WILLEMSTAD - The news that the Netherlands Antilles has begun a six-week immigration amnesty has cast the spotlight back on intra-Caribbean migration.

As many as 70 000 immigrants - mostly Haitian, Guyanese and Jamaican - are estimated to be living on the five Dutch Caribbean islands without valid residency or work permits.

They are being given an opportunity to prove they have lived in the Antilles since December 31, 2006, or can show a valid contract from an employer.

The amnesty is reported to have met some opposition in Curacao, the largest of the islands.

But Paul De Windt, a newspaper publisher in St Maarten, said it was also being seen as an attempt to "clean up" and regularise the immigration system for those who may have valid reasons to be in the islands.

But the Antilleans are not alone, as countries across the Caribbean speak of a backlash against immigration at a time of rising unemployment and an economic crisis.

Barbados, for example, is in the closing weeks of an immigration amnesty for nationals of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries.

The Barbados Prime Minister has enraged some colleagues with his stance on immigration

The grace period was introduced after the government in Bridgetown claimed that it could no longer cope with the numbers migrating from neighbouring states.

The administration of Prime Minister David Thompson has since published a green paper (discussion document) on wider immigration reform.

The issue is implicated by qualified freedom of movement among a limited category of workers within CARICOM. One proposal is for a formal guest worker programme to regulate migrant labour.

Immigration is also a source of tension between Haiti and the Dominican Republic who share the island of Hispaniola.

The OAS secretary general expressed sympathy for the Dominican Republic. Speaking in Santo Domingo on Thursday, the Secretary General of the Organisation of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, said that the problem of Haitian migrants was a heavy burden for Dominican Republic. (BBC)