Local Laws

CRIMINAL PENALTIES:  While you are traveling in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, you are subject to its laws. Foreign laws and legal systems can be vastly different from our own. Persons violating St. Vincent and the Grenadines laws, even unknowingly, may be expelled, arrested, or imprisoned. Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines. If you break local laws in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, your U.S. passport won’t help you avoid arrest or prosecution.

There are also some things that might be legal in the country you visit, but still illegal in the United States. You can be prosecuted in the United States for engaging in sexual conduct with children or for using or disseminating child pornography in a foreign country regardless of the legality of these activities under that country’s laws.  Counterfeit and pirated goods are illegal in the United States and if you purchase them in a foreign country, you may be breaking local law as well.  

Arrest notifications in host country: While some countries will automatically notify the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate if a U.S. citizen is detained or arrested in that country, others may not.  To ensure that the United States is aware of your circumstances, request that the police and prison officials notify the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate as soon as you are arrested or detained overseas.

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES: All Caribbean countries can be affected by hurricanes. The hurricane season normally runs from early June to the end of November, but there have been hurricanes in December in recent years. General information about natural disaster preparedness is available via the Internet from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

There is no U.S. Embassy or Consulate in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados is responsible for consular issues on the islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, including U.S. Citizens Services. U.S. citizens are encouraged to carry a copy of their citizenship documents with them at all times so, if questioned by local officials, proof of identity and U.S. citizenship are readily available.

If you are a woman traveling abroad, please review our travel tips for Women Travelers.

LGBT RIGHTS: No laws prohibit discrimination against a person on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Consensual same-sex conduct is illegal under indecency statutes, and some sexual activity between men is also illegal under sodomy laws. Indecency statutes carry a maximum penalty of five years, and acts of sodomy carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, although these laws are rarely enforced. Anecdotal evidence suggests there is social discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgender persons in the deeply conservative society, although local observers believe such attitudes of intolerance are slowly improving. Members of professional and business classes are more inclined to conceal their sexual orientation. For more detailed information about LGBT rights in St. Viincent and the Grenadines, you may review the State Department’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013.