Working in Antigua and Barbuda
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Belize on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Belize to Antigua and Barbuda · Residency through work
Two statutes have to be read together and only one of them is legible. The Antigua and Barbuda Labour Code, Cap. 27, is what forbids a non-citizen to work without a work permit and lists the handful of people the prohibition does not reach; the Immigration and Passport Act 2014 is what controls whether they may be here at all, and ties the length of their permission to the life of the permit. The Act exempts two classes from needing a permit at all: the holder of a permanent residence permit under section 42, and the spouse of a citizen holding a residence permit under section 47, who may work in any occupation for as long as the marriage subsists. The Labour Code's own exemption list, as it stands in the Revised Edition, does not reach OECS or CARICOM nationals - which is a sharp divergence from Saint Kitts and Nevis, whose Immigration Act exempts them by name.
At a glance
- Work permit
- Required for every non-citizen
Section F4 of the Labour Code, Cap. 27. The stored reading of that Division is a damaged scan; see the practical notes for what we could and could not read.
- Permanent resident
- May work without a work permit
Section 42(4)(a) of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014, conditional on registration under section 43.
- Spouse of a citizen
- May work in any occupation while the marriage subsists
Section 47(4)(a)(i) of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014.
- Immigration permission tied to the permit
- For the time stipulated in the work permit
Section 38(3)(b) of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014.
- OECS or CARICOM exemption from the work permit
- Not in the Labour Code we read
The Revised Edition's Division F3 exempts citizens, government employees, armed forces, accredited diplomats, UN staff and persons employed in an executive capacity by CARICOM, the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority, the Caribbean Development Bank or the OECS. It does not exempt ordinary OECS or CARICOM nationals. A 2011 amendment is reported to have added CARICOM skilled nationals; we did not reach it.
- Change of status for work
- Required of a visitor since 2023
Section 70A(1)(a), inserted by section 5 of the Immigration and Passport (Amendment) Act 2023.
Requirements
- A work permit issued by or on behalf of the Minister responsible for labour, under Division F of the Labour Code, before taking any employment or self-employment
- An immigration permission whose length matches the permit: section 38(3)(b) of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014 extends time "for a time stipulated in a work permit"
- Exempt without a permit: the holder of a permanent residence permit registered under section 43, by section 42(4)(a)
- Exempt without a permit: the spouse of a citizen holding a residence permit under section 47, for as long as the marriage subsists, by section 47(4)(a)(i)
- A residence permit is not itself a professional licence: section 46 preserves every other licensing requirement
How the process runs
- Step 1
Find the employer first
Labour Department
Division F of the Labour Code puts the application in the hands of the Employment Service, with a statement from the intended employer required unless the applicant is self-employed. There is no job-seeker permission in Antiguan law.
- Step 2
Apply for the work permit
Labour Department
The Chief of the Employment Service investigates and reports with a recommendation to the Minister, who decides whether and on what conditions the permit issues.
- Step 3
Match the immigration permission to it
Department of Immigration
Section 38(3)(b) of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014 extends time to remain for the period stipulated in the work permit. A visitor who means to take work must first change status under section 70A.
- Step 4
Count the years if you mean to stay
Department of Immigration
Four continuous years of lawful ordinary residence open the residence permit in section 40, which runs for three years at a time and is renewable.
In detail
What the Labour Code exempts, and what it does not
Division F3 of the Labour Code lists the employed persons to whom the work permit Division does not apply. In the Revised Edition the list is: a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda or a person employed by the Government; a member of the regular naval, military or air forces; a person accredited to the State by or under a Commonwealth or foreign government, and their family and servants; a person holding the status of a diplomatic agent; a person employed by the United Nations or its specialised agencies; a person employed in an executive capacity by the Caribbean Community, the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority, the Caribbean Development Bank, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States or its Economic Affairs Division; and any person or class of person the Minister declares the Division not to apply to. Every regional entry in that list is about working for a regional institution. None of it exempts an ordinary citizen of an OECS or CARICOM state from needing a permit. This is the sharpest contrast with Saint Kitts and Nevis, where section 19(1) of the Immigration Act exempts a citizen of a Protocol Member State and an approved CARICOM citizen from the work permit requirement by name, in the immigration statute itself.
Two exemptions that are in the immigration Act instead
Where Antiguan law does lift the work permit requirement, it does it in the Immigration and Passport Act rather than in the Labour Code. Section 42(4)(a) entitles a registered permanent resident to accept employment without a work permit. Section 47(4)(a)(i) entitles the spouse of a citizen, once granted a residence permit, to remain and work in any occupation for as long as the marriage subsists. Neither is expressed as an amendment to Division F; both simply state the entitlement. A reader searching the Labour Code for the exemptions will not find them.
Country-level policy
The government's laws site carries a Revised Edition whose chapters were revised to 1992, and a separate collection of Acts and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition is where search engines land, and for immigration it is wrong: it still presents the Immigration and Passport Act, Cap. 208, as the law, although section 87(1) of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014 repealed it outright. There is no consolidated edition of the 2014 Act carrying its 2015, 2021 and 2023 amendments, so the rules in force exist only as an Act plus three amending Acts applied by hand. The same shape repeats for citizenship by investment, where the current Regulations are a Schedule inside an amending Act and six Statutory Instruments have been applied to them since.
Section 42 of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014 creates a permit that is marketed as a tax arrangement and drafted as an immigration status. It asks for a permanent place of abode and thirty days a year in the country, or a substantial economic activity approved by Cabinet; it asks for an annual income of not less than US$500,000, raised from US$100,000 by the 2021 amendment; it gives the right to work without a work permit; it runs for twelve months at a time; and it requires an annual payment of prescribed fees to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue. In 2021 a second limb was added: section 42A lets a holder apply for citizenship by registration after seven unbroken years of ninety days a year, substantial economic activity and tax compliance, and makes the permit issued under that section valid for ten years.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Belize
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«an extension of time to remain in Antigua and Barbuda for a time stipulated in a work permit; or»The hinge between the two statutes: immigration follows labour, not the other way round.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«the permit holder is entitled to accept employment in Antigua and Barbuda without the requirement of a work permit; and»About this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«(i) the applicant shall, so long as the marriage subsists, be entitled to remain and work in Antigua and Barbuda in any occupation; and»A stronger right than the permanent resident's, because it is not conditional on registration and reaches "any occupation". It ends with the marriage: section 48(1) lets the permit be revoked if the marriage is dissolved within three years of the grant.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«A residence permit shall not, in itself, be construed as exempting the holder of the permit or a dependant of the holder of the permit from any obligation to hold a licence, permit or other authorisation required for engaging in any profession or occupation in Antigua and Barbuda.»The Professions Licensing Act, Cap. 347, is the general instrument behind this. We did not read it, and this record states nothing about what any particular profession requires.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«(a) work;»The first of the four purposes for which a bona fide visitor must apply to change status.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Prohibition F4. A person who is not a citizen»The stored reading of the Revised Edition loses the right-hand margin of every line in this Division, so the sentence cannot be quoted whole. Read against the text layer of the publisher's own PDF it continues "of Antigua and Barbuda shall not engage in employment or self-employment". Nothing in this record states a work permit fee or duration, because neither survives the capture legibly.
«Transitional provisions respecting employment»Named in the Act's arrangement of sections. Part X carries the savings and transitional provisions that bridge the repeal of Cap. 208.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The stored reading of the Labour Code, Cap. 27, is a recognition of a scanned Revised Edition and Division F has lost the right-hand margin of nearly every line: section F4 reads "A person who is not a citizen / against / employment. Barbuda shall not engage in employment / in Antigua and Barbuda unless he has obtained a / mit issued by or on behalf of the Minister." The sense is clear and the words are not. We read the publisher's own text layer directly to establish the content of F3 and F4, and this record quotes only what is legible in the stored reading. No work permit fee and no permit duration is published here, although both are in the Division, because neither could be quoted.
The Labour Code (Amendment) Act 2011 is reported to have amended section F3 to exempt CARICOM skilled nationals granted entry under the Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals Act 1997. We searched the government's laws site for it and did not reach it. The exemption may well exist; this record does not assert that it does not, only that the Revised Edition we read does not contain it.
The statement that there is no job-seeker permission rests on Part III and Part IV of the Immigration and Passport Act 2014 read in full. The Act's only permission that contemplates looking for something is the student permit.
Section 46 preserves professional licensing, and the Professions Licensing Act, Cap. 347, is the instrument behind it. We did not read that Act and nothing here says what any regulated profession requires of a foreign qualification.
- consolidatesImmigration and Passport Act, 2014, No. 6 of 2014
Laws of Antigua and Barbuda
About this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesAntigua and Barbuda Labour Code, Cap. 27, Revised Edition of the Laws of Antigua and Barbuda
Laws of Antigua and Barbuda
About this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesImmigration and Passport (Amendment) Act, 2023, No. 9 of 2023
Laws of Antigua and Barbuda
About this source
The government's law site, carrying two distinct collections: chapters of a Revised Edition whose base cut-off is 1992, and Acts, Bills and Statutory Instruments as printed year by year. The Revised Edition chapters are scanned page-images with a recognition layer; the annual Acts from about 2014 are born-digital.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The Revised Edition does not show repeal. It still publishes the Immigration and Passport Act as a chapter although the 2014 Act repealed it outright, with nothing on the page to say so, and that chapter is what a search engine surfaces first. It carries no later amendments either, and there is no consolidated text of any post-1992 Act, so a rule must always be cited as the section of the resulting Act naming the instrument that put it there. Its instrument collection is incomplete: the instrument that inserted one regulation of the investment rules is in neither collection. And its scans are lossy - a schedule paragraph disappears from extraction entirely and one Act loses its right margin - so a quotation from a chapter must be declared as a recognition and a negative claim must never rest on one alone.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source