pacific Ministerial meeting taking place in Brussels. “I expect that tomorrow (today) we will sign an agreement with the European Union on this matter,” Dookeran said. He refused to give further details on the issue, preferring to wait until the ink had dried on the agreement.
Citizens were less modest in their comments, however, as many shared their excitement on social media. In an interview yesterday, T&T national Kristle Lewis said it was great news. “I think it would be great for citizens to be able to visit other parts of Europe without a visa. It would definitely allow citizens the flexibility of vacations elsewhere as compared to the traditional US and Caribbean.”
Student Zico Cozier said he was really excited. “When I studied in France I made friends from around the world, most of whom are still living in different parts of Europe. “When I came back home, I didn’t think I would be visiting Europe again for several years. But now that travelling there seems hassle free, I may be able to plan a trip quite soon.”
Yesterday, the European Union Delegation to T&T announced the agreement. In a release, the delegation said the agreement allowed citizens of T&T 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 was not to engage in 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. Charge d’Affaires of the European Union Delegation to T&T, Daniela Tramacere, welcomed the signing and hailed it as a great development.
“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,” Tramacere said in a release.
All the visa-waived traveller must do on arriving in Europe is to present a valid passport at the point of entry into any one of the Schengen countries. The EU delegation said the agreement covered all categories of travellers, such as ordinary, diplomatic, service/official and special passport holders, except for the category of persons travelling to carry out paid activity.
“In this case, each country of destination in Europe remains free to impose the visa requirement in accordance with its applicable legislation.” It noted that only citizens of T&T were eligible for the waiver. “Citizens of other countries who are resident in T&T are not subject to this agreement and should abide by the visa requirements of their country of citizenship.
In 2012, the European Commission, which regularly reviews its visa arrangements, proposed to add five Caribbean countries, namely Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as ten Pacific islands and Timor-Leste to the list of third countries and territories whose nationals would be exempt from visa obligations.
Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados and Saint Kitts and Nevis were granted visa-free travel a few years earlier.
MORE INFO
The Schengen area in Europe includes France, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, 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 were already able to visit these countries for short stays without a visa even before this visa waiver agreement was signed. Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania are legally bound to join the Schengen Area. Other, non-Caribbean nations expected to be allowed visa-free travel to the Schengen area following today’s agreement include Pacific Islands (Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu) and Timor-Leste.
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.