The government has decided to extend the Nomad Digital Residency (NDR)
programme for a further two years.
The announcement comes from Chief Immigration Officer (CIO), Katrina
Yearwood. The CIO was speaking at an engagement on Friday with members of
the NDR community, hosted by the Immigration Department.
The NDR programme is a pandemic-influenced initiative, introduced by the
government in October 2020, to encourage non-nationals to apply to work
remotely from Antigua and Barbuda for up to two years, taking advantage of the
country’s natural beauty and its highly developed communications technologies.
The initiative was introduced as a revenue source to help make up for the losses
caused by the pandemic.
Yearwood said the government has decided to extend the life of the programme
until October 2025. She noted that whilst many other Caribbean territories had
introduced similar programmes, the Antigua and Barbuda NDR was ranked
Number One by a Canadian entity. “Putting the programme into perspective since
its launch, we have had more than one hundred applications, with individuals out
of the United Kingdom, submitting the most applications. The other top two
countries are the United States, followed by Canada,” she revealed.
Yearwood also shared that the Antigua and Barbuda NDR has another aspect that
separates it from those in neighbouring jurisdictions. “Out of the one hundred or so
applicants who we are seeing in terms of employment are business people. That is
very different to the options in neighbouring islands, for example, Montserrat and
Dominica, where they are seeing a younger demographic, meaning more back-
packers,” she noted.
Yearwood and her team, which included Officer in Charge, Neigel Emanuel, used
the opportunity to answer concerns from the NDR community, asking specifically,
what steps they see the department taking to improve on the programme.
They explained that the NDR programme comes with some limitations and that
there have been some indications that persons would wish to extend their stay in
the country to do something other than the NDR. It was explained that this is
possible, but the individual (s) would be required to visit the Immigration
Department and make an application for a ‘change of status’ to move his/her
immigration status from NDR to something perhaps, more permanent.
Also on hand at the engagement were members of the NDR team Juliet Harris,
Syriah Lambert and Renee Quinland.
