Citizens of Five Caribbean Countries to Enter EU without Visas

Thanks to an agreement signed this week, citizens of five Caribbean countries will soon be allowed to enter the European Union without visas, the government of St. Lucia confirmed on Friday.

The other Caribbean signatories are Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago, according to the official statement.

“The decision will deepen contact between the citizens of Europe and the Caribbean. It is a wonderful way to confirm the friendship that exists between Europe and the Caribbean,” St. Lucia Prime Minister Kenny Anthony said.

Under the agreement, nationals of St. Lucia and other Caribbean nations can travel to the EU for a period of up to 90 days in any six-month period without a visa. The same right applies to European citizens wishing to travel to those signatory states.

Two EU members, Britain and Ireland, are not party to the pact, though it does include several European nations outside the EU.

“The agreement does not apply to Ireland and the United Kingdom. The existing rules governing travel to Ireland and the United Kingdom remain unchanged,” the St. Lucia government said.

The participating European countries are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.