MikeBrit

Hello,

I have just graduated and fancy living abroad for a between six months and a year to experience living in another country and work on some personal literary projects.

I would like to consider living in the Caribbean as it is a part of the world I have never been to and also I am a cricket fanatic.

However, I will have very limited funds. Only around $5000 US. I know I could manage on that in some parts of the world, but I really know nothing about the Caribbean. Bearing in mind that I am happy to live in the cheapest smallest accommodation and would be happy to live on any of the safer islands (ie not Jamaica) how little could I feasibly look to survive on. Could I manage to live on $500 US per month including accommodation and bills?

Also, does anyone have recommendations of specific islands and towns I should investigate further?

Would there be any chance of me finding work over there, such as some low level office or administrative job? (I have no experience in the services industry)

Finally, how easy would it be for me to get a) an extended tourist visa so that I could stay there for a longer period of time and b) a work permit. I am a UK citizen with no criminal convictions or cautions (one arrest) and a degree from a good university but in a subject which is not particularly useful.

Thanks in advance for any help you could offer me!

Pistolpete2

I can't imagine any Caribbean island admitting you because they would be unlikely to be satisfied that you have sufficient funds to support yourself and they are definitely going to assume that you are therefore going to be doing something dodgy once you are in.

So, why would they want to extend your tourist visa, even if they did let you in which is very very unlikely.

This being the case, one would expect the airline to deny boarding at the Uk end if you try to board on an open or one-way ticket as it is their responsibility to repatriate you in the event you arrive and are then denied.

Caribbean islands only grant work permits to non-Caricom citizens in the unlikely event that they cannot get the skills for a job locally or through Caricom.

Bear in mind that Uk citizen counts for zero in this neck of the woods except that you don't need an actual visa on top of the normal tourist travel documents, which are:

A return ticket up to 42 days forward
A place to stay
Sufficient funds

this typically gets you 42 days stay

The only way you could get to spend time here would be through some sort of UN aid group, one would think.

Sorry to be rather flat unhelpful but I'm only relaying today's realities.

pgtips

Ditto Pistolpete, $5000 us for the year will not get you very far, why not just have a couple of nice vacations. Maybe spend a month on two different islands, that is normally long enough for most.

DYLANWYATT

Hi Mike, Like you I am looking at the Caribbean for a future home, not just an extended holiday,there are cheapish 300$ to rent in Grenada, but the work side is another matter.As someone said being a UK citizen means nothing, the only things that put me in front of you is, I already have friends out there GND running businesses,I am a professional, and I would be living on more money,I was calculating that to live comfortably I would look at 1000$-1200$ a month.Good luck on your travels

Pistolpete2

I'm sure there are loads of people who can support themselves and have connections in the islands who then earn a living through their professional activities on the internet (offshore) who are not really doing business in the islands so do not raise the heckles of the local immigration authorities in the cloud of immigration abuse.

I would however be interested to know what sort of informal permission these types of people have actually got or do they simply go off-island every six weeks on an indefinite basis and get their passport stamped, as though on (very) extended vacation. I would be very surprised if Barbados would let you do this without a time limit. You can of course usually pay for your extensions and the islands seem very happy to get this type of lolly. Incidentally, they seem to fine even drug traffickers - go figure!

DYLANWYATT

Someone told me the work permit in Grenada was 3000ec$ every year, which I am still trying to find out the true costs

Pistolpete2

In St Lucia it's closer to EC$8,000 per annum if you are not a Caricom citizen but it's not just about the money as you are supposed to be doing something that the respective island needs and cannot obtain from local labour sources.

However, one can for instance go to immigration and say you are opening an English or Irish Pub and give it a typical name such as the King's Arms or Shamrocks and not even sell English beer or Guinness and still get a work permit. This may call for other "connections", methinks. Very early on in St Lucia, we were told that you need connections to pretty much do anything commercial.

Pistolpete2

If you are from a Commonwealth country the fee is USD 1,105 valid for one year. That's your EC 3,000.