Digital Nomads can live and play in the Cayman Islands with the Global Citizen Concierge Program
The Cayman Islands has a visa certificate that allows digital nomads to live there for up to 2 years. You may come and go as you please. The only requirement is that you must stay in Cayman for a total of 90 days per each 12-month period.
The Cayman Islands has now re-opened to tourists and are enticing those with an appetite for wanderlust and the ability to work from home, to take their jobs to the Caribbean islands through a visa scheme. The program is called the Global Citizen Concierge Program (GCCP) and allows people to keep their job in their home country while working remotely from the Cayman Islands.
The colorful facade of Heritage Kitchen, a local Caribbean restaurant in the West Bay area. ©eric laudonien/Shutterstock
While it sounds neat on paper, the program isn’t accessible to all. Applicants need to meet a certain set of criteria that include proof of an annual salary of at least US$100,000 for one applicant, or a minimum of $150,000 for an applicant with one dependent, or $168,000 for an applicant with two dependents. Minimum salary requirements increase as more dependents are added.
People applying for the visa must also provide proof of health insurance cover and put forward a non-refundable deposit of at least $1,469.
Walking along the Lighthouse Footpath into shrubland through flowers, Eastern Bluff, Cayman Brac, ©Flavio Vallenari/Getty Images
Successful applicants can then choose to live on any of the three islands that make up the British Overseas Territory. The Miami-style Grand Cayman is the most developed of the islands and is known for its high-quality accommodation, upscale eats, and white-sand Seven Mile Beach.
Even though the Cayman Islands has a huge multinational community, there is plenty of local culture and affordable options to be found in the areas of Bodden Town and East End in Grand Cayman as well as the island of Cayman Brac. The islands are renowned for their marine and jungle wildlife too, with lots of wonderful hiking trails and nature reserves, particularly in Little Cayman, the smallest island.
Swimmers enjoy playing with the stingrays at the sandbar off Grand Cayman ©Jo Ann Snover/Shutterstock
The Cayman Islands are open to tourists but there are testing requirements in place for many visitors. Arrivals from the US, Canada and the UK, for example, must take a pre-departure COVID-19 test.
If you are looking for a change of scenery while working remotely for the foreseeable future, you can apply for the GCCP visa here.
Source: Lonely Planet