Stakeholders discuss residency for children of expats in financial services
The issue of residency for the children of expatriates working in the financial services industry was recently brought to the fore during a special forum where senior government officials and industry stakeholders discussed key challenges facing the sector.
According to a press release from BVI Finance, stakeholders discussed the matter of residency status for children of long-term work permit holders, detailing the social and economic implications for families, employers, and the wider territory. The issue was identified as a major concern for the industry, one that affects employee retention. However, it remains unclear whether any conclusions were reached and whether the government will make any special arrangements for the children of professionals working in financial services.
The issue of residency for expatriate children is not new and has been raised repeatedly in the House of Assembly in recent times. In the 2024 Immigration and Passport (Amendment) Act, proposals to give children born in the BVI to non-Belonger parents automatic residency at birth were not included in the final legislation debated in the House of Assembly, although exemptions from immigration controls during childhood and a route to residency after 10 years were agreed.
Critics have argued that this issue has become one of the major push factors behind professionals leaving local industries, as uncertainty over whether their families can put down long-term roots in the territory adds pressure on skilled talent. The larger debate connects to longstanding discussions around how immigration and belonging intersect with workforce needs and demographic balance.
Other issues affecting the sector
At the roundtable, participants also raised issues with work permit processes and timelines, with Chief Immigration Officer Nadia Demming-Hodge explaining that applications are sometimes delayed because her office’s processes involve extensive background checks both locally and internationally.
Labour Commissioner Mervin Hastings also highlighted the need to balance industry demands with opportunities for Virgin Islanders, stressing his commitment to workforce development and progression. “My responsibility is to push for those opportunities so that Virgin Islanders, including our children who are born here, can build careers and contribute meaningfully to the workforce,” he said.
Stakeholders also raised other issues within the sector, including internal promotions, access to specialised skills, and broader workforce continuity in a highly regulated and competitive global environment. The roundtable also underscored the financial services sector’s contribution to government revenues and the economy.
The session concluded with agreement on the need for continued dialogue, the identification of operational improvements, and further consideration of policy issues affecting the sustainability of the financial services industry in the Virgin Islands.
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SO WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN OF EXPATRIATE PARENTS IN THE TOURISM, CONSTRUCTION, AND OTHER INDUSTRIES??? FINANCIAL SERVICES SHOULD NOT GET PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT PERIOD!!!
It’s just white people trying to get their way. They have no interest in BVI other than getting rich. Also are work permits given so they could set diwn roots? Mental slavery seems more prevalent at the top.
No. You are ridiculous and a pathetic racist.
How about all of the UK passports that have been given to people from BVI??? How many of them care about the UK?
Wind your neck in!
Dem others of dark and darkness that are outnumbering the populace,well those of Whit complexion unlike the breathing said live darkness are not contributors of bad and ugly,draining the coffers and have flies of decay as trail. Tis due to said Whites acknowledgement of the VI as safe that the creatures of darkness are coming to their investments swarming fo feed. Be grateful! Ungrateful ness is a hindrance to their self sustenance in their homelands..get a grip folks!
so they get unsettled and then a new employee comes in, work permits are granted for a year on year basis so this should not even come up, time to make the work permit limit 5 years and then it can be renewed but only after a 3 month off island hiatus so no residency come in to play, save all the back ad forth
A standard limit should be established for all residency arrangements, ensuring professional and essential requirements are appropriately addressed.
Without decisive intervention, the nation risks seeing its indigenous community marginalized to the point of invisibility, as unchecked policies and external influences threaten to dilute the cultural and demographic fabric.
Urgent, targeted strategies are essential to preserve the identity and future of the local population, fostering a sense of belonging and ensuring that their voices remain integral in shaping the country’s destiny.
When certain expat children are given a pathway to belonger and citizenhood, that is a passport to erasure of the local people who are already out numbered 5-1 from existence.
The time has arrived for indegenious protection legislation.
This would be discriminatory on its face. Leave this outside the door. Those expat children of parents in the Financial Services are no better than the expat children whose parents bag groceries and clean houses, construction Just different. stop this nonsense in its track early. This is some discriminatory deliberate shit. What Gad fly has stung people like Lorna Smith and Elise Donovan et al..
see my problem is there are other BOTs like Bermuda, T&C, Cayman that have strong financial services, and tourism product that have implemented policies to allow these industries to do their business with minimal taxes but also to benefit their country and citizens without giving it away.
An established framework that our poor leadership can easily mirror. These companies come to the VI because they can get these politicians to operate on their best interest and sell out their citizens. They rather be the 3rd rate place that companies establish industries because the other BOTs wouldn’t let them operate as these weak and dirty politicians do.
Did the government not make changes regarding belongership etc due to the COI? This is what happens when you give in a little. You keep giving until you give everything. By then its too late. Premier – DO NOT BUDGE!
Birth you children and have bigger families in the BVI
Do not marry outside of your own relatives
Educate your children that life is much more than money but also
decent: love, compassion, kindness, consideration and understanding for others . That is what make a nation great
Not prejudice, hate, badmouthing, jealousy
This sounds like the black slavery practice in the USA
God does not love ugly
Protect indigenous BVIslanders i agree but the extent and level to which this government is going is horrendous and evil
Giving people 6 mths history courses at HLSCC that they must pass before they can even venture to apply for status is beyond comprehension.
Did the US government did that to you . How will they work when some of them are treated like slaves in some households
With no overtime,
Taxes , SS and NHI taken out from their salaries and not paid in
When will mandatory policies be in place for such atrocities.
Wow!!!
why dont you research what H1B visa holders get from the US gov even when they pay taxes? In addition to the cost to become a naturalized citizen of the US one have to pass a civic test..how many interviews they are required to have with immigration?
This regimene of oppression on expatriates by this government must go.
No
One with any common sense who is a belonger and can vote must vote for VIP
Just now they will pass a
Policy that Belongers/ we cannot vote
Vote out VIP ! VIP
MUST go
Fraser and Ronnie do not want them to have anything. No residency. No belongers. Nothing. These two people hate expatriates and would do anything to prevent this from happening.
Don’t forget this lady “Jumped ship/crossed” the floor before the boat reached the dock, for the good of the country.
I know alot of you all who voted last election just biting wire right now and I glad for all ayo.
This is the bull crap I cannot understand about Anglo Saxons and their entitlement. If the BVI government is moving forward just to accommodate these financial services immigrants Anglo Saxons and their children well we as blax people are truly moving backwards. The same way other Blak immigrants and their kids are having to go through the same due process regardless so to should those Anglo Saxons and their families no special treatment period.