PM Browne Says Antigua Already Achieves Free Movement Without Joining CARICOM Pact
Prime Minister Gaston Browne says Antigua and Barbuda will not immediately join the new CARICOM agreement on full free movement, arguing that the country already exemplifies the policy through its long-standing openness to regional migration.
Speaking on the Browne and Browne Show on Pointe FM, Browne said Antigua and Barbuda has facilitated the movement of Caribbean nationals “for decades,” often granting amnesties to regularize their status. He stated that “Antigua and Barbuda has had free movement for decades. We’re not part of this formal agreement, and deliberately so.”
The Prime Minister described Antigua as the “gold standard” for free movement in the region, citing studies showing that more than half of intra-CARICOM migration over the past decade has been toward Antigua. “Most of the movement that has taken place within CARICOM is Antigua to come to now — not St. Vincent, not Belize, not Barbados — Antigua,” Browne said.
Browne said the informal system currently in place allows CARICOM nationals to settle, work, and integrate freely into Antiguan society. “They come, they settle, they work. Nobody interferes with them,” he said, adding that every four to five years, thousands are granted legal status through national amnesties.
He added that nearly half of Antigua and Barbuda’s population consists of CARICOM nationals or their descendants, noting that “Free movement has been happening here for decades. We are the standard bearers of free movement in the Caribbean.”
While reaffirming his support for regional unity, Browne cautioned against formal accession to the agreement without safeguards to manage inflows. “If already, without any free movement, we’re getting all this movement coming to our country, and then you go and give people legitimate rights… it creates some social problems,” he said.
He explained that Antigua supports managed migration and has asked CARICOM partners for a derogation to maintain control over the rate of arrivals. “We need a derogation so we can manage our situation. We have the largest Caribbean diaspora per capita, and we must be able to manage that responsibly.”
Browne stressed that Antigua and Barbuda remains committed to the spirit of free movement and may join the formal agreement in the future. “At some point, we will join,” he said. “But for now, not being part of the regime gives us the opportunity to manage it.”
He added that the country’s consistent openness and track record of regularizing migrants demonstrate a deeper regional commitment than any formal declaration. “No other country — not Barbados, not Belize, not Dominica, not St. Vincent — Antigua and Barbuda is the standard bearer for free movement,” Browne said.
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With all due respect Hon Prime Minister, what Dominica, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Belize are proporting to offer is not what we have been doing in Antigua and Barbuda all along. Yes Antigua & Barbuda have been more welcoming and open to our Caricom brothers and sisters than most other Caricom countries but some Caricom visitors to Antigua and Barbuda are almost always subjected to much restrictions, constraints and control which our immigration department enforces to the ‘T”. Ask any Jamaican and Guyanese visitor about the annoyance, harassment and “benching” that they were subjected to when visiting Antigua and Barbuda. To suggest that what we have been offering is the same is a little bit disingenuous.
@Audley Phillip
You may call it harassment but every country is enforcing their immigration laws and it’s about time Antigua and Barbuda does the same. Antigua has always been welcoming to the other islands and where did it get us? I totally agree with the prime minister on this one, no other country in CARICOM can go to Barbados and work yet we have them working here. Only the big island benefits from CARICOM.