Changes to passport law don’t involve St. Maarten

26 European countries that have abolished passport and any other type of border control at their mutual borders, functioning as a single country for international travel purposes. The Schengen agreement has been in effect since 1995. “No travel ban can be imposed on persons who are located in St. Maarten, because St. Maarten is not part of the Schengen area. As such, the consequences of this Kingdom Law proposal are limited for St. Maarten,” stated Plasterk. He added that a travel ban could only be imposed by the Dutch Minister of Security and Justice, applying to only persons within the Schengen area. “Further implementation of this Kingdom Law is therefore not needed because it is only applied in the Netherlands.” The Minister said he was unable to reply to the question about the measures of the St. Maarten Government against jihadists and regarding the identification obligation, because these were internal matters of the St. Maarten Government. According to Plasterk, St. Maarten authorities have sufficient means based on the existing Passport Law to deal with potential foreign terrorist fighters who are detected in the country. Local authorities in charge can declare the passport void which prevents the person from leaving St. Maarten. It is unnecessary to void the ID card since it is impossible to leave St. Maarten with that type of identification.
Source: Daily Herald Changes to passport law don’t involve St. Maarten