Four Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States—Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines—are on track to implement full free movement among themselves from 1 October this year. By adopting this regime, the four countries have agreed to grant their nationals the right to enter, leave and re-enter, move freely, reside, work, and remain indefinitely in the receiving Member State, without the need for a work or residency permit.
According to a release, their nationals will also be entitled to access emergency and primary health care, as well as public primary and secondary education, within the capacity of the receiving Member State.
This initiative is in keeping with a decision taken by CARICOM Heads of Government at the 49th Regular Meeting of the Conference earlier this year.
Representatives of the four Member States have been meeting and working to ensure that the necessary measures are in place to support the full free movement of their nationals from 1 October 2025.
This arrangement falls under the new Enhanced Cooperation Chapter of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. Under this Chapter, the Conference of Heads may authorize groups of at least three Member States to advance integration among themselves where the targeted objectives cannot reasonably be achieved by the Community as a whole within a given timeframe.
This form of free movement goes beyond the provisions of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). It applies to all CARICOM nationals of the four participating countries.
The other Member States participating in the CSME will continue to operate free movement under the existing regimes—Skills, Services, Business Establishment, and general facilitation of travel.
