Disgruntled Musings #001: No One Wants to Come Here
Let's rant about immigration and almost-century old state leaders.
Welcome to Disgruntled Musings, a compilation of quick commentary on the latest socio-political news and updates from across the Caribbean region. I’m your host Shem Best, podcast producer here at the CPSI.
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Our first headline: US State Department issues warnings for Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica: US Travel.Gov
Despite what would appear to be new advisories issued in response to concerning levels of crime and unrest, these warnings have been in effect for the better part of the last half decade and do not necessarily indicate any true change in safety levels for either country. While these advisories tend to bristle the foreign ministries of both nations, the net effect is negligible. Tourists have not been deterred from visiting either Port of Spain or Kingston. Though comparatively, Trinidad and Tobago has a fairly miniscule tourism industry and very little to lose from what is essentially a diplomatic yelp review from a country that boasts its own staggering number of monthly shootings.
Trinidad’s advisory warns about high levels of gang violence and even some possible terrorist activity. The Jamaican advisory re-issued last year threw a health bulletin into the mix, citing overwhelmed medical services. There was some general displeasure among local tourism heads over this instance, despite the fact that these warnings had already been in place for some time, were simply being re-posted and are likely to be ignored by the average traveller as usual.
Next up news from the 47th CARICOM Head Meeting in Grenada where Curaçao’s membership in CARICOM was finally inked: Loop News
The C in the ABC islands was unceremoniously announced as the newest associate state in CARICOM, joining the likes of Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos. I could easily fill this segment with updates on the price of rice in China as they probably have a more profound effect on the lives of Caribbean citizens. Actually given Barbados’ recent foray into rice growing, this is less hyperbole than we may realise.
Associate States serve absolutely no purpose in the Caribbean Community. CARICOM itself being the failed union that it is, props up the organisation's relevance with purely symbolic relationships, bilateral agreements and MOU’s with various vassals of the European Union. Strip away the diplomatic fluff and you quickly notice that Associate members do not offer any legitimate input, do not have a clearly defined role, and only join to sit in on meetings because Mom and Dad (their parent countries) won’t let them forge any useful ties without consent for obvious reasons… *cough* immigration *cough*
This is hot on the heels of Bermuda indicating its desire to graduate to being a full member of CARICOM. Hold your applause because this also basically means next to nothing. Sure there are some perks such as trade deals and travel agreements, but the real meat or rather the true boys club of CARICOM is the CSME. It’s got all the bells and whistles of a would be federation, the freedom of movement and skill etc and sadly none of the legislative willpower. 12 of CARICOM’s 15 member states are in the CSME but none of them have actually ratified freedom of movement, only allowing up to 6 months of residence for any non-native citizens within their borders, a rather impotent show of effort among a group of territories who purport to be eager to show a united front of the world stage.
Staying in the lesser Antilles, the Connect Caribe Ferry received a sort of Industry Blessing: Barbados Today
The long awaited ferry service aimed at connecting Barbados, Trinidad and Guyana has gained a thumbs up from the Barbados Hospitality industry. Pleion Group which leads the consortium spearheading the ferry initiative has received strong support from various tourism and travel agencies, particularly in Barbados.
Pomp and pageantry aside, it should be noted that during the media tour of this entire effort, its creators have primarily pushed the trade aspect of the connecting route, i.e the ease of moving goods between these three territories. The movement of people part… you know that bit that makes it an actual ferry, has been oddly absent from most of the promotional buzz surrounding the project.
It should be noted how strange but expected it is that not one of the three participating countries appears to have a clue how to handle the logistics of people using the ferry as an actual ferry. There’s been no word on the immigration checks or processes associated with the service, which somewhat brings the initial floated tickets costs of around 100 USD into question.
Not to stray into speculation, but it wouldn’t be farfetched to imagine that even the consortium is doubtful as to the profitability of such a passenger service. After all, most incumbent equivalents well THE incumbent equivalent that is Caribbean Airlines, has struggled to streamline its own- routes between these countries in a way that could bring prices down to “freedom of movement’ levels.
If you're tired of hearing that term, so am I. It’s supposed to be one of the principle pillars of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and yet none of its members possess the know-how to make it happen. Most forms of travel between these islands are prohibitively expensive and certainly don’t encourage the ease of travel that they are trying to emulate vis a vis the EU etc. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but until the groundwork is laid for the logistics of hopping on a boat in Trinidad and showing up in Trinidad from Barbados, this one might meet the same fate as LIAT in record time.
Over in Saint Vincent we saw congratulatory messages from one despot to another: Barbados Today
Venezuela’s elections have just concluded and to the surprise of no one, had been jerry-rigged for a Maduro victory even if Christ the Lord himself had been on the ballot. No one took the time to explain this to Ralph Gonsalves however. The 77 year old Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines continues to show why geriatric individuals shouldn’t be allowed to drive cars, let alone lead entire countries.
In a baffling case of foot-to-mouth disease, Gonsalves congratulated his Caracas counterpart and called the laugable process that renewed Venezuela’s subscription to rapid economic decline, “free and fair”. Perhaps this is some sort of bid to enlist the help of Maduro in rebuilding the shredded remains of Petite-Martinque and the other unfortunately hurricane-stricken satellite islands ofGrenadines. Saint Vincent’s failed alternative strategy of blaming globalisation for their inability to construct anything but strong breeze fodder hasn’t quite mobilised the expected global response. Maybe comrade Ralph should take another lesson or two from Chairman Mottley on how to beg more eloquently.
This discordant note in CARICOM will no doubt erode the bloc’s credibility, lest we forget Gonsalves’ best bud was threatening to carve off a third of another CARICOM member’s land area, mere months ago.
Lotta Long Talk: Population Decline
In today’s discussion - the Caribbean’s declining numbers
“The population crisis threatens our way of life”. An ominous warning from Prime Minister Mia Mottley to the people of Barbados reiterating the precarious situation the country is heading towards as a result of the declining number of tax paying youth on the island. Barbados like most of the Caribbean and the world in general is grappling with the looming effects of net negative population replenishment. This means that there aren’t enough people being born to replace all the ones pushing up daisies. Even more disastrous is the large number of people who have one foot in the grave, but aren’t contributing anything to the economy anymore through their labour or taxes, all the retirees. The prime minister has taken to the airwaves pleading for the people to make like God intended and be fruitful and multiply. Her message has been met with a collective sucking of teeth and a much deserved eye roll. Why would any sane person have a child in Barbados?
You see, as a proud welfare state, Barbados prides itself on a rather large social security net, providing “free” services to its citizens, backed by taxes. Bajans enjoy free dental until 18, relatively free healthcare and inexpensive tertiary education. With a population of 280000, whoops, 260000 as of the last census, ensuring bright smiles and bachelor’s degrees in every household is turning out to be a costly endeavour. To fund these perks Barbadians have accepted their place on the podium as one of the most heavily taxed countries on earth. There are taxes on most imported goods, vehicles, fuel and even internet services like Netflix and Spotify. Income tax sits at a deceptively reasonable 10% for most, leaving any remaining salary to be promptly eviscerated by a sales tax of 17.5% on everything from cereal to canned air and compounded by the existing import taxes used to procure the items in the first place. Children are no longer claimable dependents for income tax, disincentivizing reproduction from the get go. As for those degrees they’ve been using tax income to churn out, they leave the island. With a stagnant labour market and the eulogy having been read for most industries outside of tourism decades ago, newly graduated Bachelors in Art History aren’t exactly swimming in opportunities.
The equally childless PM Mottley is now left with a country of closed legs all with access to an open airport and seems keen to enact her attempt to right the sinking ship, or at least replace the crew who have jumped off the side. Enter immigration. Mottley has hinted at turning to external markets to shore up the local workforce and lazy baby production. History however, does not paint an image of success for this particular solution. The Caribbean has simply never had any political appetite, foundation or even social structure to support beneficial immigration. Skipping over that unfortunate stint of forced migration via the West African Citizen Relocation and Rehabilitation Scheme, more affectionately called slavery, there has been no major movement of people into the region for any reason other than “someone with a gun made me do it”. And no, indentureship doesn’t count, those poor people were tricked into coming here.
Long story short, there is no reason to actually come here to live. Sun, sand and sea are great for a few weeks stay, but eventually most tourists want to return to their stable democracies with working bus and transit networks. Save for the Bahamas and Belize, not a single CARICOM state has seen a net positive immigration rate since 2020. The pieces of paradise are slowly becoming ghost rocks that have so desperately clung to Banana-republic style economic development, that they’ve thoroughly forgotten how to run themselves as countries that people would like to actually live in.
During the pandemic, the Barbados government began its first quiet experiment with temporary immigration in the form of the welcome stamp. In the first year, lockdowns, a volcanic eruption and a hurricane likely turned all notions of working in paradise on its head. The scheme was designed to allow foreign workers to spend up to a year working and residing in Barbados with a few caveats, namely they must work for a non-local company, make at least 50,000 USD per year, have pre-existing medical insurance that is compatible with local healthcare providers and seek no local employment. The government has been reluctant to provide in-depth data on the success of the program, likely due to the ineffective nature of its structure that any first year social science student could have pointed out from a mile away. As of December 2023, out of the 4900 applicants, 2900 were approved mainly from the USA, UK and Canada. No indication of how many have actually made the move were given, nor was any indication of how many have stayed. If you’re curious as to what could have even prompted those 2900 to bite the bullet, well wonder no longer. I took the liberty of having a short discussion with a “Welcome Stampee” in Barbados.
Interview with Sydney Braddock
Shem: Hello listeners and welcome to the "A Lotta Long Talk" segment of Disgruntled Musings. I am here with Sydney Braddock, a Welcome Stamp guest residing here in Barbados. Sydney, it is wonderful to have you on the podcast. How are you today?
Sydney: I'm well, how are you?
Shem: Toasty, but doing quite well so far. Excited for this short segment where we basically give the experience of a Welcome Stamp user here on the island and in the greater context of immigration, what that really means, what that experience could mean for immigration and Barbados going forward. And what do you bring to the table essentially, if we're going to have a lot more Sydneys running around in the near future, we're hoping for a lot more Sydneys people.
She's amazing. Yeah. First up, what made you decide on Barbados?
Sydney: Yeah. For a little bit of context, my wife and I moved here with our dog and we're a single income household. I make the money. So we were trying to find somewhere that was affordable, which I know sounds hilarious to a Bajan (local term for Barbadian) that we find Barbados to be affordable.
Shem: That is wild, yeah.
Sydney: Yeah, exactly. But comparatively, we're living on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, where rent for a single bedroom apartment would be probably close to 2000 Canadian dollars a month. As well as grocery costs rising, gas very expensive since it's an island, and not a lot of community there either. So we were looking at, okay, we can go anywhere, we don't have any tethers, we have no kids, we have family everywhere, so we can go wherever, do whatever we want.
So we started looking at places outside of Canada, of where to move, because our options in Canada were somewhere extremely expensive or in the middle of absolutely nowhere where the closest shop would be a 45 minute drive away and it would be in Saskatchewan, like flat prairie land. And if that's your thing, great, not our thing.
So we started looking at countries like Australia. Australia was a big one here. We looked everywhere just to see like where would accept us, where would be affordable for one income that we could make it and be independent. And my wife has some health issues. So that is also something that we've had to consider.
Her health is stable now. But because of her disability, some countries actually deny you based on that because they think that you'll be a drain on their health system even though you would pay out of pocket for it. So Barbados does not have any requirements for disabled people. They won't deny you based on disability.
So that's one thing that we looked at. We also looked at communicable diseases. Since my wife is disabled, she's immunocompromised. So we had to look at, okay, we can't go anywhere that has yellow fever or anything like that because she's unable to take live vaccines. So she wouldn't be immune against those things.
So we had to keep in mind health, affordability, community and also wanted to be somewhere beautiful. And that left Barbados.
Shem: Wow.
Sydney: Yeah, I know.
Shem: We are honored that you chose us. One particular question I really need to touch on. I don't know if you're aware, but the Caribbean is not exactly, how do you say, a beacon of civil rights when it comes to LGBTQ standings, rights, laws, et cetera. Has that been a challenge for you in terms of things like insurance or medical care here in Barbados, given that we don't have many provisions in place at all for same sex unions, couples, et cetera.
Sydney: Yeah, definitely. That is something that I was nervous about moving here.
Being from Canada where we could hold hands down the street and it doesn't matter. No one will say anything to you. We got married legally. I was definitely nervous about moving here. The first obstacle that we encountered was actually applying for the visa. We met with an immigration lawyer before applying for the visa.
She is from here. So we just zoomed her and asked about that process. Since we are same sex married, how does that work? Would they take us as spouses? Would we have to apply individually? So we ended up having to put the visa in my name and put my wife Jazlyn as my dependent. So she is not legally my wife on our visas.
She's my dependent and that's the same for insurance as well.
Shem: A bit of, how do you say, loopholing there in order to make the ends meet. Now in terms of, for example, the infrastructure you've encountered, obviously you drive, et cetera. Has there been like a huge drop off in, for example, service availability, utilities, internet, electricity, that sort of thing?
Sydney: Yeah, for sure. Where we lived on Vancouver Island, it got a lot of wind and rain storms, as well as some snow storms. It was quite mild as far as snow, but we would get frequent power outages in the wintertime. And we have a wood stove that we would keep warm with. So I was used to having power outages. We had well water, so we had to use filtered water to drink because our water tasted like pennies.
So, um, I lived rurally before this, so I definitely wasn't like city living. But now we live out very far in St. Joseph (a rural parish on the eastern coast of Barbados), which is the bush. And we do get random power outages, which is interesting. We get probably once or twice a month. We get just a couple hours, just no power for absolutely no reason that we can't figure out.
So that is one thing. The cost of electricity is actually comparable to Canada. We, as Canadians, we have a very large dog who is, he is a Swiss breed, so he is not acclimatized to the heat, so we have to keep the air conditioning on pretty much 24/7 for him, so that's quite expensive, but worth it for his comfort as well as mine.
I'm Canadian, I can't handle this heat. Yeah, and driving as well, that was something that I really had to get used to it. I was terrified at first. You drive on the other side of the road here compared to Canada, and the steering wheel is obviously on the right side instead of the left. So there was a lot of adapting there, as well as the roundabouts.
Where I grew up in Nova Scotia, they had a few roundabouts, so I was used to those, but really surprised with how many roundabouts there were, as well as how little speed limit signs there were. Like, I never know what speed I'm allowed to be going.
Shem: Wow, I think generally it's 60, 60 or 80. Don't quote me on this, I'm not the licensing authority, but wherever you don't see a speed sign, Oh my, I don't even drive.
One would think they would hand you the driver's permit, the pamphlet they hand every driver when you're learning on arrival to Barbados. They're just like, "here's how you drive here, but they're just like, Oh, you guys are a member of the Commonwealth, you'll figure it out". But yeah, I think it's around 60 to 80 for just about every road.
If you don't see a sign,
Sydney: I just go with the flow of traffic unless they're going extremely fast.
Shem: Yeah. Yeah. That's how they design our roads as well. Does it make sense to put a roundabout? No, just go with the flow. What's your vibe telling you. Four roads meeting? A rounbabout? That's what that feels like.
Sydney: Another thing is how aggressive some drivers are here.
There's no road rage, but just if you're going slower than they want to be going, they are riding your bumper. And at the first moment they will pass you extremely fast. And that was shocking to me.
Shem: What I will tell you, I've only been to maybe, okay, I've been to four other countries. The drivers, I think Barbadians might be the worst.
I apologize in advance for my countrymen. They're not particularly patient individuals. None of them seem to know how to actually go around a roundabout, but they will tell you how to go around the roundabout, how they want you to go around the roundabout when they're on it. How have you found the road quality?
Because I know there's a running joke that we're just one big pothole with bits of road in it. That's the road driving experience. Yeah.
Sydney: So where I grew up in, in Nova Scotia, it had about the same amount of potholes, but that was because with all the snowfall, there was a lot of plowing and plows dig up the asphalt over time and degrade it.
So I was used to potholes. I will say once you get going into the country, the roads are absolutely despicable. It's insane how bumpy they are. So that was also an adjustment and how narrow they are.
Shem: I guess our road network is about 1, 500 kilometers of actual road. Some of it very thinly tows the line between a road and a cart track.
So don't follow Google Maps. It'll take you into a cane field without a second thought. You basically live in a cane field, so I don't really know if...
Sydney: I do, yeah.
Shem: Yeah, you're surrounded by cane. It's cane on all sides for you. Yeah. But it is beautiful. I envy you except the power outage bit.
I would lose my mind. Now to the meat of the situation. The welcome stamp was devised as a sort of stop gap during the pandemic, and it's been continued for the most part, because at this point, it feels like Barbados is testing the waters with regards to immigration. And as we would have discussed off out of the call, of course, that the population of the country is declining rather quickly for a rock in the Atlantic with a pandemic.
Bell shaped upside down umbrella shaped age distribution curve, which is placing a huge strain on the working population to continue to provide for the aging Jerry, not geriatric. I don't want to sound mean retired population. Now we're looking to, how do you say, we're looking to bring fresh blood because our prime minister is looking to immigration to staff off this problem, but we're looking to get fresh blood educated professionals to come in and fill some of those spaces.
The welcome stamp might not be the best case for that because I, if I recall, you don't pay income tax, you're not double taxed. Correct.
Sydney: I do not. I pay Canadian taxes and I work for a Canadian company.
Shem: Wow. Okay. That's okay. That's strike one against the welcome stamp. But we still have you here. You're paying VAT (value added tax).
That's 17.5 percent of just about everything, including the air you breathe. Trust me. So we've got that going for us. But do you think that if given the experience you've had so far, does Barbados seem to be a destination to you that is welcoming to a young professional?
Sydney: That's a great question. I will say, at first, I did not think so. This was purely because I was having trouble finding much of a community of people like me, of young professionals. I tried to connect with fellow Canadians that were expats here, but they all are very much older than I am but now, I have found, like, a professional network of younger people that I feel have been very accepting, and I am still seen as a tourist when I go out, so I do still get people asking me if I'd like to buy souvenirs, people asking me if I'd like to rent a jet ski or want a taxi, so I still don't look like a local, and I'm not a local, but I'm also not a local. So it's this odd kind of middle ground.
Shem: Now, barring the power outages, which are, I've been told, a hindrance to productivity because you can't exactly send your work via smoke signal, but have you found the other, the rest of the infrastructure or the other opportunities available, have they been, how do you say, conducive to your, your workflow, et cetera?
Sydney: Yeah, I think so. When my internet or my power goes out, I use my phone data. So, I have a local phone. I just hotspot my computer and I'm still able to work. It's not an interruption for me, though I would imagine it is for others. I have that luxury of being able to purchase data and use it that way. But, yeah, I, uh, Love going into local cafes and working if I don't feel like I'm productive at home Sometimes you need a little bit of a change of scenery. So going out to cafes to really get my mind on my work is something that is accessible easy for me to do. There's tons of cafes with free Wi Fi delicious coffee. And at home I have my own little setup. It's perfect
Shem: Wonderful.
Now Obviously, this is, the welcome stamp is not a permanent solution, but you have to renew every year or so, don't you? How long have you been living here so far, by the way? I have been here 11 months to the day. 11 months. Okay. Are you looking to renew at the end of your first tenure?
I am.
Okay, and how much is that gonna put you down the hole?
Sydney: Oh my goodness, great question. Let me double check that. It's a lot. It's multi thousands of dollars.
Shem: Canadian or Barbadian?
Sydney: It's in U. S. dollars for some reason.
Shem: I think that was the original target audience and they missed the mark on that one.
Sydney: Yeah, for sure. Let me see here. It was 11 months ago. I don't remember.
Okay. Yeah. So we did the family bundle, which is US dollars, 6, 000 Bajan.
Shem: Okay. Sydney, you went for the, you went for the welcome stamp home premium edition with all the bells and whistles that the ultimate edition does not. I wonder if there is an ultimate edition.
Like here, Ultimate Edition owners and users get access to Parliament for absolutely free. We just hand you a key. Okay. I think what I'm trying to figure out in this segment, is this an actual solution? So I guess my question would be, would you recommend your own process? Would you recommend the Welcome Stamp to others?
Sydney: I would. I really would. It was an easy process. The hardest part was bringing our animal here. Animal export/import is extremely. , But if you're not bringing an animal, super easy. You just get your passport, you have your proof of income, you apply, and within days you're either rejected or accepted and you're good to go.
No, it was really easy. I would recommend it. My wife and I are considering staying. I know after three years you're able to apply for citizenship, so we're even looking into that, to make this our forever home.
Shem: That was actually going to be my follow up question has if there were provisions for you to transition into a more permanent resident, but it's full on citizenship that you can head to after three years, that is actually unique in terms of Nomad visas, because there is no immediate path to citizenship for most Nomad visas throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
A lot of people don't realize that usually the government only sees the nomad visa as a source of revenue as a, like a way to enhance their economy, in much the same way that the U S department of state sees your applications for visas. But you wouldn't be aware of this because you're from North Dakota, Canada from America's high, but basically America uses visa applications as a form of revenue arm of government revenue.
In some ways it is actually incentivized for them to reject you. And, for nomad visas, they're not going to reject you, obviously, but there is an entire legal process that you've been through, et cetera, that you have to keep doing year after year. But most countries do not offer a path to a more concrete residency situation after the fact.
Colombia, which gives you a two year stay, you can apply as many times as you want, but there is no path to citizenship. There's no path to residency either. And this is aimed at young business professionals who they would hope are going to start businesses. I've also realized that Barbados hasn't really framed this as such.
They just want you to bring your Canadian dollars. They don't really, and the sad thing is that Barbados does not have very much of a, how do you say, a business, a young, a small burgeoning business environment. It doesn't have a huge, enough base and the facilities, the, uh, the policies that are in place don't exactly how do you say foster an individual such as yourself just coming down here and starting a business for one thing.
I don't know if you met up with our foreign exchange controls. I don't know if that would be something that would impact you. Have you encountered those restrictions?
Sydney: I have not. I will say they make it very clear when applying that you are not allowed to work in Barbados. You are not allowed. You cannot collect a dollar from a local business.
You are bringing your income from a different company here and spending it on local businesses. That's the goal.
Shem: Yeah, that's actually pretty standard for all of them, because quite frankly, they don't want the bells and whistles of labor laws. And they also don't want Uncle Sam, in your case, Uncle Trudeau, reaching into Barbados' very shambolic labor records to try to find out what has Sydney been up to this last year.
And I will say, I appreciate. I don't want to take a job from a local. I don't want that.
Would you believe it? We don't either.
Sydney: Not ethically. I, if someone else is Bajan and they're eligible for this job, I don't want to take that from them as someone that's Canadian.
Shem: It'd be very difficult for you to do that because listeners, I can't believe I've introduced this wonderful person to the podcast and we don't even know what she does.
Sydney, what do you do?
Sydney: Good question.
I work for a digital marketing agency based in Montreal, Canada. I do email as well as SMS and app, mobile app marketing for direct to consumer businesses based in Shopify online.
Shem: Okay, that is an impressive spread, impressive lineup, impressive skill set. You actually probably could take a job from a local.
You made the right choice there. She's ethical, guys. That's the sort of person we're looking for. However, in the future, if this program does evolve, it could be the case where they do want people to come and work here. The issue is that what makes the Welcome stamp so lucrative also makes it not as helpful as it could be to Barbados' immigration problems.
Like I said, our population is aging, our workforce is in decline, and we're looking for people to pay taxes. Enticing Canadians, British individuals, and Americans to hop on over and then they don't pay taxes is counterproductive. This did come from the pandemic side of things. They want people to come here and inject some life, inject some foreign exchange.
You're probably a very good source of foreign exchange because they bring Canadian dollars with you. We bring us dollars with you. So that's the thing that they're looking for. But in terms of the immediate social economic problems we're having in terms of our welfare services, because you're Canadian, so you are aware of the huge social net that our individual countries do provide for citizens.
Sydney: My wife benefited from Canadian disability. We are familiar with what the government is able to give, and I understand the struggle of getting welcome stampers to pay taxes as well, to help out with those things and not be a drain.
Shem: Yeah, there's no way you can possibly be a drain.
Essentially, the welcome stamp, as is does keep you in a bubble and that is by design so that they don't have to go through all the red tape of bringing you on, but, but also because it wouldn't be very lucrative if you had to pay taxes in Barbados and Canada. It's not something someone wants to do, especially since you're not a resident, you're not a citizen, you're not guaranteed citizenship, but at the end of this, you can apply and that's why you've made clear.
But I don't think any sane person wants to pay the 10%, 10.5% percent income tax that Barbados has waiting for you at the other end of that particular rainbow. So speaking of bubble, I think my next question to you here is just, let's wheel back to the cultural side of things. Have you been able to integrate culturally into Barbados slower lifestyle, et cetera?
And as a member of the LGBTQ community, have you been able to find your space here?
Sydney: Yeah, that's a great question. It took a long time for me. When we first moved here, since we are further out, I'm about a half hour from like civilization driving. So I felt very isolated at first. I'm used to having a lot of family surrounding me and a lot of friends that I grew up with surrounding me and knowing I have a place with them. This is the first time I've ever moved anywhere that I didn't know anyone except for my partner. So that was huge, as well as learning a new culture was huge. I had never been in a building where I was the only white person until I moved here. Where I grew up is very white.
Seeing that was really cool to me, actually. And the slower lifestyle is something that I'm still trying to adapt to. I'm used to being very fast paced. My job is fast paced. I was an athlete. I am quick. I just like getting a lot of things done quickly. And I remember the first week that we were here, I was in a Massy supermarket and kind of like power walking down an aisle and someone said, "Hey, slow down."
Oh, so I've had to force myself to slow down.
Shem: Our road rage is on the road and yours is when you're on two feet.
Just to give like some final context on the welcome stamp for our listeners. Obviously it does also have salary requirement. I believe you told me it was 50,000.
Sydney: Yes, 50,000 USD. 50,000 USD.
Shem: You can tell how direly a country is in that situation based on, not necessarily because there are wealthier countries out there that just simply don't want the “brokies” to show up on the shores and start sucking up welfare, but In terms of the Caribbean islands, our nomad program is said to be very averse to anyone making low income, obviously, because they don't want you to be a drain.
On one hand, there's virtually no way you could be a drain on social services because you were required to come here with your insurance and everything intact, ready to go, etc. And make sure that you have a compatible insurance. Policy with the medical services here in Barbados, so it reeks of gilding the lily, as you would put it in terms of making sure you're making enough money, making sure that your social services are all in order.
But for Barbados, it spells out exactly how direly in need of individuals like you, we are because across the Caribbean, you'll see that the salary requirements are so much lower, especially in Latin America. There's so much lower than Barbados. For example, Columbia has about nine 50 a month, Panama is 30, 32, 000 a year.
And here we are Barbados going, Hey, you need to be able to survive the suburbs in downtown Toronto if you're going to be able to move to Barbados, which also says a lot about the state of cost of living here. I know you, you touched on it earlier, but what was the most shocking thing for you in terms of price difference?
You said this is comparable.
Sydney: Groceries.
Shem: Oh, groceries. Wow. I don't know why I'm shocked by that.
Sydney: Yeah, I will say I, I was living in farmland where we were. So local obviously is cheaper here as well. But of course, as a Canadian, you want to have like your little comfort snacks from home. And those are insanely expensive because they're imported, obviously. And I always have to remind myself that the prices are in Barbados dollars, not Canadian.
So when I see something, I'm like, Oh my gosh, that's expensive. And I'm like, Oh yeah, that's in Barbados dollars. But still our grocery bill is more expensive here than it likely would be though I haven't been to Canada in a year. I don't know their grocery prices
right now.
Shem: I know I'm supposed to be fully on board with the Barbados welcome stamp here and promoting that as a citizen.
But Colombia for 150 US, you could probably get two weeks of groceries.
Sydney: Yeah, but then I'd have to go to Colombia.
Shem: Tienes una problema con Colombia? Besides having to learn Spanish, it's not that bad.
Sydney: I know French, not Spanish, but I think also we were looking at Colombia. There was just a communicable disease that Jazz wasn't able to be protected against, and that's why we vetoed it.
Shem: Oh.
Sydney: Yeah.
Shem: Fair. Fair enough.
Sydney: Yeah. You know, living. Yes. Jazz is my wife. To clarify.
Shem: Yes, indeed. Just one final question. If there is, how do you say, one thing about this entire process that you, one piece of feedback you have for the entire process of applying for this, this visa, what would that feedback be?
Sydney: Ooh, I think having some more organization in terms of the countries talking to each other. It's a different process if you're coming from Canada than if you're coming from the U. S. than if you're coming from the U. K. And all of the requirements are different. So it would be nice if they had just solid This is what you need, no matter where you are from, because there's a lot of conflicting information online.
And we ended up having to call here from Canada to really figure out what we needed to do in order to come. So it's a bit convoluted online.
Shem: You know what? I'm not even surprised if you've seen the process for getting any diplomatic document across this going in the Caribbean, but I do understand this feedback is going nowhere.
This episode is basically going to be like a shredder with the word 'feedback' written on the box. I don't think there's anyone from the department, the immigration department actually listening. here. I think the prime minister is subscribed to our podcast, so maybe she'll be able to do absolutely nothing.
Don't count on anything happening.
Sydney: I will give a shout out to Diane from the welcome stamp office. She was awesome.
Shem: Diane, if you're listening, we hope you're listening. In fact, Sydney, just send the episode to her after so she can hear a shout out. Diane, the real OG.
. 10 out of 10.
Sydney: 10 out of 10.
Shem: Sydney, it's been amazing. I'm 11 months late, but welcome to Barbados. We're gonna hope to see you around. Perhaps we can have you on another episode in the future because here at the CPSI, we do cover quite a few socio economic issues when it relates to the Caribbean. And as a member of the LGBTQ community, that is one of our platforms for enabling better civil access rights, et cetera, across the region.
So it has been an amazing opportunity to have you here.
Sydney: Thank you. It was really fun to talk about my experience. I'm glad I can help in some way, teach people my experience.
Shem: Thank you and have a wonderful day.
And there you have it. High prices that somehow trump Barbados’ own may just be the primary reason for young business people to take a shot at living on a tiny island in the Atlantic that doesn’t even recognise common law unions. But as an experiment, the Welcome Stamp fails on several fronts. Its recipients don’t pay any taxes as they don’t work in Barbados and aren’t double taxed. It does not address non-conventional family migration, after all the island’s government does not seem to think that homosexuals exist or have money. Finally, it can’t mask the lack of infrastructure that is needed to turn the island into a true hub of business retreat. The housing stock is inadequate and Barbados’ social structure does not lend itself to an influx of individuals with different ideals from the locals. After all, it is unlikely that these immigrants will be afforded voting privileges, or that any government would be keen to import a voter base that could potentially turn against them, entirely. Immigrants will likely be pro-immigrant, which could easily clash with the wider population that is objectively insular. You need look no further than CARICOM itself which is still unable to properly ratify freedom of movement amongst the CSME member states. Tiny rocks simply don’t ponder the intricacies of people moving to them. Ms Mottley may save herself some embarrassment in remembering this.
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