The European Union just signed short stay visa waiver agreements with Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines as well as Trinidad and Tobago. This allows citizens of these countries to visit all EU Member States, except the United Kingdom and Ireland for up to 90 days within a six month period without requiring a visa, as long as the purpose of the visit is not to carry out a paid activity.

Dominicans, Grenadians, St. Lucians and Vincentians already enjoy visa free travel to the UK and Ireland. Visa requirements will also be waived for four other countries that are not EU Member States, but are members of the Schengen Area – namely Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

The agreements were signed during the EU-African Caribbean and Pacific Ministerial Meeting taking place in Brussels and will be applied from the date of signature. The new signatories are additions to the four other Caribbean Countries – The Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, along with St. Kitts and Nevis – which were granted visa waiver status in 2009 by the EU.

As regards France and the Netherlands, the visa-free travel shall apply only to the European territory of these Member States. The visa regime between the overseas territories, including those in the Caribbean, of these Member States and the countries granted visa waiver status remains subject to bilateral arrangements between the countries concerned or to national legislation.

The list of countries that allow visa free access are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.