Belongers without ancestral ties write to gov’t
A group of young Belongers without deep ancestral ties to the BVI has written to the government urging constitutional reform to allow all persons born in the territory to qualify for elected office — regardless of their parents’ status at the time of birth.
Section 65(2)(b) of the current constitution says persons born to non-belonger parents can’t seek elected office.
But the letter, signed by a collective of young residents between the ages of 19-42 said this provision is unfair and outdated. They added that it creates “a paradox that excludes an entire generation of Virgin Islanders.”
The letter called on lawmakers to review Section 65 to “ensure that Virgin Islanders born in this territory, regardless of parental belongership, are recognised as full and rightful stakeholders in this government.”
Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn read the letter during the House of Assembly’s constitutional review debate and expressed that the issue strikes at the heart of nation-building and self-determination.
“Nation-building is an essential part of independence and further self-determination,” Walwyn said. “We can’t move forward as a people, leaving half behind. And that is something that we have to confront.”
He condemned those in the society who champion views that some belongers should be excluded from participating in a future referendum on independence, calling such views “disrespectful.”
“I even hear people on the radio, Madam Speaker. So disrespectful, telling belongers who have been here, that if we have a referendum, they would not be able to vote in a referendum. How dare you? Unmitigated god? How dare you? How dare you?” he said.
Walwyn then referenced his own parents, who migrated to the Virgin Islands in the early 1960s.
“My father and my mother came here in 1963, of blessed memory. That’s 60-odd years ago. If my father was alive, you could ever tell my father, if you have a referendum that he can’t vote on the referendum? And he’d been here for nearly 70 years — you’re drunk?” he said.
The Opposition Leader also recalled his frustration during a past debate on immigration status, when the House rejected his plea to grant residency to children born in the territory.
“This House could not give those children residency where they were born. We couldn’t bring ourselves to do it,” he said, revealing that Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley had supported his position at the time. Walwyn also said the issue raised in the letter remains deeply personal because of his own ties to the BVI.
“When I read that letter from those young people between 19 -42, it struck a chord with me, and I tell you why: I am not someone who could climb up a ladder and kick it down,” he said. “If I’m at a particular level, I want everybody to excel to the same level. Not me up here and the rest of them down there.”
Walwyn urged leaders to “find a way to pull all the people who call these islands home together” and warned that divisions rooted in ancestry could hinder national progress.
“We have to put down the arrogance and start to listen to the concerns of the people,” he said. “You don’t get to jump over that and then tell people, come follow me over here. You follow anybody you don’t trust?”
The Constitutional Review Commission’s report, tabled earlier this year, acknowledged that Section 65(2)(b) remains one of the most divisive issues raised during consultations. While the Commission said it could not propose changes without wider public agreement, it noted that many residents consider the restriction unfair to persons born and raised in the BVI who lack ancestral ties.
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The good gentleman is engaging in the worst form of political pandering which is playing on people’s emotions.
For starters lets ask the Hon Member how may BVI islanders/belongers has he hired in any of his establishments??
Sick of the hypocrisy!!
a BVIslander being voted in as POTUS?
Myron needs to stop the divisive politics we all know he wrote the fake letter
Non Belongers wrote or the Alliance Captain is up to his old divisive underhand tricks again? Why BVI always have to compromise?
Needs a larger quantity of persons to choose from for his,Alliance team. Quick thinker!
I agree with you Myron. We are too divided as a people and this is one of the things holding us back. Expats don’t trust locals. Locals don’t trust expats. So called indigenous BVI landers believe they should have more rights than non indigenous BVI landers. How can we, a very small territory, progress with all these divisions?
God help us to get rid of the selfishness.
We must first discern the genesis of our roots of our divison, clean them up, plant new ones,move forward..
Andrew Holness Made a stern comment:”Not because you were born in Jamaica makes you a Jamaican”
Google it pls.
Is this Jamaica or the BVI?
Same goes here. Not because you were born in these Virgin Islands makes you a BVIslander.
All of these rules were created to keep power in the hands of a few or these so called ‘ancestral Virgin Islanders.’ These incestual few know that there are people out there that can do a better job than them (easily), so they keep them from doing it by legislating racist and segregated policies designed to make sure that they hold on to power.
You sound like a hater. You need to stop. Many persons feel like they can come to the BVI and protest as they like. Im sure you are not WANTED in your Country.
We have access to the eternet ,We see how many of you all behave back home , dont try it here.
Why can’t we all see each other as what we are, humans?
Not one single one of us had a choice in neither where we were squeezed out, nor either of us knows where we originated.
We all can be considered aliens/nonbelongers from that viewpoint then.
None of us belong here due to birth, because we all came from somewhere else.
Hence, we all need papers to live, eat, poop, sleep, become obsessed and vote.
There goes fodder reptilian brains yah.
@EV I agree. we all come from a mother. One thing we all have in common. A mother.
Unless you use a clean towel everyday, the possibility exists that the same area of that towel that wipe your @$$ today, is the same area that is going to wipe your lips tomorrow. We better wise while there is time….
How different are we than the white men who who prevented hard working black slaves who worked hard but was denief the right to VoTE
How different are we ?
How different are we who deny the black children from integrated school-
How different are we who deny black people from drinking from the same water fountain when they help to construct the very process to get running water
Where are the different principals based on denying a half breed BVI the right to vote and have a say in the referendum ?
Is this principle any different?
Please justify!!
People here in the BVI is plagued with themsame mentality except Caribbean brothers doing it ton-each other
Shame on those with this mentality.. No one is taking away anything from
The country. IlBut ayo have the white Governor to kill. Ate yiu of this mentality any different?
I just said to someone earlier this week that we are like the Trump admin..blame everything on “others”. People not like us
My mother, Faher, Paternal and MaTERNAL GRAND PARENTS AND GREAT GRAND PARENTS AND GREAT GREaT GRAND PARENTS WERE ALL VIRGIN iDLANDSERS. YIOU CANNOT TOUCH ME ON THE ANCESTRAL SHIGGIDY
You inbred
All Caribbean islands inbred then. The point still is it doesn’t mean you’re an ancestral Virgin Islander because you are born in the bvi. Same thing for USA and all the other Caribbean islands. Only in the bvi we allow crap.
Blood test next
If you don’t have the capacity to understand what you read or are to helplessly biased, it is ok to leave not your intellectual ability on a comment,you think?
Ive traveled to other Caribbean Is. and they behave the same way, a since of intitlement, even worse.
Before Government delve into this matter, the locals need their lands, that were to be given to them years ago. Anegada, Salt Island etc. We need assistance from banks to help build our houses, among other pressing issues.
Let Myron talk that!
The other islands operates worst than us when it comes non nationals in their country. So everyone expects some sort of entitlement at home. Would you allow someone to enter your house and rearrange it. The answer is no. So why not just live with us rather than try to control us. Mr. Walwyn held the government for several terms and did nothing about the immigration status for children been born to non BVI citizens and as soon as he became opposition it became his song, while knowing that is controlled by the UK.
You born in the house so then what are you a second class citzen
Children birthed in the other caribbran islands are not treatef like outcast
Do your research
No sah! You want to have the same rights as me who is a 8th generational VI person? You mad or wah? Even the big USA telling you that not because you born US means you are autromatically a USA citizen. USVI, Guam, Rico are all US but can’t vote for the President and can’t run for the Presidency or Congress. This is not new or foreign all over the world. When look somebody comes here on vacation and born their child then leave BVI for 30 years and when that child who never stepped foot back in BVI reaches 30, then he come back and saying he could vote or run for office? Myron sound schupid.
Its their Country.
Isnt that why all BvIslanders went to Puerto Rico and St thomaas to birth your children
Then skipping taxes but go and come to collect you benefits
Now you have problem when the shoe is on the other foot
Everyone goes to St thomas & PR to have their children.Pls check it out.
Are you living under a stone? Anyone goes US to get their kids once they have the priviledge.
If you get to know the friendship between USVI & BVI then you would not be here writing garbage.
Belonger Status, Identity & Leadership in the BVI
The central question is one of balance: can the Virgin Islands build an inclusive, forward-looking model of belonging while safeguarding its indigenous identity and leadership? Evidence from constitutional, economic, and regional perspectives reveals both the strength and strain of the current system. It confirms that belonging in the BVI has become layered and, at times, exclusionary, yet it also exposes the legitimate anxieties driving such caution: a small population, finite resources, and the palpable fear among Virgin Islanders that rapid demographic shifts could erode their control over their own destiny.
At present, the BVI’s population is roughly 60% expatriate and 40% local. This demographic imbalance is not unusual for small island economies, but it carries deep implications for governance and social cohesion. The fear of foreigners dominating local resources, land, enterprise, and ultimately, political power, is real and widely felt. For many Virgin Islanders, this is not hostility but a rational concern about continuity, self-determination, and the preservation of cultural and political voice. The challenge is to design a constitutional and legal order that welcomes contribution without surrendering identity, a system where inclusion strengthens, rather than replaces, belonging.
The Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007 defines who “belongs” and distinguishes between belonging by birth or ancestry and belonging by grant through naturalisation, registration, or certificate. Section 2(2) sets out these routes and, while recognising holders of certificates as belongers, it does not allow them to automatically pass that status to their children. Equality and non-discrimination are guaranteed in the Constitution’s rights chapter, but immigration control is expressly preserved, giving government wide discretion over who is permitted to stay and under what terms. That discretion is understandable, yet in practice it has produced two levels of belonging, and with new fees and procedures, it has turned what was once a civic recognition into a costly transaction.
The consequences are tangible. From 2025, applications for Belonger status that were once free now carry fees of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. At the same time, land ownership remains tied to belonging, non-belongers require licences, face delays, and pay extra charges. For families whose connection to the Virgin Islands is strong but derived from a grant rather than ancestry, these barriers limit intergenerational continuity, discourage investment, and quietly fracture the community fabric.
Other Overseas Territories have handled similar challenges differently. The Cayman Islands allow children to become “Caymanian as of Right” if a parent is Caymanian and settled, even when the parent’s status was acquired rather than inherited. Bermuda, through its Mixed-Status reforms, addressed the hardship of families split by differing legal identities. These examples show that small island societies can protect heritage and control immigration while still being fair to families who have long contributed to their communities.
The constitutional question is whether the Virgin Islands’ two-tiered system is legally defensible. Legally, it remains distinct: British nationality law and local belonging are separate, and the UK Equality Act 2010 does not apply extraterritorially. However, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which the UK extended to the BVI, binds the Territory to uphold equality, family life, and property rights. When a law differentiates by birth or lineage, particularly if it divides families or imposes economic burdens, it must be shown to be proportionate to a legitimate aim. Protecting indigenous identity and ensuring self-determination are valid aims—but the current mechanism of blocking automatic descent may not be the least restrictive or most effective way to achieve them.
The truth is that this distinction may have served an administrative purpose, but it now feels blunt. It interrupts family lineage, undermines confidence, and deters investment. At the same time, Virgin Islanders’ fear of being outnumbered or economically displaced by a majority-expatriate population cannot be ignored. The solution lies not in closing doors but in strengthening foundations, preserving political leadership and constitutional control in local hands while opening fairer pathways for those genuinely rooted in the Territory.
It is both reasonable and necessary to reserve the position of Premier, the political head of government, to persons of Virgin Islands birth or ancestry. This safeguard ensures that, even as the population becomes more diverse, political authority and direction remain grounded in the people whose heritage defines the Territory. This principle of political stewardship can coexist with more open and equitable rules of civic belonging. Inclusion does not mean forfeiting identity; it means managing it wisely.
Reform should therefore proceed on two tracks. First, modernise the rules of descent by restoring automatic belonging for children of belongers by grant who are genuinely settled and domiciled, or by introducing a simple confirmation process at adulthood. Second, codify clear political safeguards, retaining the requirement that the Premier and other top constitutional offices be held by those who are Virgin Islanders by birth or ancestry. In this way, the BVI can reaffirm local leadership while embracing fairness and inclusion.
Ultimately, the Virgin Islands’ strength has always been balance—welcoming those who build alongside locals while ensuring that Virgin Islanders remain architects of their own future. Reforming the Constitution to combine inclusive belonging with sustained local political stewardship would not weaken the BVI; it would make it stronger, fairer, and more united for generations to come.
Belongers by ancestral ties should be the only ones not be paying for the belonger cards. All the other folks that are here, put their home country first. They celebrate their home country and raise their country flags here in the BVI, so disrespctful. BVIslanders have nowhere to go. If you come here, respect the country, keep it clean, contribute instead of just taking, taking, taking. Thank you to those who come from somewhere else, but love these BVI and make a contribution. If you just coming to get and not make a contribution, stay home!
Irma and Maria confirmed what we indigenous Bvilanders were saying for years , those adopted belongers have places to run but we have to stay and rebuild our country because we have nowhere else to run to . What I’m saying you people should never be equal to us.
Their countries where they have their ancestral ties sent planes and they jockeyed for the airport while they laughed that our big houses were blown to smithereens. We rebuilt and then many came rushing back soon after amazed. They even said that God was showing us that big houses can be blown down by a little wind. That is the only problem I have. They are here and living better than they will at home thanks to the US$, some of them for over 20 years but their hearts are still envious and unkind towards this country and its people. We used pit toilets and ate boiled fish and green bananas almost everyday too, but we have to apologize for our successes as they come and look at us cockeyed. That is the sad part. Even in the HOA the envy of some for a certain Member where they keep fighting to stand above him is laughable. Focus and work on your failing businesses. Measure your successes by hard work and not envy. The two amigos who assisted with this latest attempt at takedown will regret it.
You can no longer protect bv islanders, But we can surely protect the ancestral ones. We have been living for years in this territory with others from all over the Caribbean, uk and America and here comes this divisive person strategically trying to create division among our people who lives here for political mileage. It will not work.
People like some of you who want to disrespect nationals born to non national parents,are going to create a fire dem can’t put out, because a lot of ayo parents who born here, birth children elsewhere, so it’s time ayo cut the B__ll .
These interlopers want our very souls.
Compare these Vi before with the BVI of today
Our Basic survival human moral fabric is now akin to that of the updeislun dregs
These VI will without doubt sink further. We are doomed as itis and in addition they clawing at our our soul sustenance.
Trump and his trumpets are heaven sent to this region. The aftermath will have shaken up and wipe out many and their attitude of gimme your soul as much of the flottilla of these ungrateful shadows of humanity will rest in peace in the dirt and bottom if the oceans.
Please Caribbean expat, its time you give up the fight,the apartment,the social, the NHI and the expectations of one day becoming.
There are many opportunities in your little or big islands that can afford you to live peacefully. No one will tell you,” go where you come from”, if you don’t like it LIAT awaits you” all these abuse will one day stop and someone will cry bitterly,please don’t let it be you.
The Are some Caricom countries who are offering jobs without work permits or immigration stamps,try get one.