Welcome Stamp Remote Work Visa - Is it worth it?

During April 2022, while self isolating due to the dreaded lurgy, a show on Channel 4 caught our attention. Barbados had introduced a remote working visa to try and help the island that relied so much on tourism get through the pandemic. What started as a laugh and a 'we could do that', turned into a year of downsizing and then the start of a new adventure. If you want more information check out the blog posts I wrote while we were in the process listed below.

So what is the Welcome Stamp (Remote work) Visa?

The visa is described as a special type of work visa for digital nomads and persons who work in a location-independent manner. It gives you the right to live and work in Barbados that a typical tourist visa doesn't. You do have to meet certain requirements though to be able to apply.

You must:

• Be a foreign citizen (non-national)

• Only work for entities based outside Barbados

• Earn the equivalent of at least BBD $100,000 a year

• Have adequate health insurance that covers your period of stay in Barbados

There are many great benefits to the Welcome Stamp visa:

• You are exempt from paying Income Tax in Barbados (you just pay as normal in your home country)

• You can open and hold an External Bank Account or Foreign Currency Account in Barbados

• You can apply for a Barbados ID, which might help you get ‘staycation’ rates during the low season (this was on hold during the time I lived here)

• You can renew your visa as many times as you like, subject to approval and payment of the requisite fee

(Information taken from the official Welcome Stamp information page)

https://barbadosdigital.com/article/welcome-stamp-visa#:~:text=The%20visa%20is%20called%20the,BDS%20%246%2C000%20for%20a%20family.

Is it easy to apply for?

The short answer is yes! The website guides you through filling in the form, taking your ID photos and paying your fee (once you are accepted). I expected it to take a while for the approval since it is a government office but 3 days later I had the confirmation email saying it had been approved and you then have 12 months to activate it. The visa is activated on arrival in Barbados, during which time you are also free to come and go to Barbados as you please.

So jump forward nearly 12 months (we were getting a little worried as we were getting near the end of our visa activation period) and we arrived in the sun ready to live our Barbados dream.

How much does it cost to live in Barbados?

People warned me that living in Barbados is expensive, about the cost of living in London and for some things I would agree with this. But it is possible to live a more frugal life in the sun and still have a lovely time. We don't live a champagne and caviar lifestyle and 95% of the time, if we were eating out, it was at a local restaurant that charge an equivalent to Weatherspoons prices. We relied on the bus (and enjoyed it....Reggae Bus!) rather than having a car all the time and lived in a typical Bajan house, rather than a villa with huge rooms and a pool, but it gives you an idea and you can always message me if you have any specific questions.

I spent 7 months in Barbados rather than the full 12 months. Below is a breakdown of what we paid.

Visa fee - The visa cost me £1638.73 for the year so this would be £136.56 each month for the year. Since I only stay for 7 months this ended up costing £234.10 for the freedom to live and work remotely (or £468.20 for the 2 of us as we didn't have the family visa discount). I don't think this is too bad as it does go back into the country to try to make improvements and they really have made the process quick and easy.

Rent - We rented a small Bajan style house which was 2 minutes walk from the beaches of the West coast. We could walk to the supermarket, had some local restaurants close by and were on the main west coast bus route so could easily get to Bridgetown or Holetown/Speisghtstown. We had looked at long term rental companies but in the end we we used Airbnb. With Airbnb the rent included our bills (and dedicated Wi-Fi which I needed for work), so we knew exactly what we would be paying each month. Long term rentals didn't do this, and gave no guidance on how to set up accounts with utility providers or how much the added amenities would be. Airbnb was a hassle free choice for us. Our house had a little garden, so my cat Luna could find a shady spot to lie in and the proximity to the beach really did win us over. The rent changed slightly each month (differing number of days in the month) but we paid £8130.66 total so averaged for the 7 months £1161.52 per month (including all bills).

Cash - Each month we did get some cash probably less than £100. This was mainly for the bus and in case we needed bottles of water etc while we were in the more remote areas. Some of the smaller restaurants still only accept cash, so it is is worth checking if you are concerned before ordering. We also visited the local fish market a few times each month and this was cash only but well worth it for the fresh well prepared fish.

Food Shopping - We used a Jordan's supermarket the most and used Massy's for other items if we needed to. Check out my video walk through of a Massy store here, to see the choice of items available. We found that we could find most items we wanted (even the brand names we are used to, if you are willing to pay) though our choices were a bit more restricted compared to England. It was to be expected as Barbados has to import most of their stock. Some weeks some items would be missing as the delivery had been held up somewhere, especially when we had storms, but they soon arrived and we just planned ahead. We don't eat meat so usually try to have a lot of vegetable in our diet, but here it is a bit limited, but we found ways around it and if you can eat out and have good cheap food why wouldn't you?

We spent £2423.05 over the months to buy food from the supermarket this averages at around £302.88 each month for 2 people.

Eating out - We found some great local restaurants that were cheep enough to eat at each week for a bit of variety, and visited some of the more high end places for our special occasions. In total we spent £1544.28 so this averaged £193 each month for the 2 of us and this includes a few drinks with each meal. Check out my restaurant reviews to see the kinds of places we went to and costs of the meals here.

Entertainment - Yes I was working while I was living here, but it wasn't a 40 hour week, as I chose to work a bit less so I could enjoy more of the island. We got out and explored the island, not just the tourist areas. We snorkelled, walked, got lost and found hidden gems. Most of the time we went by bus, but we did rent a car a few times too. The cost of renting a car is probably what I would expect to pay in the UK, but fuel is slightly cheaper in Barbados. And the petrol station attendants fill the car for you! We spent a full day at places most people squeeze into a day tour with 4 other places. We had the time to do this. Check out my reviews of the tourist destinations to find out my thoughts here. In total we spent £556.64 so this averaged is £111.33 a month.

Cost compared to the UK

If I compare what we paid over the months to an average household in the UK I think Barbados worked out slightly cheaper. But we didn't move to save money, we moved to have a new experience and enjoy the weather! The average UK home spends £2721 each month based on the key areas below and we spent £2282.72. We could have spent much more if that was the lifestyle we were used to, but we like the simple life.

https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/average-uk-household-budget#month

Its not all about the money!

Living in a place is not all about what it costs to live there. It could be the cheapest place in the world but if you were miserable would you want to stay? Everywhere has its positive and negative sides and often these depend on the person rather than what the country really is offering. Here are some of the things I loved and some things that started to make me love things less.

I Loved!

• The beaches and outdoor lifestyle

• 99% of the people - they are friendly and helpful

• The wildlife - monkeys in the garden and Sea Turtles a few metres from shore

• The weather

• The seafood

• The transport (generally easy to use and most of the time turns up)

I liked a little less

• Lack of information - no costs shown made me think they would charge what they wanted, no websites in use for many places, a 'if you know you know' attitude. This is a shame as they have high speed internet and if the information was out there more tourists would probably visit.

• The 1% of people who see you as a walking ATM

• Limited choice of food even though the shops are full of food, especially when looking for fresh vegetables and not wanting to pay a fortune.

• Issues with getting a bank account - slow responses and in my experience near impossible (I don't have 3 years of tax returns as I only started by freelance work last year)

• Bus routes - related to lack of information, but deserves its own point. The buses are great you can get almost everywhere but finding times and routes is a nightmare. We contacted the government office and they say they are working with Google Maps to get the information linked but until then there is a really shonky website or you just have to go to a stop and wait. If you are going to Holetown, Speightstown or Bridgetown not a problem wait a minute and 3 might turn up but the more specialised routes to tourist destinations need better information

Overall thoughts

I really enjoyed my time in Barbados! It made me realise this is the part of the world I want to be in and explore more. They have made the process of applying for the remote working visa really easy and we were made to feel welcome in their country. I do feel that generally they are starting to charge a bit too much for things, and this will effect the country negatively, as it will become inaccessible to the average person. But for now they seem to have the monopoly on tourists over some of the other local islands. Barbados is a beautiful place to live and work, and I am so glad we took that first step!

Life is an adventure! I'm living it and loving it!