myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Hello,
I have been in Tobago for 2.5 months now and it just does not seem like enough time. I have been offered a free place to house sit in Charlottesville on the beach for a month. Does anybody know of the best way a deal with the 3 month visa issue. Do I have to go get it extended somewhere (how much, where?) or is it easier to fly out and back to extend? Not rich so looking for the cheapest way and quickest way. Or can you just over stay the visa for the month? Some countries really have no penalties for overstaying.

You can extend your visa for up to another three months. Go to the Immigration dept in Scarborough (upstairs, Port building) about one week before your current visa expires. They will give you a date to come back for an appointment. You pay TT$100, and you will need your return ticket to country of origin. They may also ask for proof that you have funds to support yourself during your stay.

I would strongly recommend not taking a chance and overstaying your visa - Immigration here can and will make it very difficult for you to return to Tobago in the future if they find out (and currently police officers are checking passports etc after check in on international flights from Tobago). We know of one person who got into difficulties because she stayed just a few days past her visa date.

Thanks for the help. Glad to hear that I do not have to go to Trinidad to get a visa extension. So the immigration office is in the building upstairs from where the to two ferries come in? Also, just curious how one shows a return ticket now a days when you no longer get a ticket, they are all electronic?? Especially since I will changing /extending my ticket over the phone?? Any ideas on this?

You can take a copy of your email confirmation for the ticket (so you need to request one from the airline company when you extend your ticket).

Hello again,
I went to the immigration office on June 23 (my visa runs out July 6), thought it might be good to go a bit early. Good thing I did because they were making appointments for July 8...2 days after my visa expires. Apparently the one week to get an appointment is not the rule, try 2.5. The cashier girl then moved the appointment up to July 6 when I told her. However still would be akward if they said no on the 6th and I had already changed my plane ticket for a much later date since I would have to change it from the 6th. Then the immigration pulled me into his office. Pretty sure he was hitting on me (maybe I will call later?) which might have been ok if he had given me the extension right then but just a bunch of probing
questions.
This guy was saying that I would have to show my itinerary for my Trinidad to Venezuela ticket as well as my itinerary for my Venezuela to Canada ticket. He claims that they would have to prove that I would not just fly to Venezuela and then come back to Tobago right away. After you leave their country is it really any of their business where you go or when??? Amybe I am not going home for a couple more months, maybe I am going to travel in S America for a while? It seemed strange.