ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – The Antigua and Barbuda government waived the visa requirement for Haitians with close family members National Security and Immigration Minister Errol Cort announced.

Haiti, which is a member of the regional Caribbean Community (Caricom) grouping, was devastated by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake last month that killed an estimated 200,000 people and left more than one million others homeless.

"The government has extended to these folks the opportunity for them, in certain cases, to be able to bring close family members here to get over that whole transitional period in Haiti from destruction to rebuilding and we have, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sought to grant certain visa waivers to allow a limited number of folks to come in to be with their family here in Antigua and Barbuda," Cort said on local radio.

He said there were about 128 Haitians living on the island legally and in light of the situation in their home country, the authorities were making it easier for some of their relatives to travel to Antigua.

Cort said six requests have been granted so far and additional applications have since been submitted.

He said consideration was also being given to setting up a desk in the Immigration Department specifically to process those requests, pointing out that the authorities would be making sure that those individuals taking in their Haitian relatives have the wherewithal to adequately support them.

Meanwhile, Cort said Cabinet was still reviewing the situation regarding allowing locals to adopt Haitian children.

Shortly after the 12 Jan., earthquake, former speaker of the House of Representatives, Dame Bridgett Harris urged locals to take in Haitian orphans – she said she had received more than 150 calls from people expressing an interest in adopting the children.

But Cort said there were several matters that must first be considered, including identifying orphans in Haiti, ascertaining the ability of individuals here to care for them and determining the role of the state in the lives of these children.

"Cabinet is of the view that what we need to do is to establish a working committee that would look at these issues, properly ventilate these issues and advise the Cabinet in terms of the best way forward.

"That committee would comprise of both public and private sector individuals; public sector would include representation from the Ministry of Legal Affairs, from National Security including Immigration, Ministry of Social Transformation, Ministry of Education and other key ministries involved in that process and key private sector stakeholders including, for example, Dame Bridgett Harris and other key participants so that these issues could be looked at one by one, properly ventilated and advised," Cort added.