Hello
I plan on moving to Jamaica and living there and bring my family with me. 2 questions:
1 - I work online - I can work anywhere I have an internet connection. Does that require a work permit?
2 - Entire family are Canadian citizens, plus my dad is jamaican + canadian. He is coming with. We can get into Jamaica for 6 months as far as I know. However is that 6 months per calendar year? Or 6 months per trip? I want to have my daughter go to school so we will be returning to Canada during Christmas break and for 2 months in the summer, thereby interrupting our stays in Jamaica in December and June.

Help? Thanks!

If your dad is Jamaican , you are eligible to get Jamaican citizenship and maintain a dual citizenship status. having Jamaican citizenship makes it a whole lot easier to live and work there .

I don't have an answer to your questions but...I wanted to sing to you..

Cecilia..you're breaking my heart!

Hi Cecilia - you've come to the right place!!! People like you who are living full and part time on-island will be by shortly with answers.

As stated with your father's natural citizenship it should not be a problem for you to establish dual citizenship as well. As far as I know, if you work online and generate income in Canada and bank it in Canada you will not need any working papers in Jamaica (though with citizenship that comes automatically so again, either way, no worries for you.)

Now - to have decent internet access you'll need to really research where that's available. I know for sure its available in Negril (limited, but available), Montego Bay, Kingston and Ocho Rios. I live part time in Negril and I have to get on the dang computer and deal with the internet every day for varying periods of time. I "share" my neighbor's DSL wirelessly with a booster and all sorts of stuff and he has the fastest connection available through Cable & Wireless that they offer. Flow - the broadband internet option - is not yet available in Negril and we are all waiting with baited breath for that - and have been for 4 or 5 years lol. The thing with C&W is that there are no more ports available to hook up to DSL directly so you'd need to either rent a house that already has it or do something like I do with a neighbor/yard mate that is close by. You can also buy one of those modem thingies. Claro, who held the lion's share of the market on those things went out of business in February and Digicel, who apparently bought them, is picking up the slack but slowly. They are selling those things to previous Claro users only right now - I hear the cost is around 10,000JMD (about $115.00USD). They work well but not as well as a directly wired DSL connection or a good wireless connection (like I have).

I know you didn't ask but I'll bring it up anyway -and I know you've been to Jamaica before but I'm not sure if you are fully aware of the state of medical care there or education there. Both are sorely lacking. My Jamaican friends' kids all went to the Negril All Age School and have proceeded to various high schools all over the island. There are some that are better than others and no matter what all children must test to be placed in a high school. The Negril All Age school is in a lot better shape than others (such as Brighton or Revival for example) but is still overcrowded (40-50 kids per class) and the teachers can get overwhelmed. School is expensive there - the children must buy their own books, uniforms as well as the usual school supplies - and once in high school there's tuition to boot. Most of my expat friends send or sent their kids to private school - my Negril based friends sent their children to Harding Hall and a few sent their middle school aged and high school aged kids as far as Montego Bay (the kids would leave at 6:00am by taxi and return no earlier than 7:00pm each day).

I have Canadian friends that have made a permanent move to Jamaica at the cost of losing their healthcare in Canada. When you are used to a Universal single-payer health care system it'll be a shock to have to pay for every little thing, especially with small ones. Now the healthcare costs in Jamaica are a fraction of of what they are in the States but the quality of care of is also a fraction of what it is in Canada or the US. Medications are not readily available - more than a few hospitals do not have working CatScan or MRI or even XRay machines.

All that said, I live there for three months in the winter when my business is slow and while I have a day to day living routine there it is similar to my day to day living routine in California in the summer (my other slow time) so I have more time to read, relax and do some fun stuff. Stay tuned to hear from DoctorO and others who live and have lived there full time.

With all respect, this is a huge move you and your family are making & I strongly suggest that you contact the Jamaican Embassy either in Kingston or your Jamaican consulate in Canada. Government requirements change often, especially here in Jamaica. I'd hate for you to come down with the family and find out there's a new law in place or a glitch in your plans. I know for one that with PNP now in office, the law may change from what we all knew when JLP was in govt. Also what you may hear today, may not be the case when you decide to make the move. I will say this, it's not easy, no matter what. From the time you get off the plane, you may be asked questions pertaining to your stay, and if you don't have the proper documents or information, you may get an unexpected surprise. Just take the time to do it the right way and gather up the information you need. In the long run it will pay off. The days of coming on vacation and then deciding to stay, well those days are long gone, the laws are different and the penalties are in place. Wishing you and your family all the best.

Thank you so much to everyone for their responses.
I am pretty sure that my stay wont be a problem.
Its my husband that I am worried about. If I get the dual citizenship then because he is married to me can that pass on to him as well? So that he can stay?

I am looking at MoBay and Ochi for residing in. For schooling I am only planning on 5 years of staying in Jamaica, and my daughter is 4 at the moment. 5 when we get there. So the high school stuff I dont have to worry about. Good to know though thank you

Who to talk to here has been a maze. Waiting for an email response but will probably call someone this week. Planning a trip down 2nd week of May to check out rental properties. Here's hoping Thanks again everyone.

"If I get the dual citizenship then because he is married to me can that pass on to him as well?"

I'm not 100% sure how this works in Jamaica but in my case I can have dual citizenship/a Euro passport but my husband cannot. If I chose to live in the Union I would imagine I could get some residency status for him based on our marriage but unless he applied for citizenship he wouldn't automatically get that being married to me.

I suggest you make phone calls. Jamaica is a bureaucrats dream and getting the same answer to one question from multiple people can be a challenge. Maybe work in some appointments/visits to the proper offices when you go down to start checking out rental properties to get the process going and get some of your questions answered.

excellent post Leeanne.

My advise if ro you to check out our Health Care rules. You would NOT want to give that up. Ever. Best you also investigate helicopter evacuation insurance as well. Please remember there is also hurricane season. Good luck!