Hundreds of expatriates living in the British Virgin Islands have been granted belonger status and certificates of residence
In a report laid before a meeting of cabinet on October 25, it was noted that the government had reviewed and approved the grant of Certificates of Residence and Belonger Status to 400 applicants who met the legal requirements of sections 2(4) and 3 of the Immigration and Passport Amendment Act, 2019.
The figure represents a doubling of the number of awards the previous National Democratic Party (“NDP”) government had granted in the final two years of their administration and is part of Premier Andrew Fahie’s Virgin Islands Party’s regularisation initiative that confers belongership and permanent residency to expatriate residents who meet the necessary criteria.
In a May 2019 sitting of the House of Assembly, Premier Fahie reported that under the NDP administration, 75 belongerships had been issued between January 1, 2017 and February 10, 2018, and a total of 115 were issued between January 1, 2018, and to February 10, 2019.
