The Government of Saint Lucia welcomes the news that the Government of Canada has opened a Visa Application Centre in Saint Lucia. This follows continued dialogue and advocacy by the Government on behalf of the people of Saint Lucia with the Canadian Government.

H.E. Anton Edmunds, who serves as Saint Lucia’s High Commissioner to Canada, as well as Ambassador to the United States, indicated that the high costs associated with Saint Lucians needing to travel to other islands to get their biometric information processed, has been eliminated. He stated that this was becoming a disincentive to Diaspora and business travel, to a country with which we have such strong ties.

It has been estimated that Saint Lucians were incurring costs ranging from approximately EC$2,000 for an individual to EC$8,000 for a family of four, to travel to Trinidad and Tobago or Barbados, to submit the required biometric data.

Saint Lucia’s concerted advocacy effort for a solution to the cost of accessing a visa to travel to Canada, goes back to mid-2018 and included regular engagement with senior Government officials of that country.

The Government of Canada was asked by the Government of Saint Lucia, to consider among other things, the deployment of a mobile system that would obviate the need for travel. While other OECS countries have been the beneficiaries of the mobile system, that operating framework has been periodic, from late August and necessitates travel to those countries, by officials from the Canadian High Commission.

The permanent Visa Application Centre in Saint Lucia will process visitor, student and work visas and is managed by an outsourcing and technology service entity that provides visa-processing services to the Government of Canada.

Details on the application process can be found at https://www.vfsglobal.ca/Canada/Saint-Lucia/index.html.