If you had the chance to travel to Barbados and work by the beach, would you?
Five months ago, working outside the office, even just temporarily, was a pipe dream for most employees. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit. Businesses remain shuttered around the globe to enforce social distancing, and working remotely has become the new—and, for some, newly permanent—normal. Once encumbered by long and expensive commutes, employees now find themselves untethered from a traditional workplace, taking Zoom meetings from their living rooms instead. According to Global Workplace Analytics, an estimated 25 to 30 percent of the world’s workforce will be working from home multiple days a week by the end of 2021.
But if there’s one takeaway from spending months quarantined at home, it’s that staring at the same four walls can grow old very quickly. More than ever, telecommuters are dreaming of shaking things up and escaping life for a little while. In fact, Barbados is banking on it.
On July 24, the country opened applications for its new 12-month Barbados Welcome Stamp—a special visa for remote workers who want to trade home for island life for up to a year at a time.
The visa program comes in direct response to current COVID-19 travel restrictions, in which lengthy, mandated quarantines restrict short-term travel. "[With the Welcome Stamp,] we have a mechanism that allows people who want to take advantage of being in a different part of the world, of the sun, sea, and sand, and a stable society; one that functions well," says Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
And the application to live and work in Barbados for up to a year? It's not that complicated.
To apply, you'll need to submit documents like passport photos and a copy of your birth certificate on the dedicated website, and answer questions about the work that you will be doing on the island. (As a reminder, you can do remote work for your existing company, but can't be employed in Barbados on this visa.) The program is open to anyone with an expected income of at least $50,000 in the next 12 months. If you're considering applying with your spouse or children, you'll have to pay $3,000 for the family bundle and submit the same paperwork mentioned above for them too, otherwise, it'll cost $2,000 if you're applying solo. And you won't have to wait long to find out if you can relocate beachside, as the government says it should take under seven days to get approval for the Welcome Stamp.
The prospect of working from a beach is more than tempting. Being by the ocean has been proven to boost your mood and your health—both of which can suffer under self-isolation. At the same time, the stamp would also help jump-start the island’s economy by bringing in additional tourism dollars for local businesses. Barbados is among the top 20 countries most dependent on travel and tourism as a source of GDP, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
It’s worth noting that this new opportunity to work remotely has appeal beyond cabin fever. As the Black Lives Matter movement grows across the U.S., Black Americans are increasingly looking to move abroad to escape the institutional racism and discrimination still so persistent in America. It remains to be seen whether Barbados will market this opportunity specifically to Black Americans to capture a portion of their massive spending power, but there’s no question that tourism boards play a large role in making travel more accessible and inclusive.
Barbados began welcoming international travelers back on July 12, with JetBlue and American Airlines are resuming commercial flights from the U.S. on July 25 and August 5, respectively.
This article was originally published on July 9, 2020. It has been updated with new information. Additional reporting by Meredith Carey.
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