5 EU countries to sponsor Guyana’s bid for Schengen visa-free travel – Pres Ali

At least five European Union (EU) countries have agreed to sponsor Guyana’s bid for Schengen visa-free travel, President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced.
The Head of State made the disclosure on Thursday while interacting with the media during a site visit to the new Eccles to Diamond four-lane highway that is currently under construction.
“In terms of the removal of the visa, you have to have sponsoring countries, and I’m very pleased to tell you that we have at least five countries that have agreed to sponsor us to begin the process within the EU itself. But there’s a bigger issue that we have to address, and this is our passports and what is required for future travelling.”
The President explained that for Guyana to be fully equipped to gain Schengen visa-free travel, the country’s passport must be improved and upgraded.
“You know biometrics and e-passport are very critical for global travellers. So, we have to now work expeditiously on having our system transformed so that we can have ease of movement and ease of travel.”

Immediate need
In addition to obtaining visa-free travel status, President Ali also noted that Guyana is working on having the Schengen visas processed more efficiently in Guyana. This, he explained, is an immediate need, and Guyana has received strong commitments from “at least three countries that are willing to work with us on having this done”.
President Ali had initial discussions on Schengen visa-free travel during his recent attendance at the European Union-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (EU-CELAC) Summit 2023 in Brussels, Belgium.
Specifically, he held such talks with Deputy Prime Minister of Slovenia and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Tanja Fajon.
It has been reported that a pressing issue for Guyana in its relations with Europe is the setting up of a local Schengen visa processing office.
For some time, concern has been expressed that visas for Guyanese to travel to the EU still have to be processed in Suriname at the Netherlands Embassy. Former EU Ambassador to Guyana, Fernando Ponz Cantó had told this publication that the request for an office in Guyana to process visa requests to Europe was a reasonable one and was, in fact, being addressed by the EU.
He had cautioned, however, that the granting of Schengen visas was subject to individual member countries, and not to the EU as a whole. As such, he noted that the EU did not have the power to grant the visas. Cantó had also expressed the hope that visa-free travel could be facilitated at some point in the future.
In the absence of visa-free access, the Schengen visa would entitle non-Europeans to travel to Slovenia and any of the other 26 Schengen countries, including Austria, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland – for a stay of up to 90 days.
Most notably, Guyanese enjoy visa-free access to a few European countries already, including the United Kingdom (UK), Ireland, Russia and Kosovo. Guyana has meanwhile been pushing for visa-free access to Italy. (G11)