Symmonds says interest rising in remote-work initiative

The 12-month Barbados Welcome Stamp has already received tremendous interest, Minister of Tourism Kerrie Symmonds has declared.

Symmonds made the assertion as lawmakers debated the initiative – the Remote Employment Bill.

The Welcome Stamp aims to attract non-residents to the island where they can work remotely for up to 12-months.

Among one of the conditions is that would-be travellers would have to earn at least $100,000 (US$50,000) a year.

While not giving figures, Symmonds said even though the Welcome Stamp had not been officially launched, Government had already received “a substantial expression of interest”.

He told the House of Assembly: “It is a proposition that makes good sense and therefore I was not at all surprised when we started to see a week and a half or so ago this spontaneous outburst of interest by people not only in the continental United States but around the world in taking up this offer of a 12-month Welcome Stamp and coming to Barbados.

“Obviously an express of interest does not in of itself automatically translate into a person who is here physically located for 12 months, but you have to begin with the express of interest because up until this point the reason why we are here today is to make it possible for people to actually submit formal applications and for our Immigration Department to approve applications.”

The Minister revealed the Welcome Stamp was targeting younger people, given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic’s health risks associated with older persons and the respiratory virus.

Symmonds said: “That cadre of people who are perhaps between the ages of 23-24 and going up to 39 are the first primary targets because we want also to serve another end result.

“Let us be faithful to the reality of Barbados and the profile of visitor that we are getting to this country and have been getting for many years. Barbados enjoys the touristic reputation of being one of the few places on earth that has such a high rate of repeat visitors and we are perhaps only exceeded in that regard by places like Disney World.

“The reality is that people feel a bond, an affinity and a kinship with this little island, but the reality is that while all of those people come back and add to the numbers and add to the spend they are also ageing and the older they get the less likely they will be to be able to do that level of travelling. The other reality we have to face is that by nature the COVID-19 disease impacts more severely on the ageing community than it does the younger population.”

The initiative targets people between the ages of 40 and 59 who are likely to meet the minimum salary requirements and were more concerned with the safety of their family, said Symmonds.