CARIBBEAN-Newly elected CHTA president denied US visa.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The newly elected president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), Gregor Nassief, Friday confirmed that he had been denied a renewal of his United States visa, saying the issue may be in keeping with Washington’s implementation of partial travel restrictions for nationals of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica.

The restrictions stem from President Donald Trump’s concerns about the screening and vetting of applicants for the Citizenship-by-Investment (CBI) program, through which foreign investors are granted citizenship in these islands in exchange for making a substantial investment in their socio-economic development.

Both St. John’s and Roseau have been holding talks with officials in Washington on the issue that also includes suspending the issuance of certain immigrant and non-immigrant visas.

The measure came into effect in January this year, with Washington imposing a limited ban on Grenada that took effect in April.

Nassief, whose tenure as the CHTA president takes effect at the end of this year, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that while his 10-year visa is due to expire in August, his Venezuelan-born wife’s visa expires in about two weeks.

“So, you know, she didn’t have much hope, but I had some hope, and I said, let’s go, let’s try. I’ve had a 10-year visa, as most persons have. I lived in the US, I have an extensive network of friends,” he told CMC.

“We were turned down, we were denied ….the gentleman was very clear. He asked some questions, and then he said, well, you know, there’s a ban on Dominica, so we’re not able to issue a visa. And that was the end of it, really.”

Nassief, a prominent hotelier and businessman, said that he understood that “there’s also this bond apparently where in some cases at their (US) discretion they could offer a bond where you put up US$10,000, and you can get a single entry visa for three months.

“But of course, for the requirements that I have of travel to the US, which is pretty tenuous, that would not have made any sense. But they did not offer such a bond in our case,” he told CMC.

Nassief said that in his application for a renewal of the visa, he tried to make the application “like you would a CV, as convincing as possible on the genuine need. And it’s not just the hotel side of things.

“I have a software and technology business in Latin America, and we have just opened offices in the US, a major investment. And I’ve been spending a lot of time supporting that venture. My wife’s mom is 87 years old.

He said that the Nicaraguan-born woman is “not able to travel to visit us anymore. So my wife travels up to visit her.

“My wife’s sister is also in Florida. And obviously that’s not possible now. But yes, I mean, we obviously tried to put forward the facts of our situation, and we were turned down. Now, I don’t want to assume that everyone will be turned down,” he said, adding that he would continue to encourage persons to try, especially if they have an emergency, like a medical situation.

“I mean, the human impact and cost of this is just terrible. It’s for persons that really have an emergency medical situation who have a child’s graduation they want to attend or a funeral,” Nassief said, adding that he has a close friend who has a spouse who is very ill and they turned him down. He wanted to visit her.

Nassief, who is in his late 50s, was named Caribbean Hotelier of the Year and, as of May 2026, made history by being elected CHTA president.

He is the chairman and chief executive officer of GEMS Holdings Limited, which owns and operates Secret Bay, The Residences at Secret Bay, and the Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort in Dominica.

Nassief told CMC that the denial of the visa “maybe has more to do with me. I don’t know. You can never tell.

“You know, they don’t give you any specifics. I would be very happy if it was specific to me and more people were able to get through. So I encourage people to continue trying.”

He recalled a situation about 15 years ago in which the United States revoked his family’s visas. “We never understood why. Me, my wife, and my two kids. And then they gave us our visas back, and there was no problem. I mean, I remember I was always interrogated by immigration in Miami because I had a name similar to a Lebanese terrorist, apparently.

“And then when he died like 20 years ago, the interrogation stopped. So you don’t know if there are other factors at play. So I don’t want to assume that everyone would receive a denial as I was.”

Nassief acknowledged that the visa situation has implications for the entire Caribbean, noting that “I’m more talking about the human element of the person,” citing the impact on medical care, education, and the splitting of families.

“I mean, that’s absolutely significant. And then from a tourism perspective and from a business perspective, obviously, there’s a lot of investment. There’s a lot of conferences. There are many relationships and networking we are required to do as businesspersons and members of the tourism industry.

“I travel to the US quite extensively to promote Dominica as a destination…and I spend a significant amount of time on that and on the properties. I am part of the DHTA (Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association). I am part of the CHTA…and obviously not being able to represent the CHTA at important conferences in the US is difficult.”

But Nassief said he is confident that the CHTA, established in 1959, “has an incredibly strong group of people, past presidents,” including the current chief executive officer, Vanessa Ledesma, who is based in Florida.

“So I’m not too worried there. They can always represent the association. It does not have to be the president,” he said, noting that he does not think “Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda have really contemplated or digested the potential impact of this.

“And I think visas are now starting to expire more and more. So they’re going to be more and more people traveling to try to get a renewal of the visa,” he said, noting that most of the airlift from the US “is really, really critical.

“Now, people don’t always understand that an important part of the load factor on those planes are local persons traveling back and forth for the same things, education, medical, family, shopping, business, whatever.

“And if more and more persons are not able to travel, that means the load factors on those flights could potentially put some airlift at risk. And I would hope and pray it does not,” he said, adding “on the US side, it’s hard to really contemplate and to understand, because obviously there are benefits to the US economy of all of the travel from the Caribbean, investment from the Caribbean, tuition, medical, vacation, business.

“So there are impacts all around, and I am just very worried that we haven’t fully digested,” he said, telling CMC he has not asked the CHTA to take up the issue with the United States on his behalf.

“No, I have not discussed or requested that with the CHTA. This is something that has just happened over the last few days. And I am exploring potential avenues for reconsideration. And I could also appeal directly to the (US) embassy in Barbados,” he told CMC.

But Nassief said that it is “very important for our islands not to compromise sovereignty. But at the same time, I think we have to be very sensitive to whatever the concerns are and deal with them as best and as aggressively as we can.

“And I think it’s unfair to hold a population hostage to whatever issues exist with a government. But sometimes that occurs. And I would appeal to the US to appreciate how integrated our life is with America and with American life and the education of our children, the health care of our citizens, the success of our businesses and tourism industry, the importance of airlift coming from the US to the Caribbean.

“There’s so much interconnectedness between the U.S. and the Caribbean,” he said, telling CMC, “I would plead that we sit around the table and try to sort things out as soon as we can, because the impact on human life is very significant”.