Willi, did you say something about boycotting the

[Lazie]

next Olympics to be held in London?


Blacklisted again! New travel law for Jamaicans

The luxury of spending 24 hours in a British airport en route to a third country visa free came to an abrupt end a few months ago, the British High Commission here has confirmed.
Locals travelling through the United Kingdom (UK) to Germany, France or other European countries must now acquire an in-transit permit ahead of their trip.

This new arrangement is in addition to the existing UK visa regime which began in 2003 in Jamaica. This regime had provided a visa-free concession for Jamaican nationals in transit within 24 hours through the UK.
Having failed Britain's new Visa Waiver Test earlier this year, Jamaicans are now the only people in the Caribbean who must obtain a direct airside transit visa (DATV) in order to connect to flights through the UK to onward destinations.
A number of Jamaican travellers who are unaware of the change are being turned back at the Heathrow airport in London, airlines sources have told The Sunday Gleaner.

Checks made with the British High Commission revealed that Jamaicans are considered a potential risk to England, in terms of illegal immigration, crime and security, falling in line with nations such as the war-torn Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Eastern Europe's Albania, Latin-America's Colombia and Ecuador and West Africa's Ghana and Nigeria.
Asia's India and China are also on the list of Britain's high-risk countries.
More money
As a result, if Jamaicans are travelling to Germany via England, they are now required to fork out $7,400 and follow the same requirements for every other type of visa at the Worldbridge Visa Application Centre in Kingston.

The UK's visa check now requires everyone to be fingerprinted, locking them to one identity, and checked against government watchlists. They are then screened and counted in and out of the UK using the UK Border Agency's (UKAB) £1.2 billion electronic border system.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is currently investigating the issue.

"The ministry has not received any reports of Jamaicans without the requisite visa being returned, or of any airlines refusing to board in-transit visitors without such visas. However, we will be fully investigating the matter," Communications Director Wilton Dyer told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday.

Finding the development disquieting and very concerning, Opposition Spokesman on Foreign Affairs Anthony Hylton said it was disappointing to hear that the overwhelming majority of Jamaicans who are law-abiding citizens will now be subjected to further restrictions of the privilege to travel and access transit countries in this period of globalisation.

He said a number of these people have to travel to work or vacation, yet the travel privileges are going in the wrong direction. He is urging the British to cooperate more with the Jamaican Government in isolating the wrongdoers rather than punishing law-abiding Jamaicans.
"It's contrary to what the country needs at this point of its development. We have to be even more concerned when we realise that our transport network passes either through the US or the UK to access the rest of the world. When you start to have a narrowing of access, the implications are quite far-reaching."

Sydian Brissett, communications manager at the British High Commission, said the UKBA found that 11 countries fell short of the required standard and, along with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, has worked closely to improve the passport and border control systems.
"With the mitigation period over, it was decided visas checks would now be needed to stop fraudulent attempts to enter Britain from six of these countries," said Brissett.
janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com


http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ead/lead5.html

[Willi]

Hahahaaha..

Mi see Hylton now have chat. What was he doing all those years in Govt?

For years I have been warning about this and look fi America fi tighten up too (maybe tek back a slew of already issued visas, as we mek Hinglan style we as terrorists, and we tek it lying down). Jamaican passport has been devalued again, and we continue to treat their citizens nicely. No outcry for the 1million Jakans living in the UK, no article from Diane Abbott?

The Govt needs to move on this, but the whole a dem too damn timid and servile. This is an act of cultural warfare and we just a tek it suh. Combined with the GBP green aviation tax, we ah suck salt. Time fi open up the Madrid hub and figget bout Hinglan!

Even 2 by 4 countries a throw visa pon wi, like Cayman and Turks.

You dont get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.

[Gamma]

bvi...anguilla

[1of1]

Don't even wait pon the million fi say nutten, even dem a style wi as "you yardies"

[Historian]

We can talk big, but what can we really do?

bvi...anguilla

Included among the growing numbers of small regional countries that Jamaicans need visas to enter are Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, the British Virgin Islands, and Anguilla (all, with the exception of Costa Rica, British territories). Soon to join the visa-demanding clique, in my opinion, will be Trinidad and Barbados! Watch and see!

Furious and heated statements on message boards (such as the Reggae Boyz Forum) by incensed Jamaicans will amount to nothing whatsoever. Not a darn thing! Until the education process and educational results have been vastly improved among the masses in Jamaica, until the economic climate in Jamaica becomes tremendously/vastly improved, until our leaders begin to have some self-respect inside their stupid minds, and until crime (including the importation of illegal drugs into other countries – even if we choose to regard marijuana as legal and righteous, those other countries do not!!!) is effectively addressed, the doors will continue to close!! One does not have to be a damn rocket scientist to see that!!

Here is an excellent editorial to ponder!!

The PM's visa bluff
published: Tuesday | November 1, 2005

THE GOVERNMENT of the Cayman Islands has not sugar-coated the imposition of visa requirement with diplomatic niceties. The visa requirement for Jamaicans has been introduced as a means of screening out undesirables. Bear in mind that there was already a work permit screening. While the British colony relies heavily on Jamaican labour to help sustain its economic prosperity, it has become increasingly wary of the importation of crime from Jamaica.

The territory joins its mother country, the United Kingdom, in imposing visa requirements on Jamaicans wishing to enter.

Up until I962, when we gained independence, the tiny Cayman Islands was a Jamaican dependency. The territory chose then to revert to direct British control. With little by way of natural resources and with heavy dependence on imported migrant labour, the colony has done well for itself over the last 43 years. The CI$ is now generally somewhat stronger than the US$ on our foreign exchange market.

Jamaica has supplied much of the labour which has built the Cayman Islands economy. It is on the strength of that economy that the tiny territory can now impose visa restrictions on Jamaicans. Our crime problem transferred to other countries is prompting more and more restrictions on our international travel. Every sovereign state and even colonies with internal self-government have the right to impose entry restrictions. We may object to any singling out of Jamaicans for particular restrictions, but the truth is our crime record is affecting our travel freedom and will continue to do so more intensely unless the trend is reversed at home and abroad.

The Prime Minister has declared, while in The Cayman Islands, that Jamaica would consider reciprocating against any country that imposed visa restrictions on Jamaicans. Perhaps we should begin with the United States, or with the United Kingdom which has been among the most recent to impose visa restrictions on Jamaica. The Prime Minister knows very well that his statement is a grandstanding bluff more in the interest of national pride than a reflection of any practical possibility. Quite simply, those who have imposed visa requirements on us can and we can't because the unhindered entry of their nationals as tourists and business visitors into our weaker economy is a matter of our survival.

The freedom of our people to move as migrant labour and for business is also a matter of great economic and social significance to us. Smarting from the sting of the latest visa restrictions imposed by a tiny former dependency, our interest would be better served if the Prime Minister devoted his time and energy to fixing those problems which are triggering more and more visa restrictions against Jamaicans than bluffing about reciprocation.

THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.

[Islandman]

Re Cayman, one other sobering fact about thier former close relationship with Jamaica is that a significant number of the local leaders in Cayman were sent to high school in Jamaica, because our school system at the time was far superior to what was available there. Unfortunately there is a very strong anti-Jamaican vibe there among the general Caymanian population these days, even the Jamaicans who have been there for decades and are naturalized are classed as "paper Caymanians". And this is the case even though it is hard to find a black Caymanian who does not have some Jamaican lineage.

I say all that to make the point that our situation is largely of our own making, and in the end no matter how many medals we win or entertainers we produce, if we have a deteriorating economy and society we will not get respect or be able to do a lot to demand it when dealing with political and economic issues.

PS Boycotting the Olympics is not the way to go either.

[Lazie]

Re ....

I say all that to make the point that our situation is largely of our own making, and in the end no matter how many medals we win or entertainers we produce, if we have a deteriorating economy and society we will not get respect or be able to do a lot to demand it when dealing with political and economic issues.

PS Boycotting the Olympics is not the way to go either.

Thanks for spoiling mi fun I-Man. The title of the post was to see the reaction, not that I'm for boycotting the Olympics. Was waiting for more responses to point out that we contributed to us being isolated in this global village. It appears we're on the same page on this one.

[Willi]

Not at all.

There is a LOT the Govt can do right now.

And who seh mi only chat here.

I am using every vector I can to get this across. I have spoken to PNP ministers and Bruce himself, when I saw him a a budfedda party once. It is THEY who must act now.

[Willi]

Defeatist attitude.

Vicious cycle. We cant say we gonna get entrepreneurial when we cant easily enter export markets. No bootstrapping without access.

We could start by charging tourists visa at entry and use that money to invest in education and training, for example.

And BTW, what has Jamaica done to merit being treated like terrorist and needing in-transit visas? How have we galvaized our UK diaspora? Do you think ordinary English people see us as threats, or just politicians and bureaucrats?