Visa requirement for Guyanese and Jamaicans to enter St. Maarten takes effect
POSTED: 04/13/11 12:23 PMSt. Maarten – New regulations requiring Guyanese and Jamaicans to obtain a visa to enter St. Maarten took effect on Monday. This was confirmed in a statement by Justice Minister Roland Duncan on Tuesday. The move is based on a request by Justice Minister that was supported by the Council of Ministers.
In his statement Duncan states that communiqués have been sent to various stakeholders informing them of the regulation taking effect and advising people that visas must be sought in their home countries. The person or agency who invites someone from Jamaica or Guyana to St. Maarten should also submit a written request to the Immigration Department for approval.
In order to obtain a visa the applicant will have to present a color, passport size photo, a passport that will valid for three months after the persons visit to St. Maarten, a job letter, company registration or school letter, a bank letter, a copy of their travel itinerary, a copy of their passport, and travel medical insurance of at least $15, 000 dollars.
People who have been invited will also have to show a copy of the inviter’s passport and proof that the inviter is residing here legally. If the person will be staying in a hotel they will have to show a copy of their confirmed booking and between $100 dollars and $200 dollars per day.
The request for a visa can only be made within the three months before the travel date and people should anticipate that it will take two to three weeks for the request to be handled. Further information on how to apply and the requirements are posted on the website of the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry: www.minbuza.nl.
“It is of utmost importance that all persons traveling to St. Maarten who are of Guyanese and Jamaican nationality, be aware and informed that all border controls are in place to ensure that this new policy is enforced,” Duncan stated in his release.
What about jamacoians living in tortola who. Come in on shop to go home
What about we who live in tortoa who going jamaica always stop make a little shopping then go next day because for me I don’t buy anything tortola all my shopping. I do yearly is st.maarten I would appreciate. Your consideration on that matter
I hope the same applies to all St. Maarten folks visiting Guyana and Jamaica. They should also be required to obtain a visa and $15,000.00 insurance. What goes for one, should go for all.
This is not a one sided deal.
Who wants to visit guyana? Got to be kidding right?
I find it necessary for a country to protect its citizen and borders as needed, as Jamaican I understand such needs which are NOT being attended to by our representative. We cannot control the behaviour of all Jamaicans abroad, and for this reason We continue to suffer, be disrespected and demoralized by countries of “status”. We as a nation needs to put an end to this embarrassment of the Jamaican people.
If our Parliament does not take a stand on this matter, soon our tourist product will say to the world Jamaica;”an island of thugs” no one wants to be around thugs, except thugs, what then? On the other hand clean up the nation and the marketing budget for the tourist product will be far less. The point is stop pointing fingers, it’s our fault, respect should not be bought, sold or otherwise, it should be earned!
the thing is that ST.Maarten folks go to shop and just that,not go to hide away and overstay
leaving little ST.Maarten over crowded
when decisions like these are made it affects all of us,
some emotionally, and others financially.
I agree that no country wants nationalities that will bring terror to their shores , the guyana goverment definitely need to g et their act together and really manage guyana so that guyanese would stay home , so all of us would not be branded as criminals, air travel now, as it is,is daunting, now to have to apply for a visa, another daunting task.
for the past five years i have been visiting st maarteen in september with my husband ,last year we were on a cruise that was supposed to visit there but because of the bad weather the ship went to st thomas twice and i was mad that i did not get to visit, the whole world now is online so just maybe the authorities should think about online visas.
Because they will surely lose some.some may come to be a nuisance, but others that i am sure would be in the majority come to spend hard cash. just like any other tourist from around the world.
I think if I were Guyanese or Jamaican, I would spend my money on either a American, British or Canadian visa…why spend it to come to a small island and still be descrimiated, just because I come to visit. The people in St. Maarten are small minded just like the island small….don’t worry soon the economy gonna drop like that of Jamaica and Guyana…..they better NEVER go independant cause if that happens well……..the people will understand what bad government can cause.
Thank Sense for your support who wants to go to maarten that dirty place with backwards people just as the island small so is the people thinkings. i was there in december an its nothing to talk bout that place have nothing going on
As the daughter of SXM i dont understand why my rights my heritage was sold for votes to many people from the caribbean. Why is it today that my Dutch education has been devaluated like an out dated currency .
Why my grandparents have to bar there windows and doors spoiling the beauty of a ST Maarteners home.
Take notes from Anguillia never selling out there people there land to people who island may be bigger then SXM but stricken with so much poverty and social Misfits. A lady paid me a compliment asking me where i was from she was suprised i was from SXM born to SXM parents schooled in MPC still speaks Dutch and English.
Im saying get OUTTT GO HOME!!!!!!! I love my SXM song as it is .I HATE THE CRIME !!!i never grew up seeing it funerals was of those over 50 0r someone sick never someone who was butcher.My grandfather toiled SXM god bless and rest him which man will pass at his age these days i dont know. Where is it so many foreign nationals are securties guards REALLY NOW !!!!! I WANT MY DUTCH PASSPORT BACK GIVE IT BACK IF U BOUGHT IT I WANT IT BACK go back to where ur parents are from SXM deserves to be clean again and beautiful so many of SOCIAL MISFITS RUNNING LOOSE DRIVING CARS PUTTING GUNS IN UR FACE.I use to be able to walk town and see the beautiful clothes or jewelry on front street these are things i wanted to work hard and earn on my own now what is there left to enjoy ??????? what is my children legacy an island that is filled with crime raw sewage running Dutch no longer in Dutch schools and Gyanese Jamaicans Dominicans and those from the Dominica Republic who tell me there from here and cant even read a document that comes from the Goverment because its in Dutch ………….I cant see why they was given rights for a vote why they was left to have there offsprings here ???? Some places send u back home to give birth that was once in our law why isnt it reinstated!
Young girls being murder it dont matter where there from but someone did it why arent they punished ohh yea our law is too SOFT… crime is a special on SXM. How can SXM be any better when those who continue to get power are the ones who sold SOLD SOLD my rights they too need to be band from SXM . I shall cry TEARS OF BLOOD for those who was murder i shall spite words of fact until the roads STOP BLEED BLOOD i know i shall be buried in a pot HOLE .
I have soo much respect for the French police know they do there jobs they sand in the sun when ours hide from it .
The Dutch officers (from Holland ) love u guys i wish they could lock up everyone who wasnt from here one by one .
My Queen love her lots im proud to be Dutch but SXM isnt ready for the power certainly not when those who are in power now continue to BLEED BLEED SXM DRY .
I HATE THOSE WHO DONT WORK AND GET PAY WHAT HAPPEN TO AN HONEST DAYS WORK FOR A HONEST DAY PAY ??????
GO HOME cant u see SXM wont even give ur children Dutch rights when they are born here OK so u cant read the Dutch its means GET THE HELL OUT AND GO HOME
Daughter OF SXM
“Daughter of St. Maarten,” I think your comments are very ignorant and misguided. Who are you trying to fool? St. Maarten’s national language is ENGLISH, not DUTCH. The Dutch own SXM, but SXM is not truly Dutch. It’s 2011, and Black people are still seeing themselves in the image of their colonizer??! How pathetic! Get over yourself, you are not Dutch, no matter what it says on your passport. We are all one family in the Caribbean…. By the way, many of those immigrants from the Dominican Republic who you hate so much are in fact second and third generation St. Maarteners who migrated to DR in the 1940s.
Go to Holland right now and see if a real Dutch accept you as one of them… ha! SXM is a BLACK CARIBBEAN island, not a DUTCH island.