See Ya: Remote Workers Can Live In The Caribbean For A Year With This New Incentive
If HGTV is your jam, you’ll be familiar with Caribbean Life; an extremely white show where families in the USA leave their stressful city lives behind for a slower slice of paradise. Well, with a new incentive from Barbados, that could be you — and you won’t need your life savings to make it happen, just your laptop.
The whole world has made a shift toward remote working since Miss Rona hit this year. For many of us, it actually opened up new possibilities. Suddenly, we didn’t need to be tethered to our office locations — so if you could work from anywhere, why would you stay put?
Enter Barbados. The laid back Caribbean island nation that gave us Rihanna has drummed up an incentive to draw digital nomads to its pristine shores, banking on the fact most people generally enjoy tropical island getaways.
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They’re offering a ‘12-month Barbados Welcome Stamp,’ which would allow visitors to stay for up to a year and work remotely.
It’s a clever pivot. With non-essential, short-term travel both difficult and still very much discouraged in many countries due to the pandemic, taking an entire year-long trip makes the scheme feel worthwhile. Plus, Barbados would inject some much-needed tourism dollars back into their economy.
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Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley knows that in order for digital nomads to forgo the usual US, Europe or Latin American hotspots, Barbados has to throw it down.
“It means that what we offer has to be world-class and what we continue to offer is world-class,” she said in a statement.
Travel + Leisure think so too, naming the sunny island on the eastern edge of the Caribbean number six in their ‘50 Best Places to Travel in 2020’ list, explaining: “[it’s] largely famous for its powder-white beaches, British-colonial roots, manifold rum shops, and native daughter Rihanna“.
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There’s another huge plus, too. The incentive gives remote workers the opportunity to experience Barbados and its beautiful Bajan culture, food and lifestyle more authentically, something that doesn’t happen often when people stay tucked away inside their luxury resorts.
Details about the program are still scarce but Barbados plans to open its borders to international visitors on July 12, so more information should be released soon.
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Safety-wise, all travellers arriving into Barbados are required to present a negative COVID-19 test result and must wear a face mask at the airport. If you’re arriving from a high-risk country, you must take their test within 72 hours before departure. Visitors from low-risk countries can take it a week before travelling.
(Lead Image: Unsplash / elly h)
