UK imposes new visa regulations on T&T nationals

In recent years, the United Kingdom has been increasingly tightening its visa and immigration rules, blaming the economy, national security, and the job market. But beneath these bureaucratic phrases lies a hard truth: the fact that racism continues to influence this country’s immigration. The UK’s post-Brexit identity is becoming more and more conservative, and these racial biases are becoming harder to ignore. The recent changes in visa requirements for Trinidad and Tobago are one major recent example of this. 

In a shocking and sudden move, the Home Office has announced that people from Trinidad and Tobago would no longer be entitled to visa free travel to the UK. Nationals from the twin islands could previously visit the UK without visas, instead only needing an electronic travel authorisation (ETA). They now join Jamaica and Dominica as the only commonwealth Caribbean countries to require visas to visit the UK as tourists. The reason for this sudden change is a reported nine-fold increase in the number of asylum applications from the country. 

According to The Times, asylum claims from Trinidadians and Tobagonians have risen, from an average of 49 a year between 2015 and 2019, to 173 in 2022, 348 in 2023 and to 439 in 2024.

The UK’s immigration system has long been shaped by the colonial mindset that created the Commonwealth in the first place. Commonwealth immigrants have always been treated unfairly, and the Commonwealth Immigrant Act of 1962 targeted people from these former colonies and led to the infamous Windrush scandal. 

Brenda came to the UK from Trinidad in 2000, and was able to obtain citizenship through marriage easily, she was then paid by the government to study and train to be a nurse to address the nursing shortage. She expressed her outrage at these changes: “Black and Caribbean people helped build the UK and we’ve given so much of ourselves, and now they treat us like we're nothing.”

“There's no appreciation of our work. Even though I wasn't part of the Windrush generation, people like me still helped a lot. My family back home don’t want to come here anymore because it's too expensive and complicated. They're all scared that the UK is going to start behaving like America is.”

Here are some statistics to break down the true expenses for Trinbagonians. 

The UK standard visitor visa costs £127, which is approximately TTD 1,140.

Average salaries in Trinidad can vary greatly, with salaries ranging from TTD 4,621 to TTD 107,403 TTD a year, with the average hourly rate being $51 TTD an hour according to Salary Expert and Paylab. Converted to GBP this is £11,923 a year or £5.66 an hour.

Flights to the UK can cost from £500 to over £800, which costs TTD 4,505 to TTD 7,208 respectively.