Extended stay in St Lucia. Advice please.
 

Right, this will be slightly long as I want to try to make sure I include all the information needed :)

I am British, my boyfriend is St Lucian, but has been living in the UK for 9 years. Last year we visited St Lucia for 1 month to visit his family as he hadn't been back since he moved here.

We are now saving to return, ideally we would like to travel to St Lucia for 6 months. We will be saving until we have enough money to live on for six months.

We will be staying in Castries with family, so no rent to pay, only food, drink and travelling, things to do, places to visit.

Im hoping to be able to get a work visa and get a job for the time we are over there, as my boyfriend is a St Lucian citizen, his family should be able to sort out a job for him for the time we are over there.

My main question is, will it be difficult for me to find work for this period of time? I don't mind what work I do, and his Mum has worked high up in many of the hotels when she lived in St Lucia so she has connections, but from what I understand, they have to prove there is no-one local that can do the job. Is this still the case?

I want to know mainly so, if I am unable to work or it will be difficult for me to get a job, I am prepared for this and have enough money to last us.

Hopefully if he can get a job which will give us some income, but I would like to be able to do some work while Im over there as we would like to live there eventually and I would like to get a true feel for how it is to work and live there rather than to just visit.

I will be getting in contact with Hotels in the area before we go to see if they have any vacancies, his cousin works in one of the Sandals and his girlfriend recently went over for six months and worked there, so he may be able to help as well.

Any and all advice is very much appreciated!

Re: Extended stay in St Lucia. Advice please.
 

I would say it will be extremely difficult to get any job here legally for the time you are considering which is why even spouses of St Lucians go the illegal route. I AM NOT suggesting that you do.

You would need a work permit even for the short period, which costs around EC$7,500, which would be a serious cash drain.

Read the headlines in British newspapers right now and you can imagine that St Lucia is in serious damage control. It is hard to determine what the fall-out will be but it will NOT be positive.

Re: Extended stay in St Lucia. Advice please.
 

Thank you for your response.

Yes I have just been told by his Mum about what happened in St Lucia, we wont be going for a little while so I can only hope that things have improved by the time we go.

So would you suggest we save enough money so we wont have to work for the duration of our stay?

Thanks

Re: Extended stay in St Lucia. Advice please.
 

Not sure what you mean by travel - places to visit - as inter-island travel is expensive these days if only due to the level of taxes and other charges involved.

I would think that your boyfriend might want to find work but unless you are well-connected this can be tough and the hope or need for employment has left many disappointed before.

Re: Extended stay in St Lucia. Advice please.
 

With the high rate of unemployment in St Lucia now and the fact that you would not be eligible for a work permit for the kind of work you are looking for I would suggest maybe saving up and going for a shorter period, maybe three months. It is ok staying with family for a while but eventually you can get on top of each other and this can lead to resentment, hence the term out staying your welcome, and 6 months is an awful long time to be parked up with family and can become a drain on them. If you intend to eventually move to the island permanently as his wife why not learn a skill which may be in demand on the island and not so easily done by a local. Good luck

Re: Extended stay in St Lucia. Advice please.
 

Thank you all for the advice.

We are currently considering staying for three months if we are unable to work whilst we are there, six months is also a long time to be out of work!

We will be contacting family to see if there are any job possibilities and make our decision based off that.

I currently work as a Medical Receptionist, and there may be opportunity for me to train as a Health Care Assistant/Nurse. Would this be a useful skill to bring over to St Lucia?

Re: Extended stay in St Lucia. Advice please.
 

Personally, I think that the area of Healthcare is particularly attractive in St Lucia, especially when it is directed towards care for the elderly which really really is an important employment opportunity and foreign exchange earner for the island to consider :fingerscrossed:.

Training as a health care assistant / nurse, with an area of specialisation based upon your own particular interests would seem to make very good sense. In due course there will be more opportunities for freelance nurses to provide care for the elderly and infirm on a private basis beyond the current (public) community health centres. I'm in my early sixties and see that of particularly interest for my care down-the-road, if here.

Whatever, keep your plans to yourself for the time-being if they involve a business-type venture, as others here are only too happy to steal them from you before you have got them going properly, even government representatives supposed to be advising you.

As mentioned before, you could go into business with your spouse as the St Lucian connection and, as I have stated on here recently, once your citizenship application papers are properly lodged with the Ministry of Home Affairs in final form, you are typically free to go ahead, after their clearance, and work as though a St Lucian instead of having to wait the long wait to actually get your formal citizenship papers.