Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that his government will consider lifting visa requirements for Antiguan and Barbudans if “significant improvements” were made to the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP).
He was asked to respond to “What can be done to repair our relationship with Canada and does it mean the termination of the Citizenship by Investment Programme” at a recent town hall meeting.
In response, the Canadian prime minister said: “We will always ensure Canadians stay protected and if countries like Antigua and Barbuda make the significant improvements and changes necessary to their programmes then we could then look at lifting the visa requirement.”
He said Antigua and Barbuda did not live up to the high standards expected of it. “What we found in Antigua and Barbuda and other countries is there wasn’t the level of stringency and analysis done to satisfy our high standards on immigration and border control to allow us to continue to have visa-free access for citizens of Antigua and Barbuda.”
Trudeau admitted to discussing the imposition of visas with Prime Minister Gaston Browne and also said he had no difficulty with CIP as a means of earning income.
But he stressed that Canada will not compromise the security of its citizens.
“We have a fairly stringent criteria in Canada around security, around ensuring that travelers who come to Canada are who they say they are. And we have pretty high expectations of countries that do not require visas to come to Canada.”
Tredeau said Canada is “happy to work with countries like Antigua to have them improve their systems so it meets Canadas high standards.”
“But we will not compromise Canadian safety or border security on the basis of trying to do a favour for another friendly country” he added
When Canada imposed visa restrictions on Antigua last year it did not give a specific reason. However, many residents and pundits speculate that it was as a result of the Citizenship by Investment Programme.
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Oh my. My my my. Transparency at work.
What BS canada under Trudeau will take in middle eastern muslims who show up on there door step
and protect them no matter what they do
Refugees are vetted before entering Canada. They cannot walk across the atlantic ocean you know? They come on airplanes which means point of departure they go through a rigorous vetting process which includes being registering with the UN refugee agency BEFORE a referral is made to host country Canada, US, EU etc.
Canada has to do what it has to do. But the last time I check, man can not eat Canadian Visa. With or without Visa free access to Canada, Antigua has to survive.
That’s a lie a refugee can come as a visitor and apply for refugee status at the port of entry.
Swr what Canada does the s their business. What Antigua does is also Antigua business. What I would like to know is if these CIP passports are the same as the normal passport. If they are different then why not just restrict those with thenCIP and leave us the ordinary people, regular blokes alone. But oh sorry it’s a message to Antigua government to clean up their mess and it must be severe enough so that the gov will do somatic some urgency. Btw have they made any progress with that ANR?
Stop sell arwe blasted passport. Free access or not stop sell we blasted country. Just like canada prime ministef is taking measures to ensure his country is safe so the same! We do not need Antigua to be any more corrupt that it already is
You are aware that Canada also has a CIP program selling passports to individuals whom they feel will contribute to their economy.
Minister* We should do the same*
These blind ass politician they dont hear well look how long canada warning antigua but the old people saying who dont hear will feel and that what is happend now am agree with the pm of canada they have to protect they border
I do agree with the Prime Minister of Canada. You have to make sure your borders and country are protected,and safe. Take a good look at our Country the majority of people entering Antigua and Barbuda are thrives, drug dealers, and rejects from other countries. And make sure you ask yourself this question.
The people that are entering Antigua and Barbuda have they really done anything to improve our country? Or do they help to carry it further into the gutter. Wake up people take your colour glasses off, and smell the coffee.
Canada, what standards you talking about, when you a gi amnesty lef, right and center to all de batty man dem and de lesbian dem, who run inna you belly a talk bout people inna dem country a try kill dem fu dem beliefs?
Jus tap play holier dam thou. Bunch of hypocrits.
Chuuups.
We have high standards too…..Our high standards is just above the lowest.
I think this was a really smart move by the young lady. She actually did what other politicians could not do. She called out the PM in public and he responded to a question he never did before. And he went even further to say he would work with the government to see if this can be restored. We have many young Antiguans studying in Canada, we now have an even greater tourism market coming out of Canada than we had before. This relationship is growing bigger and bigger each day. It would be best served if we could improve on it again. And as I said also we need to do more business with Canada than with the USA. Our dependency on the USA is much to great and is funeral for our economy We have seen it with the corresponding banking relationship. Perhaps ECCB should tie our EC dollar that of Canada instead.
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