The 12-month Welcome Stamp visa programme has generated several million dollars in foreign exchange over its first three years, with data showing at least $6m in revenue from 1 300 payments made for remote work visas since its launch in 2020, according to the latest available figures.

The programme was introduced by Prime Minister Mia Mottley at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with the intention of helping to fill the gap left by decreased touristarrivals and to generate foreign exchange.

The visa allows high-income professionals to relocate and work remotely from Barbados – one of the world’s most popular tourism destinations.

Statistics shared exclusively with Barbados TODAY by the Immigration Department for 2020 to 2023 show that 1 381 payments were made into government coffers on application for the visas.

The fee for an individual is $6 000 per application, and family units can pay $4 000 per application. Singles nearly doubled family bundles – 65 per cent to 35 per cent of the overall total of 8 199 visitor applications.

Based on the ratio and the application fee, revenue could be as much as $6m (1 000 payments by individuals and the remaining 381 by families).

Of the more than 8 000 people who showed an interest in Barbados as their destination of choice from which to work remotely, only 1 007 who were issued visas to do so arrived on the island to trigger their activation.

The Immigration Department data also revealed that 2 897 applications were actually approved during the three-year period, but 1 516 did not make their payments. An additional 375 people who were issued visas failed to have them activated.

Visas are issued when payment is made on application but are only activated on arrival in Barbados.

A breakdown of the total number of people who showed an interest in coming to Barbados reveals that there were 4 835 primary applicants, 1 478 spouses and 1 886 dependents.

The United States topped the countries where applicants resided (1 313), followed by the United Kingdom (1 102), Canada (530), Nigeria (519) and India (107).

There was also a dominant representation of persons in the 26 to 35 age group (34.1 per cent) who applied, followed by those in the 36 to 45 bracket (30.2 per cent). Even those in the 18 to 25 age range sought to come to Barbados to work remotely (4.9 per cent).

It was also found that most of the professionals showing an interest in Barbados were men (64 per cent).

A line was also drawn between applicants residing in a country and being nationals of that country.

The data revealed that some 136 nationalities were represented, including seven Barbadians from the diaspora, citizens of far-flung places such as Palestine, China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.

Immigration authorities also recorded applicants from extensive and varied occupations such as manufacturing, agriculture, construction, government and public administration, information technology, engineering and mathematics, law, finance, and health sciences.

Even though the visa is for a year in the first instance, the government is encouraging applicants to stay longer by applying for an extension. emanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb