After 6 months as a tourist
 

I need some advice from people on this forum who have stayed in Barbados for longer than 6 months. It is not clear what my options are as a tourist and I am finding conflicting information on the web.


I am coming from Canada and it is my understanding that I don't need a formal tourist “visa” to visit Barbados. I would like to know if I can come to Barbados for 6 months as a tourist, leave just before it expires, let's say to visit Grenada or St Lucia for a week or so, and then re-enter Barbados again and stay for another 6 months?


I am not looking for residency or citizenship at this point. I am also not looking to work while I am there as I am retired and have a pension that will provide for our costs including medical. I will make sure that I have a ticket to depart Barbados before the allotted tourist time is up. I realize that I might be able to apply for an extension of stay and I would pursue that too as an alternate to leaving / returning.


I would like to rent / lease an apartment in Barbados for an entire year and stay there as a tourist but with a short break to another island. I did some search on the forum but wasn't able to find a clear answer. Any help on this would be appreciated so I can make arrangements for my stay. :)

Re: After 6 months as a tourist
 

You definitely do need a visa, but they are issued by a stamp in your passport on arrival. Check the visa stamp in your passport, usually gives 3 not 6 months but can be extended on the island for a fee if the immigration people like the look of you / you are legal. Do not overstay at all, then they definitely wont extend it...

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...-Barbados.html

Re: After 6 months as a tourist
 

I found a Barbados website that says I don't as I am Canadian. Here is the link to the site Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade :: Barbados and here is the list inside this site that shows Canadians can stay 6 months without a visa... http://www.foreign.gov.bb/UserFiles/...une%202012.pdf

I just need to know if I can stay 6 months, and then leave for a short time, and then return again for another 6 months.

Re: After 6 months as a tourist
 

Like i said, look at the stamp in your passport, the rest is irrelevant, if they give you 3 or 6 months, you can extend it but not if you overstay before extending...

Incidentally, i think you are confusing the concept of a visa you have to apply for prior to travel with the more usual tourist voa, tourists normally just arrive and get a stamp saying they arrived on date x, and you must leave by date y therefore, and sometimes the officials use the wrong stamp which is tough - the date in the passport is the date you should leave by so check it and get it changed there and then if necessary. That stamp is effecrively leave to remain which you hope will be 6 months worth. Extend by queueing up for a long time, filling in a form and paying a fee, and so long as you havent been naughty it will be extended. Overstaying definitely puts you in the naughty list. Leaving and coming back is usually ok if you prefer but they may ask questions about why [as smugglers do this.]

Re: After 6 months as a tourist
 

As UK says your visa is the date in your passport.... He is right that you simply go to Immigration in town to apply for an extension... They will take at least two weeks
(probably three) to process your passport (yes, we know it's a long time to simply put a stamp in it.. but that's the way it is)

They will not extend your visa/passport stamp until the old one has virtually run out.. so don't think about going too early..

Queueing for a long time? I have to say that these days the system is a lot better and you don't queue for anywhere near so long. They do only take payment in cash so beware of that.

You will need a vaild ticket for the date of your intended extension.

If you go away for a week and come back you will probably not raise an eyebrow at all...if you continue to do it... you may get asked a few questions... just be honest and answer them and all should be well..

Re: After 6 months as a tourist
 

Thank you Bob and Ian. That provides much better clarification. :thumbup: I feel comfortable now in moving ahead with a one year lease agreement for our upcoming adventure in Barbados and will hopefully be able to buy beers for both of you. I am also looking forward to making a trip to Grenada in case Bob is there as I already owe him a beer or two for his helpful posts on another site. :cool:

Re: After 6 months as a tourist
 

Carnival in Gda [spicemas] is the beginning of august - dont miss it if possible

Re: After 6 months as a tourist
 

Thank you for the tip - we can't make it there until late in September this year but will certainly target it for 2017. :beer:

Re: After 6 months as a tourist
 

May I also suggest that you have some type of clause written in to the rental agreement that will allow you out of the rental agreement if for some reason Immigration doesn't extend your stay.. Just saying.. it can happen.

Re: After 6 months as a tourist
 

Thank you for the information .
Do you know what an acceptable reason to stay is ?
Are they more likely to decline than accept ?

Do you think booking a 3 month return ticket and then changing return date and extending is best

Or

Booking a 6 month return ticket and then when they only grant 3 months on arrival go and extend when the 3 months is nearly up ?

Thanks

Re: After 6 months as a tourist
 

You may only get a week on arrival and the rest has to be dealt with via immigration - I have just posted in another thread that you might be best to ask all the questions under your own thread as other peoples situation will be different to yours

Re: After 6 months as a tourist
 

After many years of coming to Barbados for 7 or 8 months a year, but split into 3 visits with the longest one being 4 1/2 months, in January 2016 Immigration GOT me, and said I was spending longer in Barbados, than I was in the UK. I told them that I had never even stayed for 6 months at one go, let alone exceeded that time. However, Apparently, the rules have changed , although no one can say when , and the maximum you can stay in a year is 6 months , full stop. That is unless you have one of the Special Stay Visas.

I was offered this Visa for 5 years for a total of $ 7000 BDS which I declined, but after looking into it further, I found that once one is 60 a Special Stay Visa for LIFE is available for a one off payment of $10000 BDS. and I did concede and paid them. Now I can stay for ever, or come and go as I like for the rest of my life.

The one thing I think would prevent you from doing this, is that you don't own a property, and the rules are that you should own something costing a minimum of $150000 00 US .Something to think about perhaps.

Meanwhile, you could try the 3months here, extending your Visa to 6 months with proof of a ticket ( if they won't give you 6 months straight off ) then go home and come back, but it all depends on how thorough your Immigration officer is, and I think I can safely say that eventually, they will realise what you are doing. Good luck