Want to take your job to a sunny Caribbean location? The Cayman Islands has a new visa certificate that allows digital nomads to live there for up to 90 days.
The Cayman Islands are reopening to tourists and enticing people with the ability to work for home—and an appetite for wanderlust—to take their jobs to the Caribbean islands through a three-month visa scheme. The program is called the Global Citizen Concierge Program (GCCP) and allows people to keep their job in their home country while working remotely from the Cayman Islands.
While it sounds neat on paper, the program isn't that accessible to all. Applicants need to meet a certain set of criteria that include proof of an annual salary of at least US$100,000 for one applicant, or a minimum of $150,000 for an applicant with one depandant, or $168,000 for an applicant with two depandants. Minimum salary requirements increase as more dependants are added.
People applying for the visa also must provide proof of health insurance cover and put forward a non-refundable deposit of at least $1,469.
Successful applicants can then choose to live on any of the three islands that make up the British Overseas Territory. The Miami-style Grand Cayman is the most developed of the islands and is known for its high-quality accommodation, upscale eats and white-sand Seven Mile Beach.
Even though the Caymans has a huge multinational community, there is plenty of local culture and affordable options to be found in the areas of Bodden Town and East End in Grand Cayman and, all across the island of Cayman Brac. The islands are renowned for their marine and jungle wildlife too, with lots of wonderful hiking trails and nature reserves, particularly in Little Cayman, the smallest island.
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The program was supposed to launch in 2020 as a two-year visa but the conditions have since been revised for 90 days in 2022. The Cayman Islands is open to vaccinated tourists but there are testing requirements in place for many visitors. Arrivals from the US, Canada and the UK, for example, must take a pre-departure COVID-19 test and then undergo a rapid antigen test on day two, five and 10 of their stay. Omicron cases are rapidly increasing in the Cayman Islands and there are certain mitigations in place such as limits on gatherings and the closure of bars at midnight.
If you are looking for a change of scene while working remotely for the foreseeable future, you can apply for the GCCP visa here.
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