myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Hello all,
This is a great site and people have provided some good advice for all going to Tobago for a holiday or to live!
I read the thread on buying property with interest but was wondering how this translates when starting up a business.
My wife (a Trini) and I are looking to relocate to Tobago to base an I.T consultancy business there and am beginning to now look at what we need to bear in mind when doing this. We have the next year to put together the business plan so any advice or experiences by others would greatly appreciated.

We will be in Tobago soon as it happens to visit family from mid sept to october. Am looking forward to seeing the changes on the island, we were last there about two years ago and they were building what I imagine turned out to be a market in Scarborough Bay.

Pleased to meet you all, Ed and Charlotte.

Hi Ed & Charlotte

Welcome aboard!

For a very 'simple' island, it is astonishing how complex some issues can be - including setting up a business, I understand. However, as your wife is a Trini, I think you will overcome the biggest problems, assuming you are not local. The subject is far to wide to discuss here, but if you have specific questions I am sure we'll find a local reader who can help.

I wish you every success with your project. All I can say is that they urgently need some decent IT Consultancy on the island.

so right steve. when are you moving here?

to open a business you need a business license. the best would be to contact an accountant or lawyer on the island and discuss the details with him. you need any of the two to get the license anyway. they know the procedures best, cost of the license and so on. maybe you could find one when you are here and have a face to face chat to find out what is required.
I as a locally married foreigner would say, let your wife do the talking... makes things much easier

good luck

STEPHANIE

Hi Ed,

I think you'd still require a work exemption visa, even though you're married to a Trini! I don't know anyone quite in your position, I must admit, but my husband, although a business owner, still requires a work permit, and friends of mine, although married to locals, still require a work exemption visa - so the likelihood is that you'll still require SOME form of permit as well as a business licence!

I don't know how long this would be the case for though. Presumably if you apply for residency, at some point you wouldn't need permits. I think, as Stephanie suggests, your best bet would be to contact a solicitor once you get here and see what they have to say. If you'd like a few pointers, or would like some introductions made, I'd be happy to help!

With best regards,
Lisa

when you file for residency (you have to do even after beeing married) you will get the work permit automatically in the process, but not as fast as you might wish.
since you wife is a trini, she can get a business license easier. so she can already open the business and you can join in when you have you work permit. be prepared to bring you primary school report cards, the bithcertificate of you great grandmother and the christmas card you got from your godfather when you where seven. no honestly... happy paperwar. the procedure is much better organized these days then years ago, so in 3 to 4 years it should be done. maybe even faster when you are married for some time and lived together in the UK. kids make it faster, too....

good luck

STEPHANIE

Lol! Stephanie, you're not kidding!!! Not entirely, anyway!! We were asked about school reports! You've obviously been through what we're going through now!!

third and hopefully last interview in september... the first bunch of papers is the worst after that it is just peanuts. a good chance to get your papers in order once a year. we did not really run into trouble, since we were organized and patient.
good luck to all who try
STEPHANIE

Hello to all!
Thanks for the replies and valuable advice!
Sounds like the best thing is to get legal advice about permits and residency then? We are there as I said in sept/oct so I guess we can look into it while we are there. Lisa, many thanks for the kind offer, would you recommend anyone in particular?
The level of beaurocracy was quite striking when I was there a couple of years ago. We had the idea back then that we might do this and visited the various government offices in Port of Spain. I have never seen so many written files! My wife worked in a government department some years ago and was not especially surprised. Bodes well for any potential I.T business if things are the same but somehow I think TT has probably caught up a bit by now!
I bought an item, a set of guitar strings I think, in Port of Spain and got three receipts with my item.
I will get my school reports and baby pictures ready for a long haul then
Still the paperwork aside its clear you would all highly recommend making the move. We are looking at around a year's time, that is if being there for a few weeks shortly doesn't nudge our date closer than that!
Would people recommend I begin applying for some form of visa status with 6 months to a year in mind?

Incidentally Stephanie, Castara looks idyllic.
My wife and I may well be in touch to stay in one of the apartments with our twins boys! We are staying in Bacolet.

Hi Ed,

Personally, we used Lee Kelshall in Scarborough. Hopefully Steve doesn't mind me saying this... it's not an advert for the guy in as much as it's a statement of fact! He's based in Trinidad three days a week, and Tobago on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is a two edged sword, as although for the most part he's not around to just 'pop in and see', he's situated in Trinidad if he's not here, so he's 'on-site' to chase things over there! I think his fees are fairly standard, and I've no doubt that we'll use him again if and when the situation arises!

If you'd like to meet up with Mark and myself while you're here, just let me know! I'd be happy to share some insights that we've had. Although you're obviously more canny than we were when we moved here (for a start you're married to a Trini, and you've already discovered this website!), you never know... we just might be able to provide some enlightenment - or at least entertainment!!!

Best regards,
Lisa.

Hi Ed,

As Steff mentioned, you would be eligible for a work permit exemption if you apply for permanent residency on the basis of marriage to a T&T citizen, however, you can only begin that process when you arrive here.

Your alternative is to apply for a work permit, a process which can be started before you arrive via the T&T embassy in London. If you go down this route you will need to have all your business plans in place and submit a similar amount of paperwork (and money!)

Both these processes can take a while, so rustle up plenty of patience!

Many thank Lisa - I have written the name down to look up when we are there! It would be great to meet you and your husband and get some advice, we are visiting family (my wife's mother in Bacolet, and she has a brother in Lowlands). Did you use the solicitor for buying a house? If I might be so bold as to ask!

Thank you also Rachel, yours sounds like a voice of experience - of starting up from the UK?

Hi Ed,

We're currently going through the process of buying a place (or at least the land to build the place on!) - at the moment we're renting. However, it's not the same solicitor we've used for the work permit applications - purely because the solicitor involved in the land purchase was appointed by the seller.

My in-laws live in Bacolet too - whereas we're based in Carnbee. If you'd like to make some firm arrangements to meet up, hopefully you can access my msn information through this site, or e-mail me on [email protected]. I look forward to meeting you both!

Lisa.