Antigua and Barbuda

In early January 2026, Antigua and Barbuda signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the United States to receive up to 10 “noncriminal refugees” per year. Following media reports, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne commented on the agreement through a Facebook post, saying that this was an MOU to share the responsibility for hosting refugees, not a binding agreement. In March 2026, the MOU between Antigua and Barbuda and the United States was made public. It includes no details about the number of people and nationalities eligible for transfer, though the Prime Minister commented that no person with a criminal record would be accepted. The MOU specifies that the United States will provide the government of Antigua and Barbuda biographical, criminal, and medical documentation regarding each third country national proposed for transfer. The memorandum also includes assurances from the government of Antigua and Barbuda that it would treat third country nationals transferred from the United States in accordance with its international legal obligations and will not persecute them or transfer them to a place where they would be subject to persecution or torture. Finally, the MOU says the two governments will retain information about the third country nationals transferred for as short a time as possible and will not disclose individual case details to the public.

The agreement was announced during a period of heightened political tension in the Caribbean over recent U.S. government actions, including lethal strikes on migrant boats and a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. It came shortly after a U.S. presidential Proclamation that partially suspended the entry into the United States of nationals of 15 countries, including suspending the entry of Antigua and Barbuda nationals as immigrants and on business and student visas and reduced the validity for other nonimmigrant visas issued to nationals of Antigua and Barbuda. In the Proclamation, the Trump administration explicitly cited citizenship-by-investment programs—such as the one run by Antigua and Barbuda—as being “susceptible to several risks,” including allowing individuals from travel banned countries to buy passports from Antigua and Barbuda and travel to the United States. In his post addressing the third-country agreement, the Prime Minister noted that Antigua and Barbuda is engaged in ongoing discussions with the United States regarding visa issuance and renewals for Antiguan and Barbudan nationals, as well as technical issues related to biometric standards and international identity assurance. The Prime Minister later said on national TV that visa restrictions were “issued probably to bully us into signing” the MOU.

In July 2026, the government of Antigua and Barbuda issued a White Paper (that will be debated at a specially convened session in Parliament.) It noted that the original Memorandum of Understanding preserved Antigua and Barbuda’s complete discretion and non-binding participation but subsequent U.S. drafts moved away from that framework and that Antigua and Barbuda had provided the United States with a counterproposal endorsed by the Cabinet. The counterproposal insists that Antigua and Barbuda would not accept third country nationals subject to expedited removal or with pending asylum claims. It proposes accepting up to 10 third country nationals in 2026 only once all costs of their handling are guaranteed.   

Although Antigua and Barbuda is a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, it lacks a refugee act or formal domestic asylum system. Asylum claims are handled on an ad hoc basis under the general Immigration Act, with Antigua and Barbuda cooperating with international organizations to register and assess asylum claims. In the absence of specific legal procedures, access to asylum as well as lawful residence and work authorization are decided through administrative discretion and are not codified rights. As the White Paper concedes, third country nationals would “arrive in a legal grey zone…with Antigua and Barbuda holding treaty obligations it has no domestic legislation specifically designed to fulfil, and very little means to undertake.”

On the sidelines of the 51st CARICOM summit in July, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda said he wanted an end to U.S. visa restrictions on Antiguans and Barbudans – which were supposed to be lifted on July 1, 2026 – before accepting third country nationals. He lamented that CARICOM nations did not take a regional position and negotiate collectively with the United States over acceptance of third country nationals.