Too hard for BVIslanders to get trade licences, says commentator
Talk-show host Claude Skelton Cline has accused the Department of Trade of frustrating Virgin Islanders who want to do business, saying the licensing process is broken and stifling local entrepreneurship.
“Getting a trade license is having to have muscles like Hulk and patience like Job,” Skelton Cline said recently on his Honestly Speaking radio programme. “As a Virgin Islander, you can’t drive down the street and go upstairs and get a trade license. Too many unnecessary steps, too much time lapsed in between. We have systems, processes and procedures that no longer work for us.”
The outspoken commentator argued that locals are being forced to “diminish themselves just to navigate through the system,” and he compared the difficult local process to the ease of acquiring similar licences in the United States. He described the process as “a double scribbled backwards” and claimed the inefficiencies are a sign of poor leadership.
Skelton Cline’s comments echo years of complaints from the business community. Entrepreneurs across the territory have long said that starting and sustaining a business in the BVI is too difficult. They point to lengthy delays in obtaining trade licenses, overlapping requirements from different government agencies, and outdated laws that make the process even more cumbersome.
Further complicating matters is the ongoing suspension of the Virgin Islands Trade Commission, the body intended to modernise and oversee trade regulation. More than 18 months later, the commission remains inactive, leaving many to question the government’s commitment to easing the way of doing business.
Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn has also described the trade and licensing framework as a source of “pure frustration,” warning that the system is turning investors away. Former Junior Minister for Trade Marlon Penn has gone further, accusing the department of stagnation and criticising the government for failing to deliver long-promised reforms.
Business owners say the challenges are taking a toll at a time when they are already facing rising costs, reduced consumer spending, and global economic pressures. Many have urged the government to create a more supportive environment for small and medium-sized enterprises, which form the backbone of the local economy.
In the meantime, Skelton Cline insists the matter cannot be ignored.
“We are killing off ourselves in this country just for mom and pop to conduct business,” he said. “There is no leadership, and if you are in a leadership position and you are not a leader, you will come, meet things, and leave them exactly the way they are while the people remain frustrated.”
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Not sure what you’re talking about. I’ve experienced and heard great things about trade department. Unlike most other government departments, I love going there for whatever enquires. I got through with my trade license in under 3 weeks when I applied. I can understand foreigners having more difficulty, but not sure what you’re referring to Mr. Cline
That’s since the corrupted….conieving one was moved to another department within the said Ministry.
Taxi licenses and car rental licenses were given out willy nilly by some of the same politicians who here complaining now
@ Don’t Mind Them ; what you said is completely True—-so that has caused a PRICE WAR as a here a TOO many operating for anyone to make a PROFIT ——what happens —— they are end up renting to UNDER AGED Non licensed drivers JUST to get the unit rented ! Part of the BVI problem is. ENTITLEMENT —-Both industries needs to be regulated and a CAP be put in place :where the industries are evaluated every 5 years——who shows growth and financial stability RENEWAL —-encourage the FAILING ones to
Reevaluate their Expedition
Outsiders given the red carpet while locals are given the red tape
Do not know what you are saying
Don’t LEAVE THE FSC OUT OF THIS, BVI ISLANDERS ARE GUVEN THE THIRD DEGREE WHILE PAPER BELONGERS AND OTHERS ARE GIVEN AN IMMEDIATE STAMP OF APPROVAL.
Processes must be continually reviewed to ensure that they are still serving the intended purpose & procedures must be tweaked to ensure more efficiency. Any industry or dept with stagnant & outdated procedural review are failing. It is too difficult to do many things here.
it is easy you have to wait a little but stop it. Dont try to fix what is not broken.
Try running a charter boat in the BVI! Then you’ll understand what oodles of inconsistent red tape really is.
@Steve
Too true… A red tape nightmare
I applied for a Trade Licence recently and received it in 3 weeks. There was one additional document required, and the staff were professional and cordial when they contacted me to request it. Please, CSC, you need to STOP! You have caused so much harm since your return to these shores and you keep stirring your partisan pot causing confusion every time you speak!!!!!
That is either bc you are largely affiliated with the government and you know it.
I don’t like this man Claude, but he is speaking the truth here.
they right, imagine having an idea for a mobile business that goes from place to place and they won’t take your form because they want you to have a primary place where the business is locate, make that make sense
They know EXACTLY what they are doing up in Trade. BELIEVE me when I say that there are one or two employees that INTENTIONALLY hold up trade licenses for months sometimes years because of envy, jealousy and badmind. The sad part is they are training a new generation of badminds.
Anyway you want to slice it, the BVI has a host of roadblocks in the way of economic advancement.
HM Customs, Trade, and the labour Dept. are all reasons to not even try.
just like everything else in this place. you got to be in the elite family or friends or have connections. if you not in any of that you salt.
can imagine we rough with expats and still rough with our very own unless you apart of a small elite group hmmmm
i watch rhymer them girls get up and get more than one business in the blink of an eye while and still get first picked for the nursing thing and one of them dating that drugman who alrdy own a house. things got to wash i guess
everything hard for everyone else- locals,expats unless you apart of a certain elite group or breaking the law blatantly
I’ve been applying for one for months. And why do they ask for the owner’s land certificate? I’m stuck.
I’ve been applying for one for months. And why do they ask for the owner’s land certificate? I’m stuck.