747

Does anyone know of a way to obtain a student visa for my 7 year old daughter without one of the parents needing to obtain a work permit first?? Neither myself or my wife will be working in Barbados, however we would like to live here. The problem is that the student visa seems to only be granted once the parents have a work visa.

Any info would be great as the lawyers I have contacted on the island seem to think that there is no way round this problem.

Thanks

Sunniebgi

Well.. hum.. to live here permanently as a non-national/non caricom, I'm guessing you need to hold some type of status, whether it be work permit, or residency etc. I would suggest contacting (as in going there personally) to the ministry of education and asking about the student visa and see what they say. As well as asking immigration.

If you are living here, under the radar.. (sorry to put it that way), then the likely chance of getting the student visa is slim to none, as you aren't registered etc. and trust me, the ministry of Ed does check the rolls of school to see all the particulars. (I've seen the sheets that are handed in and double checked.)

747

The plan is to buy a small house on the island and move there permanently. That way apparantly my wife and I can get non-national residency visas, valid for 3 years at a time. The problem we have is there is no link between getting that and being able to apply for student visas. I've spoken to a few people living in Barbados and it seemed as though 10 years ago it would have been fine, however things seem to be remarkably harder now.

I'd be really interested to know if anyone has heard of families moving to BGI recently who have obtained non-national residency through house buying, and then managed to get their children student visas.

My family are back in Dec and a trip to the education dept seems like a very good idea.

Ikon

Hi 747, have PM'd you about our situation to explain that it is possible to organise student visas for your kids once your residency is arranged (ours is on the basis of income from abroad/savings, so no work permit).

Just wanted to add that Immigration seem to be using this as another way to block people coming onto the island, by telling them student visas are linked to work permits. They're not, at all - so keep pushing them until they check their facts!

Even more annoying - they took ages over granting student visas, and then the very day we got them they started hassling us and checking up to ensure our son (only 4 at the time) was attending school - not easy to arrange, given that most of the private schools are oversubscribed. This is definitely one of those issues you want to address ASAP, because the messages from Immigration & Education can be totally conflicting.

747

Hy Ikon , i know that my husband sent you a message weeks ago before i flew here but we have not heard from you. I am on the island with my daughtar until jannuary and we were asking the huge favour if we could meet up to discuss a bit on what you went through and what we are going through now !!!!.I understand that if you are not happy about this please could i have the name for a very good layer ? This immigration is getting a bit hard !!!! please please help !!!!!