Rayburn Blackmoore, the Minister of Justice, Immigration and National Security of the island of Dominica, confirmed that the ministry would resume the issuance of visas to Haitian nationals, after the temporary halt of the program in 2015.

However, he stressed that the visa program for Haitian will be governed by strict rules that will include a cap of 25 visas per month and intensive monitoring to counter abuse of the system.

"The decision to put a stay on the insurance of visas to Haitian nationals had to be taken in order to strengthen this instrument," he said. "Consequently, a new structure has been put in place within the administrative section in the ministry for processing all visas."

He also addressed the need to limit the number of visas that will be treated "Not more than 25 visas per month, except in exceptional cases," indicating that the visa system overhauled, with new regulations allow greater monitoring of the system.

Recall that Dominica which is the Eastern Caribbean countries with the largest Haitian population, has implemented its visa requirements for Haitians in 2005. To date Dominica has granted just over 6,000 visas to Haitian nationals whose the majority are employed in agriculture.

SL/ HaitiLibre