A brain-child of the Covid-era, in June 2020 Barbados launched a unique 12-month work visa, the Barbados Welcome Stamp, one of the first in the world.
The brilliance of the Welcome Stamp is how easy it is for people to pick up and move here without all the usual red tape. It’s a remote-working visa issued online, for non-nationals of Barbados with existing employment in their home country. They remain tax resident overseas, so are not liable for tax here in Barbados.
Here’s a quick look at the success of the scheme:
From July 2020 to May 2022, Barbados approved 3,473 Welcome Stamps, to 5,591 people, since many of them come as families. The data shows that the top countries where welcome stampers are coming from are the USA, UK, Canada, Ireland and Nigeria.
What remote work are they doing? Everything from tech, marketing, finance, education, law, distribution and logistics, and public administration.
Issuing Welcome Stamp visas, plus direct spending, adds up to millions of dollars. So at a time when short-term tourism was reduced due to the pandemic, the Welcome Stamp has made a hugely important injection into the Barbados economy, from the rental market to rum shops!
How To Apply
For information about the process go to visitbarbados.org/barbados-welcome-stamp
