As we speak to more and more tech entrepreneurs and developers across Canada, we see that most of them are now allowed to work from home at least until January 1st, 2021 or some even as far out as mid summer 2021.
So this could be your one time chance to continue working but instead of -20C temperatures and snow, experience beaches and maybe even do some surfing?
One Year Beach Visa
Eastern Caribbean island of Barbados has launched a Barbados Welcome Stamp, one-year remote working visa, that gives Canadian a right to live as well as work in Barbados for up to one year.
The officials in Barbados have started accepting applications for this year long visa and you can use their portal to apply now. They promise 72 hour turn around to let you know if you are accepted or not.
Good thing to know that you will not be liable to pay Barbados Income Tax while working remotely.
Imagine now you can do your Zoom calls from a real beach, instead of just selecting it as your background.
Barbados Visa Restrictions
You do need to be making over $67,000 Canadian dollars a year, and you will need to pay $2,700 Canadian dollars for single visa application or $4,000 Canadian for a family application.
You will also need to make sure you have a valid health insurance while in Barbados. Your province insurance won’t cover it, and most private insurances only cover about a month or less. So you might need to spend few thousand dollars on a third party health insurance.
Covid19 in Barbados
If you are worried about Covid19 in Barbados – do not be, they only had 106 cases so far.
Fast Internet
Barbados government also boasts about the fastest fibre internet and mobile services in the Caribbean. They also say housing can be found for around $1,300 Canadian a month.
Things to Keep in Mind – Travel Advisory
Do keep in mind that if you do go, coming back to Canada, will put you into 14 day quarantine. Also if cases in Canada do increase, air carriers might cut the flights from Barbados to Canada.
Such things in Barbados are a different in Canada: harsh penalties for drug possession including weed, you are not allowed to wear camouflage clothing and sex acts between members of the same sex are illegal over there.
If you do decide to go to Barbados, you will need to get tested for Covid19 and show that at the airport before you fly as well as to immigration officials over there.
Barbados’ officials said that even though program just opened up, they have a large number of people applying from Alberta and Quebec.
Canadians Take on Barbados
We have asked William Ottley, Web System Administrator in Toronto area, who have spent 4 years living and working in Barbados, what he thinks about Barbados.
Internet? At the time I was there the Internet was OK. I had no issues.
How safe was it? i had no issues or fears living down there. there were/are? a few rough places, not many, so just don’t go to those areas. (and i’m not even talking guns)..
Expensive? It all depends on what you want to experience with the money you get from work. if you want to explore the island and drink it all in right away, well that’s $$$, right? but if you go down, and take it real slow, learn the lay of the land, you do ok. by then you will learn the “tourist” areas, and the “non-tourist” areas. where the cheaper stuff is.
Boring? I was never bored. I left after 4 years, because I missed family. otherwise I would have stayed down there..
William Ottley
Web System Administrator in Toronto areaFinal Thoughts
So if you are a software developer or tech professional in Canada, making over $67k a year, this 1 year visa is something to definitely ponder about.
If you consider that a 2 bedroom rent costs $3,000 in Toronto, you can pay half that and live on the beach while continuing to work. Send a postcard or post on instagram and make your friends jealous – you are on the beach while your friends and colleagues suffer in the -20C weather shoveling their driveways.
Are you considering the move? Why or why not?
