Jamaica calls for end to UK visa restrictions and says becoming republic a ‘priority’

Jamaica is calling for visa restrictions for its citizens travelling to the UK to be dropped, a state minister has confirmed, on a trip to London to mark Windrush 75 celebrations.

The Caribbean island is the only country with the British monarch as head of state that requires visas to enter the UK.

Its new state foreign minister Alando Terrelonge said Jamaicans should be allowed to travel freely to the UK and said the easing of restrictions would “send a right signal of a united Commonwealth”.

“We continue to lobby our counterparts in the British government and through constant dialogue with the office of the British High Commission in Kingston,” Mr Terrelonge told The Independent.

“We remain hopeful that visa restrictions will be removed one day. As a start, the removal of visa requirements for persons with legitimate business and commercial interests, professionals, and persons travelling on official/government business would send a right signal of a united Commonwealth.

“Freedom to travel should be recognised as a human right the world over. One humanity. One world. One people.”

The Home Office has been approached for comment.

On Thursday, the nation marked the 75th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush. The vessel first docked in England on June 22 1948 at Tilbury Docks in Essex, bringing people from the Caribbean who answered Britain’s call to help fill post-war labour shortages.

Between 1948 and 1973, at least 600,000 Commonwealth citizens came to live and work in the UK – with the right to remain indefinitely.

Many of these travellers were from Jamaica, but fast forward seven decades and Jamaicans are still subject to stringent visa restrictions, curbing their freedom of movement.

King Charles is head of state of 14 independent countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. But Jamaican citizens are the only ones who require a visa to visit the UK.

All Jamaican citizens are subject to the restrictions if they wish to enter the UK, from Jamaica’s governor general Sir Patrick Allen, who is the King’s representative, to prime minister and UK Privy Council member Andrew Holness and beyond. The rule was introduced in 2003, impacting Jamaican families across Britain and the Caribbean nation.

”When you think about how Europeans and Americans travel, the world over the world is pretty much open to them,” Mr Terrelonge, an alumnus of the University of Warwick, said.

“Certainly, as a government, we would want that for our people as well to freely travel the world over just to experience different cultures.

“Jamaica is a brand, a cultural powerhouse; people of the world will come to Jamaica and enjoy the wonders that there are. We would want that for our nationals as well.”

He added: “We understand that it is a process and will continue to make representations to all governments so that our presidents can travel freely as well.”

The UK government’s own data reveals a significant number of refusals of visitor visa applications from Jamaica.

In 2018, it was revealed that many British citizens, mostly from the Caribbean, had been threatened with detention and deportation despite having the right to live in the UK.

Many in the Windrush generation, who arrived from the Caribbean between the late 1940s and 1970s, had no record of their status and found it challenged under the Home Office’s so-called “hostile environment” policy which was supposed to target illegal migrants.

The call for a change in restrictions comes as Windrush 75 commemorations take place across the country. They have been described as “bittersweet” while many victims of the Windrush scandal await compensation over the policy that saw many unable to work and be entitled to benefits, such as healthcare and housing, in the UK.

This is not lost on State Minister Terrelonge.

”The scandal was a clear violation of the Windrush generation’s human rights and persons should never be treated in that way. It also brings into context the whole question of race and the clear discrimination of Black migrants versus white migrants,” he said.

”The United Kingdom was built on the backs of migrants, people who came to rebuild when the United Kingdom needed us.

”Our government continues to have dialogue with the British government to ensure that compensation does happen.”

In March 2022, Mr Holness told Prince William that Jamaica is “moving on” and intends to become an “independent, developed and prosperous” republic, as the Prince and Princess of Wales visited the nation amid protests calling for the United Kingdom to pay reparations for slavery.

The Independent later revealed that Jamaica had already begun the process of removing the British monarch weeks before a royal tour of the country commenced.

On Thursday, Mr Terrelonge confirmed that the nation was pushing ahead with its plans to become a republic as a matter of priority.

Members of the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) have been appointed, while legal and constitutional affairs minister Marlene Malahoo Forte said that Jamaica will transition to a republic by 2025.

“Becoming a republic is very important because it completes what our ancestors fought for,” MrTerrelonge, who previously served as Jamaica’s State Culture Minister, told The Independent.

“As a government, we believe that when you speak about true self-determination, the vision of our forefathers for ultimate liberation and complete self-governance, this must also translate to having our head of being physically in Jamaica and being a Jamaican.

“When people speak about the end of slavery and emancipation ... emancipation was not some gift from the British emancipation was fought for by our forefathers; they fought and died. The enslavement of our people became unprofitable; our people were burning plantations and they were fighting and dying to ensure that we could live free.

“I think, ultimately, we owe it to our ancestor and their sacrifice, to have a system of governance that recognises a Jamaican as the head of state.”

Barbados transitioned to a republic in November 2021, while formerly colonised nations including Saints Kitts and Nevis, Antigua, and Belize have all signalled intentions to do the same.