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On March 12, the UK government instituted changes to its visitor visa requirements for nationals of Trinidad and Tobago. The Caribbean nation is a former British colony and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, a political association primarily comprised of former territories of the British Empire.
Jon Dean, the newly appointed High Commissioner to the twin island republic, recorded a video explaining the change, which soon started to make the rounds on social media channels:
An accompanying press release sent to the media made it clear that the measure, which was immediately implemented, was taken because of “a significant increase in the number of Trinidad and Tobago nationals coming to the UK as visitors
only to claim asylum on arrival, constituting a misuse of the immigration system.” On March 13, a requirement for in-transit visas was also introduced.
There will, however, be a six-week transition period, ending on April 23, wherein travellers who made bookings and obtained electronic travel authorisations (ETAs) prior to the change will still be allowed to enter; this grace period also applies to in-transit passengers.
In an attempt to soften the news, which he understood people would find “disappointing,” the high commissioner stressed the “friendly ties” between the two countries, explaining that the measure was “designed to support safe and secure travel” while protecting UK borders. “As a valued Commonwealth partner,” Dean added, “Trinidad and Tobago remains an important part of the UK’s global community.”
To many, this felt like lip service. Timothy Christopher P Nokio suggested that the “deeper implications of this decision [extend] beyond personal inconvenience to matters of national dignity, historical ties, and diplomatic relations”:
Trinidad and Tobago was once a British Crown Colony, with deep historical, cultural, and economic links to the UK. Generations of our citizens have studied, worked, and built lives in Britain, contributing to its society and economy. Many of our laws, institutions, and governance structures still bear the mark of British influence. The ability to travel freely to the UK was not just a convenience—it was a recognition of this shared history. Now, with this new restriction, many feel as though our long-standing relationship is being eroded and that Trinidad and Tobago is being unfairly grouped with nations that have had no such historic ties.
Adding insult to injury is the hefty cost of GBP 115 (approximately TTD 1,012) for a six-month multiple-entry visa, making it one of the most expensive to acquire — and the cost only goes up from there. A visitor's visa for medical purposes is GBP 200 (TTD 1,760) and will grant you an 11-month stay. Academics pay the same price but can stay a year. Two-year, five-year and 10-year visas range from GBP 432 (TTD 3,800) to GBP 963 (just under TTD 8,500), all with six-month visit limits.
The heavy fees prompted Facebook user Janelle Phill-Thomas to quip:
Imagine paying for your plane ticket [and] organize a 10 year visa for close to 10,000 TT [/…] just to get blank. Pressure yes 🙃😒
Comparatively, a visitor's visa to the United States costs USD 185 (TTD 1,258), but once granted, remains valid for years, and short-term Canadian visas cost about CDN 100 (TTD 475). The UK visa's price point also seems excessive, given the ease and accessibility of Schengen visas, even after the ETIAS is due to be activated in the last quarter of 2026.
Speaking with the politics and sports news site Wired868, Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Amery Browne responded to the measure:
This move is within their rights as a sovereign nation, but we do not see it as a proportionate response to what UK authorities conveyed to us, which was their observation that a relatively small number of T&T nationals were misusing the UK immigration system by being processed for an ETA in the normal existing process and then suddenly applying for asylum after arrival.
To that point, Facebook user Marise Kelly Johncilla, in a private status update quoted here with permission, questioned the UK government's rationale that an increase in asylum-seeking Trinidad and Tobago nationals spurred the visa move. Citing GOV.UK immigration asylum statistics, she noted that in 2024, the UK received “a record high of 84,231 applications,” from which the refusal rate at initial decision was 53 percent. The largest individual nationalities among applicants, Johncilla observed, “were Pakistani (10,542), Afghan (8,508), Iranian (8,099), Bangladeshi (7,225), and Syrian (6,680).”
In contrast, the 88 records for applications from Trinidad and Tobago – 50 female and 38 male – accounted for 0.00104 percent of total applicants in 2024. Additionally, 47 of those asylum applications were lodged at the port of entry, while 41 were lodged in the country. “I love data,” Johncilla continued. “Tells wonderful stories. So, 0.00104 percent of asylum seekers in the UK have made it less attractive for 1.3 million of the rest of the TT Nationals to visit the UK. Do with this information as you wish.”
Another Trinbagonian national, in perusing the broader GOV.UK data, deduced that “209 people from TT applied in 2024, which comprised 119 applicants and 90 dependents.”
Facebook user Denny Ablack wondered:
How is APPLYING for asylum, abusing the system…applying shows compliance to legal channels…simply reject the erroneous applications.
Many other social media users felt the situation was a classic case of Peter paying for Paul. On the same comments thread, Jherrel Peters asked sardonically, “Meanwhile people from the UK can travel here VISA free?” while filmmaker Shari Petti addressed the double standard by drawing on the example of a British travel blogger:
Travel with Zoe & friends get to knock about the Caribbean (and many OVERSTAY without consequence) while we get hit with visa restrictions left right & center. On top of being drained of resources & left traumatised for generations, we can’t even want better for ourselves from countries who put us in this situation.
Minister Browne said that the Trinidad and Tobago government has “indicated [its] disappointment with the new visa requirement” and will continue “consistent engagement with [its] UK counterparts” in that regard:
We are not of the view that regular travellers to the UK should be negatively affected by a relatively small number of persons who have been trying to abuse the British immigration system.
Looking at the issue from a business angle, the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce expressed concerns that the move could potentially “affect key areas of bilateral engagement, including trade, investment, tourism, student mobility and cultural exchanges.”
Trinidad and Tobago is now one of 110 countries — including fellow CARICOM neighbours Cuba, Dominica, Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic – whose nationals must hold visas to enter the UK. Several nations on the list are part of the Commonwealth.
Netizen Ronald Roach was completely disheartened:
From cocoa to coffee to sugar cane to petroleum, now that there is no more to plunder from Trinidad and Tobago, our colonists have found another way to extract our wealth, by requiring us to pay for a VISA to visit and transit through the UK. Just as Canada has applied retaliatory tariffs to the US, the TT government and people alike should ensure that there is a just response to this announcement, including boycotting everything British […] its about principle, and if we can collectively stand up on principle then it can make a difference.
Others felt that the whole affair was tantamount to a failure of diplomacy. “These things do not come like a thief in the night,” said Razia Ali. “It indicates both the Foreign Ministry and the TT High Commission in London were completely asleep on the job and not looking after the nation’s business.”
On the Facebook thread that followed, Nazma Muller called for a protest to be held in front of the British High Commission, to which Ali responded that any demonstration should take place in front of Trinidad and Tobago's parliament, since the British were only “taking steps in their best interests.”
“400 asylum applications?” Muller responded. “Come on. That's nothing. It's the least they can do in the absence of reparations, which will never come.”
“The UK gets to decide how much is enough,” Ali countered, turning the conversation to reports of “criminal” asylum-seekers. Muller, however, was having none of it: “So why we must keep them? Let the British reap what they sowed. Most of our dysfunction is a legacy of colonialism.”
In that vein, Tracy Assing put it plainly:
Massa had a loaf and he give a slice. Somebody take two bite. Everybody hungry. Everybody vex. Massa say half slice from now on. People start to throw rock at each other. Is your fault Massa do that. All the while it have cassava to dig in the yard. […] Massa say hear what. I go sell yuh the next half ah slice. Ah go use that money to build a fence.
Or, as artist Ozy Merique said, complete with an impactful graphic, “FU.K. YOU!”
