It seems fitting that today’s story on the Caribbean Carpet Visa is published on August Monday, when scores of people from St. Maarten/St. Martin head to Anguilla on just about anything that floats for the annual beach party that is part of the latter island’s Summer Festival. After all, there’s hardly a better time to illustrate how closely interwoven the neighbouring communities are.
But it also regards three different countries and problems do occur. One example is legal residents of Anguilla with nationalities that normally require a visa to enter St. Maarten having to remain “in transit” longer than the maximum 24 hours allowed for such when travelling through Princess Juliana International Airport SXM.
Justice Minister Rafael Boasman together with Anguilla’s Chief Minister Victor Banks looked at the issue and learned that there is in fact an existing Caribbean Carpet Visa programme already instituted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This simplified application procedure to obtain visas for a longer period caters to regular travellers to the Dutch Caribbean.
The case once again shows that, with goodwill on all sides, pragmatic solutions can often be found when rules and regulations get in the way of daily life in practice for whatever reason. It’s a matter of using common sense.
