UK imposes visa requirements on Dominica citing ‘abuse’ of CBI scheme

The United Kingdom (UK) has imposed visa requirements for all visitors from five countries including the Commonwealth of Dominica, which has been slammed for abuse of its citizenship by investment scheme.

On July 19, Suella Braverman, the Secretary of State for the Home Department in a written statement said the decision to impose visa requirements on nationals of Dominica, Honduras, Namibia, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu has been taken solely for migration and border security reasons and is not a sign of poor relations with these countries.

Braverman said careful consideration of Dominica’s and Vanuatu’s operation of a citizenship by investment scheme has shown “clear and evident abuse of the scheme, including the granting of citizenship to individuals known to pose a risk to the UK”.

In relation to Honduras and Namibia, the Home Secretary said there has been a sustained and significant increase in the number of UK asylum applications being made by these nationals, who have abused the provision to visit the UK for a limited period as non-visa nationals in order to claim asylum.

“As such, Namibians and Hondurans rank first amongst non-visa nationals for asylum claims. These high numbers are unsustainable, contributing significantly to operational pressures which have resulted in frontline resource being diverted from other operational priorities,” the statement said.

As for Timor-Leste, Braverman said there had been a “sustained increase” in its nationals arriving at the border as “non-genuine visitors”.

She said they often had “the intention to fraudulently claim EU Settlement Scheme status as dependants or to work illegally in the UK”.

The Home Secretary said a four-week transition period would be allowed for those who hold confirmed bookings to the UK to travel without visas before the new regime is implemented.

Confirmed bookings to the UK must have been made on or before 1500 BST [British standard time] on July 19 where arrival in the UK is no later than August 16, 2023.