Barbados has the strongest passport in CARICOM and is ranked among the leading Caribbean passports globally, according to the latest Passport Source ranking, which places the island 39th in the world.

The ranking gives Barbados a mobility score of 154 and places it first among 14 CARICOM countries, fourth among 33 CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) countries and tenth among 56 Commonwealth countries. The ranking places The Bahamas second among CARICOM countries.

According to Passport Source, Barbadian passport holders have visa-free access to 102 destinations, while another 43 destinations offer visa-on-arrival or other simplified entry arrangements and nine provide access through electronic travel authorisations (eTAs).

Barbados also recorded 100 per cent access across Europe and the Caribbean, 91.7 per cent in South America and 90.9 per cent in North America. Only 44 destinations require Barbadian travellers to obtain a visa before departure.

But while the figures highlight the strength of the Barbados passport, former Minister of Foreign and Foreign Trade, and now Minister of Energy, Business Development and Commerce, Kerrie Symmonds, said visa access should not be viewed simply as something Barbados can negotiate or demand from other countries.

“While it is not strictly under my portfolio, I realise there is a misconceived perspective on how visa systems work. Access to other countries as you put it, is not a matter that the Barbados government decides unilaterally, or that we will necessarily be consulted on, or given an opportunity to have an input about. Barbados itself makes these types of decisions based solely upon what we determine to be in our national strategic interests,” he told the DAILY NATION yesterday.

He argued that countries make decisions about visa requirements according to their own national interests, including tourism, investment, trade and security.

“So for example Barbados has determined in its strategic interest to in some cases waive visa requirements for nationals of certain countries because we believe that it will benefit us to stimulate a more significant flow of tourism traffic, investment, trade and other relations between their nationals and ours. In those circumstances we used visa requirements as a means of securing those objectives.

“Similar considerations apply with respect to other nations who make their own national strategic interest decisions. The US for example, recently determined to make it more difficult to access their market and they use their visa as a tool to achieve that objective. The British and the Canadians have recently used digital prescreening requirements even for visa exempt countries so as to ensure that there is a filter to protect against security or ‘bad character’ threats at an individual level.

The strength of the Barbadian passport recently raised questions about whether its citizenship is being targeted.

A SUNDAY SUN earlier this year had highlighted concerns about wealthy Nigerian women travelling to Barbados to give birth, with renewed reports of so-called birth tourism.

There is also renewed attention on Barbados’ citizenship and immigration framework as Government moves to overhaul the laws governing who can become a citizen.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has made it clear that while the Government wants to attract skills, investment and strengthen connections with the Barbadian diaspora, citizenship will not be sold.

“Barbados will not sell citizenship. Our passport, respected among the strongest in our region and the world, for that matter, carries the value of who we are. It is not a commodity. Once you become a Barbadian, there are no first-class or second-class citizens, only equal rights and equal responsibilities,” she said last year.

The Immigration Bill, 2025 and Citizenship Bill, 2025 are at the centre of those reforms.

Mottley had said the legislation would extend citizenship rights through the Barbadian family line to great-grandchildren, while creating preferential treatment for CARICOM nationals and opening the door to people with skills and investment under transparent rules.

She also said the existing immigrant-status system would be abolished and replaced with permanent residence provisions.

“These companion bills sweep away the immigrant status that is captured in the current Act. They create a clear, humane path to permanent residence instead. They put ‘reside’ and ‘work’ on firm legal footings so that families are not left in limbo, and they give spouses of Barbadians a straightforward route to settle and contribute with automatic permanent residence status.”

Since last year, Barbados, Belize, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines have been operating under arrangements allowing full free movement among those participating countries, representing another step in the regional integration process.

The move builds on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, established under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, signed in 2001, which provides for greater freedom of movement and work for qualifying CARICOM nationals. (NS)