visas and stamps - something interesting
 

Just wanted to share something with you - all comments welcome too!!
Oh - and it's not advice at all - I'm not encouraging anybody to do this as it may not work next time, but this is what happened to us on the border on the way back frm Grenada:

- my husband works here and his 6month work permit has just been apporved, but he still only has a letter from them - no visa as such
- I can only stay here for 30 days according to the stamp in my passport (BTW how do I get that 6month visa???)
- neither of us is Bajan or Caricom national

As we landed, we realised there were a Virgin and BA planes that had just landed too - the queue for the passport control was 5miles long!!! It would have taken us 2 hours to get to the desk for our stamps. So - what we did was line up for the CARICOM and residents desks. And they didn't even say a thing! We got our stamps in no time, with no queuing, nice and fast.:thumbsup:

Any comments? Are we treated as residents now? Has anybody dne it before? (none of our friends has)

Take care everyone,
Anna

Re: visas and stamps - something interesting
 

Firstly:

You are not "entitled" to a 6 month visitor's visa because you are British. You may ask for one, as can anyone. All you do is ask at the immigration desk.

Now that you have a 30 day visa, you will have to go to immigration to get your visa stamped. I passed in my passport 28 days ago and it is supposed to be ready today. So basically, you should go to immigration yesterday.

You are lucky re: lining up in the Nationals line. You could have been sent back to the beginning of the visitor's line. I can't even be in the resident's line alone, and I'm married to a Barbadian and will be a citizen (one day!)

So...welcome to the bored wive's club!

Re: visas and stamps - something interesting
 

Bimchick, I never said I am 'entitled' to anything. I was asking how I can get that visa. I'll try to sort it out in January as I'm going home for Christmas (luckily) so couldn't leave my passport with the immigration anyway.
Is it the Chief Immigration Officer that I need to go to straight away after I come back? Do I need to make an appointment before?
Thanks

Re: visas and stamps - something interesting
 

No, when you go through customs just say "My husband's working here, and I'd like a 6 month visa please" You can get it that way, maybe. I mean, it completely depends on the person you get. When I came in with my husband the woman only gave me 30 days and I said, but I live here, and she responded with uh huh.

So...you can ask. I have gotten 3 months and 30 days in the past. It's not very regulated.

Sorry, I didn't mean to say it was necessarily you who thought UK citizens were entitled to 6 month visas, but I have noticed lots of people have been saying that on the forum.

Enjoy Christmas overseas :D

Re: visas and stamps - something interesting
 

oh where are you from? I'm not british either :D

Re: visas and stamps - something interesting
 

Poland. Many people here don't even know where it is ;)

Re: visas and stamps - something interesting
 

You mean people in Barbados. Ya well,....great education system eh? My great grandparents (well one of them at least) was Polish. So, I know where it is! I'm Canadian.

Re: visas and stamps - something interesting
 

You would be surprised how many kids in the UK didn't know where Poland is (until I told them) - most of them thought it was in the North Pole! But it's not their fault after all - it's the system. Most teachers working at my (good) school always said 'it must be so cold there!!!' when I said where I'm from ;-)
Anyway, I do miss my English kids and school...

Do you know where exactly your great grandparents were from?

What are the best airlines going to Canada from BB? We'd love to go one day (though can't afford it at the moment - maybe in the summer we would...)

I guess we're going to be penalised for this thread soon - it's becoming a bit off topic. I guess I should post it on the 'bored wives' one ;) Apologies to the Administrators!!!

Re: visas and stamps - something interesting
 

Westjet and Air Canada fly direct to and from Barbados and Toronto. It's about 5.5 hours. For most other Canadian destinations, you'll likely connect in Toronto (although there are some flights that go directly to other cities).

Enjoy,
Foxy

Re: visas and stamps - something interesting
 

Thank you :)