BVI News

Glitches with BVI Gateway Portal frustrating some travellers

Screenshot of the BVI Gateway homepage captured Monday night, November 23, 2020.

A number of travellers to the BVI have taken to social media to express frustration caused by problems they experience when trying to register their trips via  BVI Gateway  

BVI Gateway is the online portal which all residents and non-residents must use to register before travelling to the BVI amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

It was launched a week before the territory officially opened its borders to international travel. But since its launch, our news centre has received complaints from local and international travellers who say the site isn’t functioning well.

Travellers are reporting many glitches with the online platform, including their inability to upload relevant documents such as the mandatory negative COVID-19 test results.

Travellers are not allowed to enter the territory until they upload their negative results then granted permission to land. A number of travellers have therefore been stuck in-transit to the BVI while waiting for a response from government.

One traveller who left a comment on Facebook wrote: “Dear Premier, I am stranded in Miami … I’ve done what was required of me to get permission to come home. However, I am yet to receive a response. Oh, yea, I want you to know that the portal is not working … Please send a plane to get me … Thanks.”

Another said: “I need to get in to put my MOTHER to rest.”

Lack of response

Government has established an email address and a WhatsApp contact number for travellers to use if they experience problems. But, a few travellers who contacted our news centre complained about the lack of response despite sending numerous emails and WhatsApp messages. 

“I’m travelling to the BVI and I filled in the online portal [form] successfully and they sent me a confirmation. However, when I tried to upload my negative corona test yesterday, there was nowhere to upload the results. I’ve been trying to call the number associated with the portal. No one is answering. It’s a WhatsApp number. I can see the blue tick, which means they’re reading it but not responding,” one frustrated traveller told BVI News.

Another traveller said they did get a response from the WhatsApp number, but that response came days after her initial complaint.

Another traveller on Facebook said: “Dear Premier, even after multiple mails and requests, the issues faced in the portal have not been addressed. I request you to please issue the traveller certificate in time at least. This is a highly stressful time for travellers coming to BVI.”

One returning resident reported having similar issues but told our news centre their travel issues were only resolved because of their personal acquaintance with an elected official.

BVI News has not yet ascertained what is causing the problems travellers are experiencing with BVI Gateway 

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45 Comments

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Yall really expect this online app to work for everyone?I’m so tired and frustrated by the protocols 67 of us cancelled our trip to the bvi..you pay online not everyone has a card,plus you cant save and comeback to the page like..ugh..yall losing alot of money this bvigateway app is trash plus yall had 9mnts to plan and this is what we get..PATHETIC

    Like 54
    Dislike 2
    • They says:

      They must have gotten this website from the same Obama relative that did the Obamacare website. That didn’t work either but the Obamas made huge money. Let’s check the F** and M****e bank accounts. These people can’t do anything right except take your money. That they are quite good at. What they don’t realize is how many people now see the truth of Nature’s Little Secret and that there is no BVILove. People have many choices and the BVI is being removed from the list. Many will say who cares go elsewhere but when your economy depends on tourism there is much to worry about.

      Like 20
      Dislike 13
      • Trump fan re ya? says:

        How on earth do you manage to blame this on Obama? Are you aware of how stupid this sounds?

        Like 36
        Dislike 6
        • the Answer says:

          Because Hussain Obama was a complete disaster for America and It’s freedoms. Typical Marxist globalist commie who wants to tap Americas success
          to fund the global elites.

          Like 15
          Dislike 36
          • What says:

            an ignorance and incredible not true set of statements, but alternative factual lies. Obviously fuelled by vile and insane hatred, with no regard to truths..

            Like 17
            Dislike 5
          • Obama says:

            Obama was the worst president in the US since Carter. History will not remember him well.

            Like 8
            Dislike 10
          • Banner says:

            With fascist attitudes like that I’m relieved to know you are not coming to BVi. We like nice calm friendly reasonable people here. Have a wonderful day.

    • lol says:

      I don’t know why they expect the website to work well, in the hands of the BVIAA team.

      Like 30
      Dislike 1
    • Rubber Duck says:

      They bought it from a Jamaican company. For reasons you may speculate about. Whatever else it is known for , Jamaica is not big in software.

      Like 33
      Dislike 3
      • Indian Ownership says:

        The company is registered in Jamaica. However, it is Indians who own and operate the business.

        Like 7
        Dislike 1
        • Rubber Duck says:

          Well whoever owns it , they appear to be incompetent. Not only does the portal not work but the ridiculous bracelets do not work either. Not does the phone app.

          These same people have provided the immigration system. Who knows if that works.

          The whole thing cost an incredible $6.4 million. Incredible because that is way too much for what is being provided even if it did work.

          Truly this government goes like lambs to the slaughter.

          • No says:

            No it’s not too much when 60% of the cost ends up in po*******n pockets. You don’t want Covid to impact the po*******ns and cronies income stream. How well did the government help you all out? Get a stimulus check? No worries you got a $6.4mil program that nobody can operate.

    • @ anonymous says:

      The lord works in mysterious ways. 67 of you were coming well i am in the hotel industry and hoping things would change by the third quarter of next yr to receive a good pay check. But for now i am scrapping by and praying to God that all these people that wanted to come because we loosing money to keep them away. They running from the virus. Look what happen in grenada. 26 guest and employees was infected. No European and north American want this virus why do you think we in the Caribbean want it?? You live in the great America and Europe and cannot get anything right but saying we have 9 months to plan. Every disease that came to the Caribbean in the last 500 plus yrs was brought in by Europeans and Americans. Listen folks we like you guys to a certain extent but please stay where you are until the middle of 2021.mr minister responsible for fishing and farming let anyone that wanted to fish go and fish to put food on their table. Allow anyone to fish for a few months. No license required. This is hard times but my parents and grand parents went through worst. This is joke to them.my grandmother told me last week this rough patch is only for little while it will soon past lay them people in their country why they so want to come here like they don’t want to see me live to see my 100 birthday. I had to laugh. Please cancel none of us died from starvation as yet and we have a premier that he would give us half his bread if he know we need it and all his in his government will do the same. They would share their cup of tea with their neighbors. So please cancel we will survive.

      Like 1
      Dislike 13
      • @@Anom says:

        You are correct. Every disease brought to the Caribbean was brought by Europeans and Americans. The disease is called Africans. The Africans have infested beautiful lands and have turned them into garbage dumps as they have wherever they live the world over.

        Like 1
        Dislike 11
        • @Anom says:

          Who created the garbage that infested these islands?? It was you and you doing it all over the world. But i have one warning to give you. You and your friends are not going to make it again to control we are making sure of this.you are fighting to come to the Caribbean to try and control. If we control immigration in these Caribbean islands we can manage without you and your friends. Set of European garbage. Calling Africans disease. Am sure i can say who i am but you would never do that .you will be asked to leave or thrown out. Don’t forget one governor had to run out of this small island. Check the history. We rich in that.your people will never control this region again.

          Like 2
          Dislike 3
          • British says:

            Just ignore him, Anon. He’s just mad at the world for his own personal reasons. It happens. He or she doesn’t really believe black people are worse than white people any more than you believe the opposite. I am white but I guarantee if we all met we would get on just fine. It’s the internet that encourages extremes and people get all hot.
            Merry Christmas

    • @ Anonymous says:

      Please accept our apology, our current govt is indeed pathetic. Please give us another chance to earn your business. Check back in 2 years. They will be gone!

    • HMMM says:

      SO WHEN YOU COMING?

  2. VIP says:

    Another VIP F**K up

    Like 27
    Dislike 3
    • @VIP says:

      You’re wrong. The portal is working exactly how the F** wants it to work. He was forced to open for tourism but he decided he wouldn’t make it easy. The Belonger is lazy and a useless worker. Remember where they came from. They could easily have people answering emails and WhatsApp but they chose to ignore the requests. You see in the BVI you get paid the same whether you do your job or not. And, there is no fear of being fired. Soooo, it’s better to play on your phone or with the girl/guy next to you than doing your job. For any tourists reading this, do yourselves a favor and pick another vacation spot. If you think the portal is bad wait till you’re in quarantine you’re whole vacation because they won’t respond to you and get you your test results. People in quarantine 7 days!! Happy Holidays everyone!!

      Like 39
      Dislike 5
      • Yes says:

        Remember. People here work only from 9:00am to 3:30pm Monday to Friday. No weekends.

        • @Yes says:

          You mean they go to their job during those hours. Work? Lmfao. They have no clue what work is. That’s why people are stuck in quarantine for 7 days or more. Word is out. Foy’s plan worked. Nobody coming.

  3. tired says:

    I tired of this new site. Quick to report anything that criticizes the government.

    I don’t even care if you post this. Just want you to know if I see it, others do.

    Like 5
    Dislike 39
    • @Tired says:

      Do you want them to lie? The entire place is going under but the P*****r and Government saw it fit to drive around singing bulls**t, dressed like santa and feeding prisoners. Meanwhile the f**king economy is on life support but carry on.

      Like 46
      Dislike 3
  4. Hum says:

    If you don,t know someone on the island that can assist you,you,ll never make it

    Like 28
    Dislike 1
  5. Frustration to the max says:

    Ahhhhhhhh, I’m so over it. The freaking APP is nothing but problems. I’m like so done and over it.

    Like 16
  6. Joe Agen says:

    There are problems:
    If you are unable to travel on the original date and need to reapply to the Portal you are unable to correct previous or add other information.
    Your original application should clear automatically at the expiry date so you can restart a new application.

    Like 22
  7. Brewers Bay says:

    Typical BVI screw up. We on the most part can’t get anything done correctly. Not even given our citizens Electricity & water that is dependable. How can visitors have a Covid test that is not more than 5 days from the date of test when it takes 3 to 5 days to get back from the lab. I have friends that cannot coordinate the test with the flight. Some had to move the flight date because the test did not come back in time. Some say why would I visit the BVI and spend 8 days in quarantine on a 7 day vacation. I do not think our government put much thought into this and that is typical on most everything they do, I am so sorry to say it is an embarrassment to our great Territory.

    Like 31
    • Lone R. says:

      That Truth and something that is worst, any Immigration officer decides on your arrival at the Airport, that after all the frustration you were through that he, or she won;t believe in other contries institutions declaring your test or documente is fake or, Is Expired and again a pay to repeat de same procedures once again and decide that instead of 4 days quarantine there will be 7 or 10 or whatever. After doing so they do not even monitor you. or at least to know about your emotional situation or frustration cauesd by the a wrong decision. Poor of this nature Litlle Secret Nation with this hatred… and Especially if you are Spanish.

    • Hmmmm says:

      It is not the lab which is a problem. The results are given to the Ministry of Health within 24 hrs and rarely 48 hrs. The delay is in MOH. They could not use the app or not able to contact immediately the tourists or persons tested.

  8. I Used The Portal says:

    Well I recently travelled back in a few days ago as I live here, but rest assured if I was a tourist I WAS NOT COMING! The portal is frustrating as hell to use. It’s stressful and had me biting nails down to the wire as to whether I would get my certificate before my flight. I only got through because of who knows who to press a damn button. And it should not be that way.

    Then I get to Beef and they ask the same bullshiitz questions that were already answered on the Portal. I told them I was issued a Portal ID where is my record with all the information?? Furthermore why don’t you all have iPads to pull up the information from here writing nonsense??? I guess it’s part of 1000 jobs to engage such tedious manual labor. But they should employ more persons in Health as that’s where the backlog is!

    But what alarmed me most after the testing and leaving the Welcome Center, was the amount of persons not wearing gloves and handling us. They should take care to have and use their PPE. Oh the flight had on about 7 persons so I’m
    Thinking the tourists are dissuaded from coming here anyway.

    I intend to have communication with Minister Malone or should it be Mr Sylvester!!??. Systems should not stress the shitz out of persons unnecessarily. I’m sure the Portal can be tweaked.

    Like 23
  9. Hmmmm. says:

    The site is ran by the BVIIAA. waste of time management running the show. The S***h guy has to go.

    Like 10
  10. Incompetent says:

    Nothing that this government touch works. I have never seen a bunch of incompetent people assembled in one place.

    Like 21
  11. Oh! says:

    We have no reliable water, no reliable waste management, no reliable electricity, no reliable telecoms/internet, roads are a mess, schools are a mess but yet it’s the Governor’s fault and we are ready for independence. This VIP Government is the ABSOLUTE WORST in the history of the BVI.

    Like 39
    • Agree says:

      THE DAMN WORST AND ONE TERM GOVERNMENT THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS HAVE HAD. TAKE IT ANY WAY YOU PLEASE, I SEE THIS GOVERNMENT AS A DAPPER DAN POSSEE.I SEE YOU ON THE WAY UP AND I WILL SEE YOU ON THE CURB SOON. I DON’T WANT TO SEE OR HEAR FROM ANYONE AFFILIATED WITH VIP CROSSING MY PROPERTY LINE COME NEXT ELECTION ASKING FOR MY SUPPORT. I WOULD GLADLY OPEN MY GATE AND RELEASE MY DOG AND INSTRUCT HIM TO ATTACK.

  12. Would have been TOURIST says:

    WHAT A MOTHER F***ING DISGRACE FROM THE POWER THAT BE IN THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS. THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS IS FLAT LINING AT A RAPID SPEED. A SIMPLE WORKING APP THAT A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CAN PUT IN PLACE AND ONE WOULD GET RESULTS. TAKE THE F***ING APP DOWN AND SAVE YOURSELF THE DISGUSTING HUMILIATION THAT YOU HAVE CAUSED YOUR COUNTRY. I TRULY SYMPATHIZE WITH THE PEOPLE OF YOUR COUNTRY THAT IS IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DISGRACE AND HUMILIATION THAT THEIR LEADERS HAVE PLACED ON THEIR COUNTRY. I WILL SIMPLY SAY, NO ONE IN GOVERNMENT IS FIT OR QUALIFIED TO WALK MY DOG.

    Like 21
    • Mash One says:

      We living here know that we have the worst internet services in the whole world.Some long time ago the Govt hired individuals to solve the internet problems and up to now no relief. I also heard that if the persons don’t change the system they will be fired.After such a lot time absolutely nothing has happened.Am I the only one wondering why we are the only country that is being embarrassed?

  13. Ok says:

    Its true… they not using mask, gloves and sanitize properly…..The facility use for PCR test I observed this, they didnt sanitize after

  14. Mash One says:

    We living here and afar are aware that we here has the worst and highest prices in the world for internet services.Months ago we were promised that it would change by employing people with knowledge in the industry and if they don’t do the work at hand they will be fired immediately.So far no progress and no one has been fired, now this is embarrassing the BVI .

    Like 11
    Dislike 1
  15. Truth says:

    VIP going home for good. Take that to the bank.

  16. 2cent. says:

    Rise up people. Why do you take this bull?

  17. Donald Fahie says:

    Can’t fix stupid

  18. Oh says:

    So the BVI cannot supply constant electrictiy, water, good internet,or reliable phone service, still can’t organise a working incinerator after years.Just to ame a few things. Raise your hand if you EVER thought this was Gateway thing was going to work. Anyone, anyone?

  19. 25-BVI-Charter-Trips says:

    I’ve done over 25 charter trips to the bvi over the course of 16 years.

    Even made it down in December after Erma hit and helped with construction efforts on Anagada.

    Have a crew of 8 people. We started our BVIAA applications in late November for our trip which is supposed to start tomorrow.

    However, ALL 8 of our applications are NOT approved.

    All crew members were COVID tested TWICE but most of us never got the site to work to upload the results.

    So, as of this morning we’ve had to cancel our trip. Cancel our provisioning orders, our gear rentals. Etc.

    Feel bad not only for us but for the folks who really needed our business.

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