CARICOM is the Caribbean Community — the regional integration organization for the English-speaking Caribbean and a few others. For most Latin America-focused expats, CARICOM sits at the edge of awareness, but it directly affects two of MLL’s 20 Latin American countries: Belize and Trinidad & Tobago.
Part of our Supranational Settlement Blocs series – tracking where regional membership creates a workable right to relocate, and where it still falls short.
For Caribbean readers, settlement mechanics are only half the picture. The Latin America Passport Index is the better place to compare how Belize and the region’s other relevant passports perform on travel access beyond CARICOM itself.
CARICOM Members
Full members (15): Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago
Associate members (5): Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands
Observer states: Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and several others
Note: Cuba, Dominican Republic, and other Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations are not in CARICOM — it’s primarily an English (and Dutch) Caribbean organization. Haiti is the exception: a French-speaking full member.
What CARICOM Does
CARICOM was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas in 1973. Its main areas of work:
- CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME): The flagship integration project — free movement of goods, services, capital, and (most importantly for expats) skilled workers across most member states
- Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ): CARICOM’s own appellate court, serving as the final court of appeal for Belize and some other members (replacing appeals to the UK Privy Council)
- CARIPASS: A regional identification system for travel within CARICOM
- Foreign policy coordination: CARICOM countries typically vote together in the UN and negotiate jointly in international trade discussions
The CSME: Free Movement for Skilled Workers
The CARICOM Single Market and Economy has implemented free movement of nationals for certain skill categories. University graduates, media workers, artists, musicians, sportspeople, and certain professionals can live and work anywhere in the CSME without a work permit.
This doesn’t cover all workers — it’s skills-based, not universal. But for people with qualifying credentials, it creates meaningful mobility across the English Caribbean. A Jamaican software developer can work in Barbados; a Belizean accountant can take a job in Trinidad — without a separate work authorization.
October 2025 Update: Full Free Movement for 4 Members
As of October 1, 2025, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines implemented genuinely full free movement among themselves — a real upgrade beyond the skills-based CSME described above. Nationals of these four countries can now live, work, and retire indefinitely in any of the other three, for any legitimate reason, with no work permit and no CSME skills certificate required. This falls under CARICOM’s new Enhanced Cooperation Chapter, separate from (and stronger than) the standard CSME skilled-worker regime.
Belize’s CARICOM Membership
Belize is simultaneously part of CARICOM and SICA (Central American Integration System) — the only country that bridges the Caribbean and Central American regional blocs. This dual membership reflects Belize’s unique position: Central American geographically, Caribbean culturally and linguistically.
Practically for Belize-focused expats: CARICOM membership means Belize’s legal system (common law, English language), its Caribbean Court of Justice affiliation, and its trade relationships are Caribbean-oriented. When Belizeans travel the Caribbean for work or business, they have CSME mobility rights that their Central American neighbors don’t — and since October 2025, Belizean nationals specifically have full indefinite live/work/retire rights in Barbados, Dominica, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines (see above), not just skills-based CSME access.
Belize QRP: The Retirement Visa →
Trinidad & Tobago in CARICOM
Trinidad & Tobago is one of CARICOM’s wealthiest members — an energy-rich twin-island republic with a strong financial sector. It’s host to several CARICOM institutions, including the Caribbean Court of Justice (based in Port of Spain). T&T is a full CSME participant, meaning regional skilled workers have the right to live and work there.
Is Trinidad & Tobago Part of Latin America? →
What CARICOM Means for Non-Caribbean Expats
CARICOM’s free movement rights are for CARICOM nationals — not foreign expats arriving from North America or Europe. If you’re a Canadian moving to Belize, you’re going through Belize’s QRP or standard residency process regardless of CARICOM.
Where CARICOM matters contextually: it explains the English-speaking, common law, Caribbean cultural orientation of Belize and Trinidad — which is often exactly what English-speaking expats are looking for when they want a Latin American country without the language barrier.
Interested in Belize — CARICOM’s only Central American member?
Related
- Latin America’s Regional Blocs: Complete Guide
- Belize QRP Retirement Program
- Is Belize Part of Latin America?
- Is Trinidad & Tobago Part of Latin America?
- What Is SICA?
Related: Supranational Settlement Blocs · Latin America Regional Blocs · Latin America Passport Index
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