For some Jamaicans, the only American travel they may experience is a trip to the US embassy in Kingston. And we aren’t trying to be mischievous, the United States have declined and restricted the entry of some prominent Jamaicans – including politicians, who they believe are a threat to their national security as a result of high-level criminal investigations or offences. Who are they?

Here are 7 prominent Jamaicans who, at some point in time, could travel to any other country in the world except the 50 United States of America.

1.Daryl Vaz

Vaz is the Member of Parliament for Portland Western. Jamaica learned that he was denied entry to the United States in 2019, amid a multi-level criminal investigation spearheaded by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. However, after petitions, he was granted a 1-year visitor’s permit in 2021.

2. Phillip Paulwell

East Kingston Opposition Member of Parliament, Phillip Paulwell was the second Jamaican politician to have his US visa revoked in 2019. This news was not received gracefully by Paulwell who persistently petitioned, through American lawyers, to have his US visa reinstated. They were successful in 2021 when he was awarded a 10-year visitor’s permit.

3. Popcaan
The dancehall artiste, whose given name is Andre Sutherland, has been waiting since 2014 for a US visa. His numerous appeals have been coupled with invitations from promoters of big name events but they have only landed him more headache. In 2017, he was forced to be a no-show at an event in Atlanta after the processing of his US travel permit took longer than expected. To this day, Popcaan has not received official clearance to travel and work in the United States.

4. Busy Signal

This Dancehall artiste whose given name is Reonne Gordon had some run-ins with US law enforcement personnel in the past that a visa revocation was the next thing on the list. He served time in US jail in 2012 for a previous offence and had to wait two years after his deportation to reapply for his US permit. In 2017, his fans in New York were the first to learn about the reinstating of his visa, a blessing he said that came at the right
time.

5. Bounty Killa
Maybe he has given up the desire to travel to the US but Rodney Price – the given name of Dancehall artiste Bounty Killa, has experienced a US-hiatus spanning over a decade. Some say his close relationship with Tivoli Gardens’ strongman, Christopher “Dudus” Coke as the primary reason for the US to revoke his visa.

6. Ninjaman
The Dancehall artiste, whose legal name is Desmond Balletine, is among the Jamaican entertainers whose US visas were revoked in 2010. Currently serving a life imprisonment sentence for a murder conviction, travel to the US may very well be the least of his concerns at this time.

7. Buju Banton

After serving 10 years in US prison for a drug conviction, Dancehall icon Buju Banton, whose given name is Mark Myrie, has consistently reminded his fans that he holds no desire to return to the United States. His return to the island in 2019 was met with jubilation and fanfare as many Jamaicans believed his harsh sentencing as on account of his disdain of homosexuality.

Of note, prominent Jamaican entertainers who have been denied entry to the US, usually build large communities of fans in other parts of the world, notably various countries in Africa, Europe and Asia. It almost seems as if they create their own, “lands of opportunity” miles and miles away from the United States.

Subscribe to listsja.com so that you’re the first to be notified when we publish a fresh list on your favourite topics.