St. Lucia

Discussions  between St. Lucia and the United States over an agreement began in 2025, when the United States approached CARICOM countries regarding the issue of receiving deported third country nationals. In January 2026 the government of Saint Lucia announced it had agreed to enter into a  non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the United States concerning the potential removal of third country nationals. In August 2026 the St Lucia cabinet approved a memorandum from the Ministry of External Affairs outlining St. Lucia’s financial requirements for implementing the agreement and the criteria that deported third country nationals would have to meet to be accepted. The memorandum  requires the U.S. to fund an international organization to provide services to individuals transferred; St. Lucia engaged the International Organization for Migration regarding provision of these services in the final phase of negotiations with the United States about the agreement.

The government of St. Lucia maintains the discretion to accept or reject all individuals proposed for transfer. People who are eligible for transfer need to meet criteria such as having final or expedited orders of removal from the United States and receiving medical authorization to travel from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Unaccompanied minors, St. Lucian citizens or nationals, and individuals with criminal records known to the U.S. authorities (except for violations of U.S. immigration law) are excluded from the arrangement. 10 people per quarter are permitted to be transferred, U.S. authorities will provide a flight manifest five days before the proposed removal, and St. Lucia then has two days to accept or reject the proposed individuals. 

St. Lucia is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, which raises concerns about potential chain refoulement of transferred third country national who U.S. immigration judges found would likely face persecution or torture in their home countries. This concern seems all the more relevant given a July 2026 statement by CARICOM about third country removal agreements emphasizing that their purpose is to serve solely as a transit point for individuals being sent back to their home countries. 

The agreement between St. Lucia and the United States  sparked domestic political controversy. In 2025, Prime Minister Philip Pierre faced criticism for allegedly delaying public disclosure of the MOU until after the country’s general elections. In his address about the agreement in mid-January 2026, the Prime Minister said he had received no information about a change in U.S. visa policy affecting St. Lucians, but, on January 21, 2026, the U.S. Department of State paused all visa issuances to immigrant visa applicants from Saint Lucia, a policy that may have put pressure on St. Lucia to continue negotiations about implementation of the agreement.