overstayed in st.lucia...advice please
 

I went to st.lucia at the end of June with the intention of staying for 5 weeks. A few days before I was due to come back I extended for a further 2 weeks with virgin meaning I was there for 7 weeks in total. I have family there and both my parents were born there. I was also supposed to be sorting out my citizenship but I didn't get it sorted in time as there was a small mistake on my birth certificate which I'm currently still sorting out. I also had no idea I had overstayed as last year I went for 8 weeks and had no problems. When I was leaving a few weeks ago they told me I had overstayed and it was a criminal offence. I explained that my parents were both st.lucian citizens and that I was in the process of getting my citizenship also and they seemed ok about it and didn't make a big fuss. I thought that was that. I just looked in my passport and they've written in that I overstayed. I plan to go back in october for my sister's wedding and to do my citizenship as theres a possibility that I will be moving there next year . Will I have problems?..it was only by 7 days :(...also what's the longest a non citizen can stay for? I wanted to go from Oct to Dec so for about 9 weeks I should have my citizenship sorted during that time though I just don't want them to give me problems on arrival and say it's too long. Thanks

Re: overstayed in st.lucia...advice please
 

Not sure if you have sorted this problem yet. I would personally check with your local St Lucian embassy and explain all. my understanding is that you can stay up to a year but you have to go back every 6 weeks and get an extension which costs EC$200 per time. Make sure you explain about the birth certificate problem as mistakes are rife here due to old systems and incorrect spelling of names etc. Citizenship can take between a month to a year! depending on which system you apply under, you can ring the Home Affairs department in Castries ( on the waterfront) they are normally very helpful regarding these matters. I hope this helps.

Re: overstayed in st.lucia...advice please
 

Thanks for reply. I haven't sorted it yet and am due to travel at the end of Oct. ..I will be staying for 8 weeks. Due to others previous experience I have been told that everything should be okay if I explain when I land and also carry my citizenship application which has been stamped and signed off by the St. Lucia high commissioner..which I guess shows that I'm not just a regular tourist. When I was last there I was told my citizenship would take no more than 3 weeks to process.

Re: overstayed in st.lucia...advice please
 

Just thought I'd update incase anyone comes across this in future and has similar question.

When I landed in St. Lucia they did pull me up about the overstay and wanted to fine me. I showed them my citizenship application and they let me through and gave me 6 weeks stay (I was booked for 8 weeks) and told me to make sure I sort it out or pay to extend. My citizenship took 6 weeks to come through...luckily my partner was able to get them to speed it up a little so thankfully I now won't have all that overstay worry again!

Re: overstayed in st.lucia...advice please
 

Well done!

I would say that though border agents typically can be fairly heavy-handed (pretty much anywhere:unsure:) and are equally cold when entering St Lucia at Hewanorra, the good folks actually in the Immigration Department in Castries# seem fair and are unlikely to enforce the rules for overstayers literally, if you can show honest connections to St Lucia and these connections are in the process of being cemented through requisite paperwork.

The same goes for periodic stamps needed by residents who are not citizens. You can be somewhat late getting into the office to get the stamps renewed and nobody seems to care, but don't be early;).

If there is some blatant disregard or attempt to circumvent the rules in some fashion, things could be very different.

Unfortunately, one would never risk saying this ahead of time for fear of being caught out on this (one) occasion by somebody who got out of the wrong side of the bed that day.

#and the cross-references in the Ministry of Home Affairs ref citizenship applications