(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) In just one month, there were more than 7000 applications for the Special CARICOM Visa which is required by nationals of some countries to visit 10 Caribbean countries as the world prepares to flock to the Region for the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007.

The visa is being issued by Caribbean immigration officials who are posted in major cites of London, England; New Delhi, India; Sydney, Australia; Toronto, Canada; Miami and New York in the United States. A satellite site is now in full operation at the Embassy of Trinidad and Tobago in Venezuela, while others will soon be opened in Geneva, Switzerland; Beijing, China; Brussels, Belgium Berlin, Germany.

Chair of the CARICOM Sub Committee on CWC security and Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados the Honourable Mia Mottley, said that between 1 January and 3 February 2007, 7 694 people had applied for visas. Of these, 5 735 were issued, with the remaining being processed.

She also revealed that 17 visa applications have been denied. An extensive vetting process involving multiple checks against the CARICOM, United Nations and Interpol Watch lists as well as other intelligence gathering mechanisms ensures full screening of visa applicants.

"The CARICOM Special Visa is not the normal rubber stamp visa. It is a secure visa," said Ms Mottley.

In order to meet the growing demand for the CARICOM Special Visa, the visa issuing sites have increased staff levels to handle the extra load.

“To issue all these visas is a tremendous amount of work, but we will continue to forge ahead,” she said, noting that the turnaround time for processing visas was three days, exclusive of courier or pick-up times.

Details on the CARICOM Special Visa are available at www.caricomvisa.com  or www.caricomimpacs.org or contact: Rose Blenman, Public Education Coordinator at rblenman@caricom.org