CARICOM leadership concerned about work permit issuance

(Barbados Nation)- A total of 85,000 work permits were issued by Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states between 2000 and June 2010. 75 percent of these work permirs went to foreign nationals (nationals of non-CARICOM states).

These statistics are of great concern to Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica, who has lead responsibility for free movement at the CARICOM Heads level.

“These findings clearly highlight that the main movers in our community in the past decade have been non-CARICOM nationals,” Skerrit said. “So, foreign nationals are finding and creating job opportunities for themselves in our region while our CARICOM citizens do not appear to be taking full advantage of the opportunities open to them in this regard.”