By David Fox(Royal Gazette) – Bermuda’s full membership in the Caribbean Community could mean open doors for region-wide jobseekers to have unfettered access to Bermuda employment but also more Bermudian opportunities to work in the Caribbean.
This includes professional firms, companies and investment opportunities.
But the full free movement of Caricom nationals has not been universally heralded by all powers that be in the region, even as officials insist that individual hesitancy will not halt the movement.
Caricom is pursuing regional alignment in terms of economic integration, human and social development, foreign and community relations, and crime and security.
The Caricom Single Market Economy includes five core pillars: the free movement of goods, capital, labour, service and service providers, and the right for commercial operations to establish a presence on the ground.
Already, regional migration is permitted for a period of six months but those who fall in one of 12 approved categories have the right to remain and work indefinitely.
Nearly 22 years after Bermuda obtained associate status in Caricom, full membership remains in limbo, with little more that can happen until after Bermuda’s General Election on Tuesday.
The Caribbean organisation is pursuing determined moves towards a single market for all full members and, controversially, free and unfettered cross-border migration for its citizens, something Caricom leaders had previously sought reality for by the end of next month.
The CSME seeks to integrate all member-states into a single economic unit.
Leo Preville, director of the Caricom Single Market at the Caricom Secretariat in Barbados, told The Royal Gazette in a recent video interview: “It makes sense for all of us to come together to present ourselves as a united and more significant economic entity to interface with the rest of the world.”
He said it was about negotiating power not only for trade but also foreign policy co-ordination. There are 15 full members at present, with a further six associate members, including Bermuda.
Not all member states have agreed to open borders.
Mr Preville said that should any member state not immediately agree to proceed fully to the aim of full free movement of citizens, the effort would continue with the others.
He said: “There has been perhaps a misunderstanding where a member state or member states may choose to not take part in this further step at this time.”
This undoubtedly will be among several important points of discussion the day after the Bermuda election next week, when the 48th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom convenes in Bridgetown, from February 19 to 21.
Caribbean leaders will hear from António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, on “urgent climate finance and regional security issues”.
Matters up for discussion other than external relations and the Caricom Single Market and Economy, include food and nutrition security; climate change and the climate finance agenda; ongoing challenges in Haiti; security issues; and digital resilience.
Other issues include maritime and air transport and reparations. However, the Secretariat said that Caricom chair Mia Mottley, the Barbados prime minister, had already set the tone for the group’s focus over the first six months of 2025.
In a new year’s message, she highlighted the need for the region to resume the full implementation of the CSME, conscious that it “is not merely an economic agenda but a vision of unity and opportunity for small states to achieve greater economic resilience”.
A statement added: “Central to the focus on the CSME is the full realisation of the free movement of Caricom nationals.”
Ms Mottley said that it was essential for unlocking the true potential of the people and economies of the community.
Next week’s meeting comes as Caricom pursues a collaborative consultancy with the International Labour Organisation.
Caricom nationals are able to move into any member state for up to six months without any special immigration permissions.
Mr Preville said: “If you do fall in any of the 12 categories and you possess what we call your skill certificate, you have the right to remain and work, indefinitely.
“And not only you, but your dependents: your spouse, your children, your mom who is elderly and unable to work, or any other dependent of yours.”
He said: “The CSME really and practically takes meaning when a person believes and feels they could leave one country, go to another country, go through no barriers or no formalities, as it were, and be able to work and live and participate in the economy of that receiving country as if they were a national of that country.
“That is where we will finally have achieved that total free movement of our Caricom persons in the region.”
