Moving to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Under CARICOM, the OECS or Full Free Movement
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Antigua and Barbuda on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Antigua and Barbuda to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines · Residency under a regional treaty
Three regimes overlap, and Saint Vincent is the only country in the records here that has legislated for all three - a claim that rests on an absence in Dominica's record, which Dominica's own record marks as possibly the publisher's gap rather than Parliament's. The CARICOM skills regime came first, as Act No. 4 of 1997, and still works by category: hold a recognised qualification, hold a skills certificate, enter. The OECS Economic Union came next: Act No. 22 of 2011 gave the Revised Treaty of Basseterre and its Protocol the force of law and was brought into operation by proclamation on 10 August 2011, so a citizen of another Protocol state is given indefinite stay at the desk. And since 1 October 2025 Saint Vincent has been one of four CARICOM states - with Barbados, Belize and Dominica - operating full free movement, which drops the skills condition entirely. No Dominican instrument for it appears in the published law collection; Saint Vincent's is on the record. Parliament passed two Acts and two statutory orders on 29 September 2025 and the Governor-General assented to them the next day, the day before the regime began.
At a glance
- Full free movement: in force since
- 1 October 2025
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Belize and Dominica. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs dates its own CSME page from that day and the Passports and Immigration Department granted its first indefinite stay of entry to Barbadian citizens on it.
- Full free movement: what Parliament passed
- Two Acts and two orders, all on 29 September 2025
Act No. 15 of 2025 amending the Immigration (Restriction) Act, Act No. 16 of 2025 implementing the Protocol on Contingent Rights, S.R. & O. No. 18 of 2025 amending a Caribbean Community schedule for enhanced cooperation, and S.R. & O. No. 19 of 2025 amending the Immigration (Passport Exemption) Regulations. All four were published in the Gazette on 30 September 2025.
- Full free movement: entry status granted
- Indefinite stay, stamped in the passport
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' information note of October 2025. A one-way ticket is accepted.
- Where the texts of those four instruments are
- Not online
The Gazette notice says they are published in that issue and can be purchased at the Government Printing Office. The Gazette issue itself carries the notice, not the instruments, and the Government publishes no online collection of its Acts or statutory rules and orders.
- OECS Protocol: how it takes effect
- By direct incorporation, in force by proclamation from 10 August 2011
Act No. 22 of 2011. Dominica did the same thing in 2013 and Saint Kitts and Nevis did the opposite, amending its Immigration Act in 2012. Saint Vincent is the only one of the three whose implementing Act carries a proclamation date in Parliament's own record.
- CARICOM skills regime: enacted
- 1997, as Act No. 4 of 1997
The Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act, now Chapter 113. Amended in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 and again by Act No. 15 of 2024.
- Skills certificate: how the line is drawn
- By who issued it - six months on a home state's certificate
The Ministry of National Security says a CARICOM citizen holding a CSME certificate issued in their own country may work for six months, pending an upgraded certificate issued by the Ministry. Saint Kitts and Nevis draws the same line; Grenada and Dominica draw it by the form the certificate is in.
- Skills certificate: processing fee
- EC$250.00
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' CSME brochure, which also names the Ministry of National Security as the processing office.
- Right of establishment
- Legislated in 2004
The Caribbean Community (Movement of Factors) Act, Act No. 23 of 2004. Dominica passed its equivalent in 2026; Saint Kitts and Nevis has none; Grenada's 2006 Act left its schedule of amendments to a ministerial Notice that appears never to have been made.
- Social security across the region
- Two agreements, one superseding the other in part
The OECS Reciprocal Agreement of 1991 and the CARICOM Reciprocal Agreement of 1997. The National Insurance Services says the CARICOM agreement has superseded the OECS regulations, so only short-term benefits still run under the OECS one.
Requirements
- Under full free movement: nationality of Barbados, Belize or Dominica, and a valid CARICOM passport presented at a designated port of entry
- Under full free movement: registration with the Ministry of National Security if you intend to reside or work; children entering public education register with the Ministry of Education
- Under the OECS Protocol: citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis or Saint Lucia
- Under the skills regime: a CARICOM skills certificate, a valid passport and a police certificate of character
- Under the right of establishment: nationality of any CARICOM member state, for self-employment, a business or the provision of a service
In detail
What Saint Vincent actually did for 1 October 2025
Of the four states in the first phase of full free movement, Saint Vincent is the one whose domestic law can be pointed at. Parliament sat on 29 September 2025 and took two Bills through first, second and third readings in a day; the Governor-General assented on 30 September; the Gazette of 30 September published both Acts and two statutory orders. The Acts are No. 15 of 2025, amending the Immigration (Restriction) Act, Chapter 114, and No. 16 of 2025, implementing the Protocol on Contingent Rights to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. The orders are S.R. & O. No. 18 of 2025, a Caribbean Community (Schedule Amendment) (Enhanced Cooperation) Order, and S.R. & O. No. 19 of 2025, amending the Immigration (Passport Exemption) Regulations. The regime began the next morning. For comparison: Belize legislated as Act No. 15 of 2026; in Dominica's published collection of laws no corresponding Act could be found at all.
What the four instruments say, and why this page cannot tell you
The Gazette notice announces the Acts and the orders and then says they "can be purchased at the Government Printing Office, Campden Park Industrial Estate". That is where they stop. The Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines publishes the Gazette, the House of Assembly publishes a table of every Act passed since 1993 with its dates, and neither publishes the text of an Act. So what can be stated here is that the instruments exist, what they are called, what they amend, and when they took effect - and not a word of what is in them. Everything below about how full free movement works in practice comes from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' own information note of October 2025, which is the Government describing the regime it administers rather than the regime itself.
Three regimes, and Saint Vincent has legislated for all three
The skills regime is categorical: you qualify by what you are, you prove it with a certificate, and it has been law here since Act No. 4 of 1997, amended five times since, most recently in September 2024. The OECS Economic Union is territorial: you qualify by where you are a citizen, and Act No. 22 of 2011 gave the Revised Treaty of Basseterre and its Protocol the force of law, brought into operation by proclamation on 10 August 2011. Full free movement is a third thing, open since October 2025 to nationals of Barbados, Belize and Dominica, and it drops the skills condition. The right of establishment is a fourth and is not about movement of persons at all: it is the right to set up and run a business, legislated as the Caribbean Community (Movement of Factors) Act, Act No. 23 of 2004.
What a national of a participating state is told to do
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' note is specific. Present a valid CARICOM passport at a designated port of entry; a one-way ticket is accepted. Indefinite stay is stamped in the passport on arrival. To exercise the right to reside or work, register with the Ministry of National Security on Melville Street in Kingstown, and include spouse and dependants in that registration with documents proving the relationship. A national who was already in the country before 1 October 2025 and holds some other status is entitled to claim indefinite stay, and registers the same way. Children entering public primary or secondary education register with the Ministry of Education. Anyone proposing to work registers with the National Insurance Services. Tools of trade may be imported within six months of the grant of indefinite stay. A driver aged over seventeen and a half with a valid licence from home is exempted from buying a temporary permit and may lodge the licence at the Traffic Department, Central Police Station, Kingstown, for verification and local use.
The skills certificate line, and who draws it where
The question that separates the Eastern Caribbean states is what a certificate issued by the applicant's own government is worth on arrival. Saint Kitts and Nevis splits by issuer: its own certificate gives an indefinite stay, a home state's gives six months. Grenada and Dominica split by form: the certificate in the Schedule form gives an indefinite period, the home state's equivalent form gives six months. Saint Vincent's Ministry of National Security describes the first of those two: a CARICOM citizen with a CSME certificate issued in their own country may work for six months, pending the issue of an upgraded certificate by the Ministry of National Security of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The statute behind that - Chapter 113 - is not published, so what is recorded here is the administering ministry's statement of its own practice and not the section it rests on.
Country-level policy
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines publishes the fact of its laws and not their text. The Ministry of Legal Affairs puts every weekly Gazette online back to 2016, and each Gazette names the Acts and statutory rules and orders published that week - then says they can be purchased at the Government Printing Office at Campden Park. The House of Assembly publishes a table of every Act passed since 1993, with its long title, its short title, the dates of its readings, assent, publication and any proclamation, and its number. Neither publishes a section of an Act. The Immigration (Restriction) Act, the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act, the Citizenship Act, the Employment of Foreign Nationals and Commonwealth Citizens Act and the Aliens (Land Holding Regulation) Act are all unreadable from outside the country, and every one of them governs something on this site.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Act. No. 16 of 2025:– Protocol on Contingent Rights to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas Establishing the Caribbean Community Including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy Act, 2025.»This is the instrument that answers the question. Saint Vincent's participation in full free movement is not an announcement: Parliament legislated for it and the Governor-General assented on 30 September 2025, the day before the regime began.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The State's gazette, published weekly and archived online from 2016. Each issue opens with a Legislations notice naming every Act and every Statutory Rule and Order published that week, and carries Governor-General's notices, including the assignment of departments and subjects to each Minister under section 53 of the Constitution. It is the authoritative record that an instrument exists and of the date it was published.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for the content of an Act or a Statutory Rule and Order. The notice says in terms that the instruments 'can be purchased at the Government Printing Office, Campden Park Industrial Estate' - the issue announces them and does not contain them. A handful of Statutory Rules and Orders are posted as separate PDFs beside the 2026 issues; most are not. It must also not be cited for anything before 2016, which is where the online archive starts. File names are not a reliable guide to contents: the file named Gazette_No50_2025.pdf contains issue No. 40 of 30 July 2025.
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«Act. No. 15 of 2025:– Immigration (Restriction) (Amendment) Act, 2025.»The companion Act. The Protocol on Contingent Rights governs what a national may claim once here; the Immigration (Restriction) Act governs who may enter and on what terms, and it was amended on the same day.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The State's gazette, published weekly and archived online from 2016. Each issue opens with a Legislations notice naming every Act and every Statutory Rule and Order published that week, and carries Governor-General's notices, including the assignment of departments and subjects to each Minister under section 53 of the Constitution. It is the authoritative record that an instrument exists and of the date it was published.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for the content of an Act or a Statutory Rule and Order. The notice says in terms that the instruments 'can be purchased at the Government Printing Office, Campden Park Industrial Estate' - the issue announces them and does not contain them. A handful of Statutory Rules and Orders are posted as separate PDFs beside the 2026 issues; most are not. It must also not be cited for anything before 2016, which is where the online archive starts. File names are not a reliable guide to contents: the file named Gazette_No50_2025.pdf contains issue No. 40 of 30 July 2025.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«S. R. & O. No. 18 of 2025:– Caribbean Community (Schedule Amendment) (Enhanced Cooperation) Order 2025.»Enhanced cooperation is the mechanism in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that lets a subset of member states go first. This Order amends a schedule to give it effect; which schedule, and to which Act, is not stated in the notice and the Order itself is sold rather than published.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The State's gazette, published weekly and archived online from 2016. Each issue opens with a Legislations notice naming every Act and every Statutory Rule and Order published that week, and carries Governor-General's notices, including the assignment of departments and subjects to each Minister under section 53 of the Constitution. It is the authoritative record that an instrument exists and of the date it was published.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for the content of an Act or a Statutory Rule and Order. The notice says in terms that the instruments 'can be purchased at the Government Printing Office, Campden Park Industrial Estate' - the issue announces them and does not contain them. A handful of Statutory Rules and Orders are posted as separate PDFs beside the 2026 issues; most are not. It must also not be cited for anything before 2016, which is where the online archive starts. File names are not a reliable guide to contents: the file named Gazette_No50_2025.pdf contains issue No. 40 of 30 July 2025.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«S. R. & O. No. 19 of 2025:– Immigration (Passport Exemption) (Amendment) Regualtions, 2025.»Quoted with the Gazette's own spelling of "Regualtions". A passport exemption regulation is how an Eastern Caribbean state lets a traveller arrive on something other than a passport, which is the provision Grenada carries in section 5(3A) of its Immigration Act and which Saint Kitts and Nevis could only attribute to the OECS Commission. Saint Vincent has such regulations and amended them for full free movement; we could not read either the principal regulations or the amendment.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The State's gazette, published weekly and archived online from 2016. Each issue opens with a Legislations notice naming every Act and every Statutory Rule and Order published that week, and carries Governor-General's notices, including the assignment of departments and subjects to each Minister under section 53 of the Constitution. It is the authoritative record that an instrument exists and of the date it was published.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for the content of an Act or a Statutory Rule and Order. The notice says in terms that the instruments 'can be purchased at the Government Printing Office, Campden Park Industrial Estate' - the issue announces them and does not contain them. A handful of Statutory Rules and Orders are posted as separate PDFs beside the 2026 issues; most are not. It must also not be cited for anything before 2016, which is where the online archive starts. File names are not a reliable guide to contents: the file named Gazette_No50_2025.pdf contains issue No. 40 of 30 July 2025.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«The following Acts which were assented to by Her Excellency the Governor-General are published in today's issue of the Gazette and can be purchased at the Government Printing Office, Campden Park Industrial Estate:-»The sentence that sets the limit of what can be read. The Gazette announces the Acts; the Acts are sold on paper.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The State's gazette, published weekly and archived online from 2016. Each issue opens with a Legislations notice naming every Act and every Statutory Rule and Order published that week, and carries Governor-General's notices, including the assignment of departments and subjects to each Minister under section 53 of the Constitution. It is the authoritative record that an instrument exists and of the date it was published.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for the content of an Act or a Statutory Rule and Order. The notice says in terms that the instruments 'can be purchased at the Government Printing Office, Campden Park Industrial Estate' - the issue announces them and does not contain them. A handful of Statutory Rules and Orders are posted as separate PDFs beside the 2026 issues; most are not. It must also not be cited for anything before 2016, which is where the online archive starts. File names are not a reliable guide to contents: the file named Gazette_No50_2025.pdf contains issue No. 40 of 30 July 2025.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«An Act to provide for the implantation of the Protocol on Contingent Rights to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas Establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.»Parliament's own record, giving the long title and the dates: first reading and second and third readings on 29 September 2025, assent and publication on 30 September 2025. Quoted with the record's own "implantation" for "implementation". The proclamation column of the table is empty, as it is for every Act in the 2025 record.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«An Act to amend the Immigration (Restriction) Act, Chapter 114 of the Laws of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Revised Edition 2009 and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.»The entry also names the Act it amends and the edition it belongs to: Chapter 114 of the Revised Edition 2009.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«| An Act to give the force of Law to the Revised Treaty of Basseterre Establishing the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Economic Union and the Protocol of Eastern Caribbean Economic Union in SVG and for related matters | | 5th April 11 | 24th May 11 | 29th July 11 | 2nd August 11 | 10th August 11 | No. 22 of 2011 |»The whole row, because the last two columns are the point: publication on 2 August 2011 and proclamation on 10 August 2011. Many Eastern Caribbean Acts commence on a date the Minister appoints and the appointment is never made. This one was made.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«12.1 Freedom of movement for citizens of Protocol Member States shall be secured within the Economic Union Area.»Quoted from the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines' own copy of the Treaty. The sentence binds the state; it does not direct the officer at the desk.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The ministry that holds the CARICOM and CSME portfolio and the national CSME focal point. Publishes the Government's CARICOM Free Movement Regime information note of October 2025, which is the only published statement of how full free movement actually works here - indefinite stay on arrival, registration with National Security, schooling, health care, National Insurance, tools of trade and driving licences. Also hosts the Government's own copies of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre with its Protocol and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and an undated CSME skills brochure.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The information note and the CSME pages describe a regime; they are not the implementing instruments, which are Acts 15 and 16 of 2025 and S.R. & O. 18 and 19 of 2025 and are not published. The skills brochure is undated, names the ministry under a former title and lists skills categories that may no longer match the law. Its visa requirements PDF of July 2020 is about Vincentians travelling abroad and must never be cited for who may enter Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«12.5 Notwithstanding any provisions of this Article, a Protocol Member State may, subject to the approval of the OECS Authority, regulate the movement of such citizens.»The reservation. Saint Vincent incorporated the Protocol whole, so this reservation is part of its own law, exactly as in Dominica and unlike Saint Kitts and Nevis, where section 4(3) of the Immigration Act obliges the officer to grant an indefinite permit.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The ministry that holds the CARICOM and CSME portfolio and the national CSME focal point. Publishes the Government's CARICOM Free Movement Regime information note of October 2025, which is the only published statement of how full free movement actually works here - indefinite stay on arrival, registration with National Security, schooling, health care, National Insurance, tools of trade and driving licences. Also hosts the Government's own copies of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre with its Protocol and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and an undated CSME skills brochure.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The information note and the CSME pages describe a regime; they are not the implementing instruments, which are Acts 15 and 16 of 2025 and S.R. & O. 18 and 19 of 2025 and are not published. The skills brochure is undated, names the ministry under a former title and lists skills categories that may no longer match the law. Its visa requirements PDF of July 2020 is about Vincentians travelling abroad and must never be cited for who may enter Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«| Bill for an Act to remove the restrictions on the entry into S.V.G of skilled nationals of qualifying Caribbean Community States | | 06. 3. 97 | 06. 3. 97 | 20. 5. 97 | 20. 5. 97 | | No. 4 of 1997 |»The skills regime, assented to and published on 20 May 1997. The same year as Jamaica, two years after Dominica's Act 30 of 1995.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«An Act to amend the Immigration(Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals)Act,Chapter 113»The most recent amendment to the skills Act, assented to on 9 September 2024 and published on 10 September 2024, and the entry that establishes the Act's chapter number. What it changed is not stated in the record and the Act is not published.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«| Bill for an Act to give effect to the provisions of the Treaty establishing the Caribbean Community, including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, relating to the exercise by nationals of the | | | | | | | |»The first half of the long title, which runs over a page break in Parliament's table.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«| Caribbean Community of the right of establishment, the right to provide services and the right to move capital into and within SVG and out of SVG to other member states of the Caribbean Community and for connected matters | Caribbean Community (Movement of Factors) Act | 16.03.04 | 31.03.04 | 25.08.04 | 31.08.04 | | No. 23 of 2004 |»The concluding half, with the short title and the dates. Articles 32 and 33 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas bind every member state to remove restrictions on establishment; Saint Vincent performed that obligation in 2004, twenty-two years before Dominica. No proclamation is recorded against it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«| Bill for an Act to give effect to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramus Establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market & Economy & for matters connected therewith | | 03. 02. 04 | 23. 02. 04 | 10. 03. 05 | 11. 03. 05 | | No. 5 of 2005 |»Quoted with Parliament's own spelling of "Chaguaramus" and its HTML-escaped ampersands. This is the Act the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls the Caribbean Community Act when it lists the laws governing free movement.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Member States commit themselves to the goal of free movement of their nationals
within the Community.»A goal, not an obligation of result, which is why the skills regime is categorical and why full free movement needed a separate protocol among a willing few.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Depositary and publisher of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the single market material built on it.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for what a member state's law actually is. The treaty binds states rather than conferring rights a reader can exercise at a counter, and its establishment articles have no implementing provision in at least one member we have read. Our capture of the treaty also has irregular article headings, so no negative claim about its contents may rest on it.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The four instruments of 29 and 30 September 2025 are named in the Gazette and sold on paper at the Government Printing Office. Every issue of the Gazette for 2025 and 2026 was read on the day this record was written - those issues are not in our own store, so this is a statement about that reading rather than one a reader can re-run here - and it found no commencement order, proclamation or appointed-day notice for either Act, and none for Act No. 23 of 2004 either; Parliament's own table leaves the proclamation column empty for all three. For the OECS Act of 2011 the table records a proclamation on 10 August 2011.
Everything stated here about how the regime operates - indefinite stay stamped on arrival, one-way tickets accepted, registration at the Ministry of National Security, access to health care and education, tools of trade within six months, the driving licence exemption - comes from an information note the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published in October 2025. It is the Government describing a regime it runs, which is better than commentary and is not the instrument.
The skills categories Saint Vincent recognises are not stated in any instrument we could read. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' CSME brochure lists university graduates, artistes, musicians, media workers, sports personnel, non-graduate teachers, nurses, artisans and holders of associate degrees, and gives a processing fee of EC$250. The brochure is undated and names a ministry under its former title, so it may describe an earlier state of the list.
Social security moves with the worker under two agreements. The National Insurance Services says the CARICOM Reciprocal Agreement of 1997 has superseded the OECS Regulations of 1991, leaving only short-term benefits under the OECS agreement - a detail that matters to anyone who worked in Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique or Sint Maarten, which are in the OECS agreement and not in the CARICOM one.
- issuesGazette of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Vol. 158 No. 49, 30 September 2025
Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Official Gazette, Ministry of Legal Affairs and Justice
About this source
The State's gazette, published weekly and archived online from 2016. Each issue opens with a Legislations notice naming every Act and every Statutory Rule and Order published that week, and carries Governor-General's notices, including the assignment of departments and subjects to each Minister under section 53 of the Constitution. It is the authoritative record that an instrument exists and of the date it was published.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for the content of an Act or a Statutory Rule and Order. The notice says in terms that the instruments 'can be purchased at the Government Printing Office, Campden Park Industrial Estate' - the issue announces them and does not contain them. A handful of Statutory Rules and Orders are posted as separate PDFs beside the 2026 issues; most are not. It must also not be cited for anything before 2016, which is where the online archive starts. File names are not a reliable guide to contents: the file named Gazette_No50_2025.pdf contains issue No. 40 of 30 July 2025.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- reportsRecord of Acts passed by the House of Assembly, 2025
House of Assembly of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- reportsRecord of Acts passed by the House of Assembly, 2011
House of Assembly of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- reportsRecord of Acts passed by the House of Assembly, 1997
House of Assembly of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- reportsRecord of Acts passed by the House of Assembly, 2004
House of Assembly of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- reportsRecord of Acts passed by the House of Assembly, 2005
House of Assembly of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- reportsRecord of Acts passed by the House of Assembly, 2024
House of Assembly of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
Parliament's own record. Publishes, for every year from 1993 to 2025, a table of every Act passed: long title, short title, dates of first reading, second and third readings, assent, publication and proclamation, and the Act number. Also publishes the Saint Vincent Constitution Order 1979. This table is the only published index of Vincentian legislation and is what establishes that an Act exists, what it amends, which Chapter it belongs to and exactly when it came into force.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must never be cited for what an Act says. It carries no text of any Act and never has. It must not be cited for anything before 1993, where its record begins, nor for 2026, for which no table has yet been posted - use the Gazette's weekly legislation notices for that. The proclamation column is empty for almost every Act, which means a proclamation is not recorded, not that commencement did not happen; where it is filled, as for Act No. 22 of 2011, it is reliable. Extraction of the date columns is unreliable: the 2006, 2011 and 2024 tables render some dates as formulas and the 2025 table uses full-width commas, so a date quoted from them should be checked against the PDF. The Constitution Order it publishes is a 21-page scan with no text layer.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- administersRevised Treaty of Basseterre Establishing the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Economic Union, with the Protocol of the Eastern Caribbean Economic Union
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and Diaspora Affairs, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
The ministry that holds the CARICOM and CSME portfolio and the national CSME focal point. Publishes the Government's CARICOM Free Movement Regime information note of October 2025, which is the only published statement of how full free movement actually works here - indefinite stay on arrival, registration with National Security, schooling, health care, National Insurance, tools of trade and driving licences. Also hosts the Government's own copies of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre with its Protocol and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and an undated CSME skills brochure.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The information note and the CSME pages describe a regime; they are not the implementing instruments, which are Acts 15 and 16 of 2025 and S.R. & O. 18 and 19 of 2025 and are not published. The skills brochure is undated, names the ministry under a former title and lists skills categories that may no longer match the law. Its visa requirements PDF of July 2020 is about Vincentians travelling abroad and must never be cited for who may enter Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- administersCARICOM Free Movement Regime - Information Note, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and Diaspora Affairs, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
The ministry that holds the CARICOM and CSME portfolio and the national CSME focal point. Publishes the Government's CARICOM Free Movement Regime information note of October 2025, which is the only published statement of how full free movement actually works here - indefinite stay on arrival, registration with National Security, schooling, health care, National Insurance, tools of trade and driving licences. Also hosts the Government's own copies of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre with its Protocol and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and an undated CSME skills brochure.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The information note and the CSME pages describe a regime; they are not the implementing instruments, which are Acts 15 and 16 of 2025 and S.R. & O. 18 and 19 of 2025 and are not published. The skills brochure is undated, names the ministry under a former title and lists skills categories that may no longer match the law. Its visa requirements PDF of July 2020 is about Vincentians travelling abroad and must never be cited for who may enter Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- administersCARICOM Single Market and Economy - Full Free Movement
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and Diaspora Affairs, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
The ministry that holds the CARICOM and CSME portfolio and the national CSME focal point. Publishes the Government's CARICOM Free Movement Regime information note of October 2025, which is the only published statement of how full free movement actually works here - indefinite stay on arrival, registration with National Security, schooling, health care, National Insurance, tools of trade and driving licences. Also hosts the Government's own copies of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre with its Protocol and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and an undated CSME skills brochure.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The information note and the CSME pages describe a regime; they are not the implementing instruments, which are Acts 15 and 16 of 2025 and S.R. & O. 18 and 19 of 2025 and are not published. The skills brochure is undated, names the ministry under a former title and lists skills categories that may no longer match the law. Its visa requirements PDF of July 2020 is about Vincentians travelling abroad and must never be cited for who may enter Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- administersFree Movement of Skilled CARICOM Nationals (CSME brochure)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and Diaspora Affairs, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
The ministry that holds the CARICOM and CSME portfolio and the national CSME focal point. Publishes the Government's CARICOM Free Movement Regime information note of October 2025, which is the only published statement of how full free movement actually works here - indefinite stay on arrival, registration with National Security, schooling, health care, National Insurance, tools of trade and driving licences. Also hosts the Government's own copies of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre with its Protocol and the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, and an undated CSME skills brochure.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The information note and the CSME pages describe a regime; they are not the implementing instruments, which are Acts 15 and 16 of 2025 and S.R. & O. 18 and 19 of 2025 and are not published. The skills brochure is undated, names the ministry under a former title and lists skills categories that may no longer match the law. Its visa requirements PDF of July 2020 is about Vincentians travelling abroad and must never be cited for who may enter Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- administersVisitors' Permits, Passport and Immigration Department
Ministry of National Security, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
The department that stamps passports and issues entry permits. Publishes the periods of stay granted on arrival by nationality, the extension procedure and its charge, the list of countries whose citizens need an entry visa in advance, the visa application requirements and fee, and the list of services the department offers. Also the registration point for nationals exercising CARICOM full free movement.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Everything it publishes is a description of practice, not a citation of the Immigration (Restriction) Act, Chapter 114, which is not published anywhere. It must never be cited as the legal basis for a period of stay, a fee or a visa requirement - only as the administering department's statement of what it does. It is silent on residence and work permits beyond naming the office that decides them, silent on students, and silent on the driving licence exemption its own government announced for full free movement nationals.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- administersOECS Reciprocal Agreement
National Insurance Services, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
The contributory social security scheme. Publishes who must be registered and within what period, the exclusions, the benefit list, and detailed accounts of the CARICOM Reciprocal Agreement of 1997 and the OECS Reciprocal Agreement of 1991 including which states are party to each and how totalisation works.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It describes the National Insurance Act rather than publishing it, so registration duties and benefit conditions are the scheme's account rather than a section. It pays cash benefits and must never be cited for access to health care or for what treatment costs. Its account of the two reciprocal agreements is the scheme's own and is not the text of either agreement.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- administersCARICOM Reciprocal Agreement
National Insurance Services, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
About this source
The contributory social security scheme. Publishes who must be registered and within what period, the exclusions, the benefit list, and detailed accounts of the CARICOM Reciprocal Agreement of 1997 and the OECS Reciprocal Agreement of 1991 including which states are party to each and how totalisation works.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It describes the National Insurance Act rather than publishing it, so registration duties and benefit conditions are the scheme's account rather than a section. It pays cash benefits and must never be cited for access to health care or for what treatment costs. Its account of the two reciprocal agreements is the scheme's own and is not the text of either agreement.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- issuesBarbados, Belize, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ready for Full Free Movement on 1 October 2025
Caribbean Community Secretariat
About this source
Depositary and publisher of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the single market material built on it.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for what a member state's law actually is. The treaty binds states rather than conferring rights a reader can exercise at a counter, and its establishment articles have no implementing provision in at least one member we have read. Our capture of the treaty also has irregular article headings, so no negative claim about its contents may rest on it.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
- issuesRevised Treaty of Chaguaramas Establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy
Caribbean Community Secretariat
About this source
Depositary and publisher of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and the single market material built on it.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for what a member state's law actually is. The treaty binds states rather than conferring rights a reader can exercise at a counter, and its establishment articles have no implementing provision in at least one member we have read. Our capture of the treaty also has irregular article headings, so no negative claim about its contents may rest on it.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
- administersFree Movement of Persons Regime in the Eastern Caribbean
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Commission
About this source
Administers the Eastern Caribbean economic union and its free-movement regime, and describes what member states have agreed to implement.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for any member's law. Where we have checked, only a handful of its claims are mirrored in a national statute: its statements about identity-card travel, driving-licence recognition, social-security portability and third-country spouses had no implementing provision we could find, and must be attributed to the Commission rather than to a country. A programme it describes as being implemented is not in force by virtue of being described.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source