By Admin. Updated 7:17 p.m., Monday, November 2, 2026, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
A 30-year-old Vincentian man who has been stuck in France for more than three weeks without a passport says he is running out of money while he waits for officials at home to approve the emergency document he needs to return.
Shaquille King contacted One News SVG last week, saying that dozens of emails and several telephone calls to the Immigration Department in St Vincent had gone unanswered. On Monday, 2 November, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and Diaspora Affairs issued a statement saying efforts were ongoing to facilitate his safe and timely return home.
King’s troubles began in Switzerland. A report from the Cantonal Police in Basel-Stadt, seen by One News SVG, shows that his passport went missing on 24 September near the city’s main railway station. He says it happened on the day he arrived. According to the report, which he filed that same afternoon, he had left the passport in front of a restaurant, and it was gone when he came back. Under Swiss rules, a passport reported missing is cancelled and can no longer be used.
King said Swiss police directed him to the British Embassy in Paris, and he arrived in France on 9 October. At the embassy he completed a lost passport report, a new passport application and an application for an Emergency Travel Document. The St Vincent and the Grenadines High Commission in London later asked him to submit his passport application and supporting documents again, which he did, sending his birth certificate and a photograph of his old passport to confirm his identity.
On 22 October, the High Commission informed him that his application had been sent to the Chief Immigration Officer for approval. An email from a pro-consul at the British Embassy in Paris, dated 29 October and seen by One News SVG, confirms this.
Since then, King says, he has heard nothing more. He told One News SVG that when he telephoned the Immigration Department on 26 October, his calls were repeatedly transferred and went unanswered. When he finally reached an officer, his phone credit was running out before he could finish explaining his situation.
“I’m out of options at this point,” he wrote, adding that he hoped going public would bring his case to the attention of the Chief Immigration Officer.
His circumstances are difficult. King says he has about 50 euros left and has been living on bread, biscuits and water for roughly three weeks. He has a flight home booked for 23 December, but he cannot board without a valid travel document.
The British Embassy has told him in writing that it can offer no further assistance while he awaits a decision from the High Commission. It has referred him to emergency shelters in Paris and to the French Office for Immigration and Integration (OFII), which runs a programme that may help cover the cost of a travel document and a flight home for people without the means to pay.
In its statement on Monday, the Ministry said the High Commission in London “has been actively working to facilitate the issuance of an Emergency Travel Document” and continues to liaise with British authorities in Paris to monitor his welfare. The Ministry said it recognised the concerns that arise in cases like this and wished to reassure King, his family and the public that his situation remains a priority.
The statement did not say whether the Chief Immigration Officer has approved the document, or when a decision is expected.
Mr. King can be emailed at mylotsl@gmail.com
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