Working in Dominica
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of The Bahamas 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 The Bahamas to Dominica · Residency through work
A work permit is required and the statute that is supposed to create it does not. The Immigration and Passport Act as consolidated contains no work permit provision at all: the only hook is section 9(1), which lets the Minister attach conditions as to occupation to a residence permit. The Act's own subsidiary regulations go further in a different direction, letting an officer accept a job offer as proof that an immigrant will not become a public charge, provided the employer undertakes to repatriate him if the engagement ends within two years. The only group with a statutory exemption from the permit requirement is CARICOM skilled nationals, and that exemption is granted by an Order whose recital cites a section of the Immigration and Passport Act that does not confer the power.
At a glance
- Work permit provision in the Immigration and Passport Act
- None
Reading the consolidated Act in full, no section creates a work permit. Section 9(1) lets the Minister condition a permit as to occupation, and that is the nearest thing to it.
- Employer's repatriation undertaking
- 2 years from landing
Regulation 5(3) of the Immigration (Restrictions) Regulations. The employer must undertake to repatriate the immigrant if the engagement is terminated within two years of his landing.
- Security deposit against becoming a public charge
- EC$1,000 / EC$4,000 / EC$10,000
Regulation 5(1), graded by region of origin, applied where the immigrant cannot otherwise satisfy the officer. A job offer with an employer's undertaking is an alternative to depositing it.
- Work permit exemption: who
- University graduates, artistes, musicians, media workers, sports personsas of 2003-04-17
Regulation 3 of the Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals (Work Permit) (Exemption) Order, 2003. Nurses, teachers, artisans and household domestics - added to the regime in other CARICOM states - do not appear in Dominica's Order.
- Fee for a skills recognition certificate
- EC$100as of 2003-04-17
Regulation 4 of the 2003 Order, payable with the application to the Minister.
- Residence permit application fee charged by the Ministry
- EC$250 for a CARICOM national, EC$800 for everyone else
From the Government's residence-permit page, which treats work permit and residence permit as the two statuses a visitor may convert into.
Requirements
- A job offer, with the nature and period of the employment and the proposed wage stated
- An undertaking by the employer to repatriate you if the engagement is terminated within two years of landing
- A permit under section 9 of the Immigration and Passport Act carrying a condition as to occupation
- A work permit from the Labour Division of the Ministry of National Security, Labour and Immigration
- An extension of stay from the Immigration Department covering the whole period the application is pending
- For a CARICOM skilled national: a Certificate of Recognition of Caribbean Community Skills Qualification, and then an exemption certificate - no work permit
In detail
A permit nobody legislated
Dominica requires a work permit. The Government's residence-permit page refers to an applicant whose "immigration status changes to Work or Residence Permit", the 2003 Order exempts certain CARICOM nationals from "the requirement to possess ... Work Permit to work in Dominica", and the Ministry of National Security publishes a combined application form for a permit to reside or work. What we could not find is the provision that imposes the requirement. The Immigration and Passport Act as consolidated has no work permit section. The closest is section 9(1), under which the Minister may grant a permit subject to conditions as to "occupation" - a power to condition a permit, not a power to require one before working. Six amending Acts between 2000 and 2013 are not in the consolidation, and one of them may well have inserted it. Until one is read, this record states that the permit exists and is administered, and does not state the section that creates it.
The employer carries the repatriation risk
Regulation 5(3) of the Immigration (Restrictions) Regulations is the operative sponsorship rule and it is unusually explicit. An officer may accept, as sufficient evidence that an immigrant will not become a public charge, that bona fide employment awaits him - but only if the evidence shows the nature and period of the employment and the proposed wage, is supported as to the employer's ability to perform, and includes an undertaking by the employer to repatriate the immigrant if the engagement ends within two years of his landing. The alternative, under regulation 5(1), is for the immigrant himself to deposit EC$1,000, EC$4,000 or EC$10,000 with the Permanent Secretary according to where he belongs.
The CARICOM exemption, and its five categories
A national of a qualifying CARICOM state who holds a Certificate of Recognition of Caribbean Community Skills Qualification may apply for an exemption from the work permit requirement, and the Minister may issue an exemption certificate. The categories are university graduates, artistes, musicians, media workers and sports persons - the five in Article 46 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas as it stood in 2001. Dominica has not widened them since. Saint Kitts and Nevis added nurses and teachers in 2008; Belize's schedule now reaches artisans and household domestics with a Caribbean Vocational Qualification, and defines an artiste to include a barber. In Dominica a CARICOM nurse is not in the exempted categories under the 2003 Order.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of The Bahamas
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
«9. (1) The Minister or by his direction any immigration officer may grant a permit for a prohibited immigrant to enter and remain in the State subject to such conditions as to duration and place of residence, occupation, or any other matter or thing, whether similar to those before enumerated or not, as the Minister may think expedient.»This is the whole of Dominica's residence law. There are no categories: one discretionary permit, conditioned on whatever the Minister thinks expedient.
«(3) Applications for permits to remain in Dominica for any period shall be accompanied by an application fee of fifty dollars.»Fifty dollars for the application and five hundred for the licence where the permission is permanent or longer than a year. The Government's own residence-permit page charges EC$250 or EC$800 for the application alone.
«(5) The Minister may in the case of religious bodies and persons belonging to Commonwealth Caribbean countries waive the fees payable under subsections (3) and (4).»The statutory concession for Commonwealth Caribbean nationals is a waiver. The agency page turns it into a discount - EC$250 instead of EC$800.
«(3) The immigration officer may accept as sufficient evidence that the immigrant is not likely to become a public charge if (not being a person suffering from infirmity of mind or body or ill health) he is satisfied that bona fide employment is awaiting the immigrant in the State, the evidence to support such contention must show the nature and period of the employment and the proposed wage, and be supported as to the ability of the prospective employer to carry out his undertaking and include an undertaking by the employer to repatriate the immigrant.
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if the engagement is terminated within two years from the time he landed in the State.»Dominica's answer to the employer-sponsorship question, written in 1942 and still printed with the Act. The employer carries the repatriation risk for two years.
«3. The category of qualified skilled persons exempted from
the requirement to possess, pursuant to the provisions of the
Immigration and Passport Act or any other enactment, Work
Permit to work in Dominica are:-
a. University Graduates
b. Artistes
c. Musicians
d. Media Workers
e. Sports Persons»Five categories, the five that Article 46 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas named in 2001. Dominica has not extended them, unlike Saint Kitts and Nevis, which added nurses and teachers in 2008, or Belize, which added artisans and household domestics.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's collection: the Revised Laws of 1990 as chapters, plus Acts and Statutory Rules and Orders year by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current text of any Act: the chapters are the 1990 revised edition authorised to the mid-nineties, and later amending Acts sit in the collection without being folded in - the immigration chapter prints its last amendment as 1995 while the database lists six later ones. It must not be cited for completeness either: the visa-exemption Regulations actually in force are absent from it entirely, as are three Acts of one recent year, so an absence here is not proof of non-existence. Every chapter is an image-only scan, so a quotation from one is a recognition. And its catalogue titles are unreliable - one instrument is listed under a name that is not its short title.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«MADE by the Minister under section 15(2) of the Immigration
and Passport Act, chap. 18:01.»The enabling power is wrong as recited. Section 15 of the Immigration and Passport Act is the appeal provision; the regulation-making power is section 29. Section 15(2) of the Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals Act 1995 is the general power to make Regulations, and that is almost certainly what was meant.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's collection: the Revised Laws of 1990 as chapters, plus Acts and Statutory Rules and Orders year by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current text of any Act: the chapters are the 1990 revised edition authorised to the mid-nineties, and later amending Acts sit in the collection without being folded in - the immigration chapter prints its last amendment as 1995 while the database lists six later ones. It must not be cited for completeness either: the visa-exemption Regulations actually in force are absent from it entirely, as are three Acts of one recent year, so an absence here is not proof of non-existence. Every chapter is an image-only scan, so a quotation from one is a recognition. And its catalogue titles are unreliable - one instrument is listed under a name that is not its short title.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«4. A Citizen of Dominica or of a Qualifying Caribbean
Community State may apply to the Minister for a certificate set
out in Schedule II of the Act (set out in these Regulations as
Schedule A) in the form set out in Schedule B to these Regulations
with a fee of 100 dollars.»The certificate is applied for in Dominica by a Dominican or by a national of a qualifying state; the exemption from the work permit is then a separate application under regulation 5.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's collection: the Revised Laws of 1990 as chapters, plus Acts and Statutory Rules and Orders year by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current text of any Act: the chapters are the 1990 revised edition authorised to the mid-nineties, and later amending Acts sit in the collection without being folded in - the immigration chapter prints its last amendment as 1995 while the database lists six later ones. It must not be cited for completeness either: the visa-exemption Regulations actually in force are absent from it entirely, as are three Acts of one recent year, so an absence here is not proof of non-existence. Every chapter is an image-only scan, so a quotation from one is a recognition. And its catalogue titles are unreliable - one instrument is listed under a name that is not its short title.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
Practical notes
This record rests on the Immigration and Passport Act, Chapter 18:01 as consolidated, including sections 5, 7, 9, 10, 18, 19 and 28 and the Immigration (Restrictions) Regulations printed with it, and on the Government portal's residence-permit, permanent-residence and extension-of-stay pages. None of them names a category of the kind this topic describes. The Act's own list of amendments stops at 1995 and six later amending Acts exist that the consolidation does not carry, so this is an absence in what we read.
The claim that the Immigration and Passport Act creates no work permit is bounded by the consolidated text of Chapter 18:01, read in full, including the Immigration (Passport Exemption) Regulations, the Immigration (Restrictions) Regulations, the Passport Regulations and the Aliens (Visa Exemption) Regulations printed with it. The consolidation is authorised to 1995 and does not carry the amending Acts of 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2013, which we did not read.
The work permit fee is not stated here. The Government's residence-permit page gives fees for a residence permit only, and we did not find a fee schedule for work permits in the Act, its Regulations or the portal.
S.R.O. 21 of 2003 recites section 15(2) of the Immigration and Passport Act as its enabling power. That section is the right of appeal against detention. The Order is reproduced here as printed, including that recital, because an instrument made under a power that does not exist is a fact about the instrument.
- consolidatesImmigration and Passport Act, Chapter 18:01, Revised Laws of Dominica
Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica - Laws of Dominica
About this source
The government's collection: the Revised Laws of 1990 as chapters, plus Acts and Statutory Rules and Orders year by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current text of any Act: the chapters are the 1990 revised edition authorised to the mid-nineties, and later amending Acts sit in the collection without being folded in - the immigration chapter prints its last amendment as 1995 while the database lists six later ones. It must not be cited for completeness either: the visa-exemption Regulations actually in force are absent from it entirely, as are three Acts of one recent year, so an absence here is not proof of non-existence. Every chapter is an image-only scan, so a quotation from one is a recognition. And its catalogue titles are unreliable - one instrument is listed under a name that is not its short title.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- administersHow Do I Apply for a Residence Permit?
Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica Web Portal
About this source
The labour, immigration and customs account of what the ministries require and charge - the only published source for residence and permanence fees and for the returning-resident concessions.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the law. Its fees contradict the Act by a factor of sixteen, its visa periods contradict the Regulations, and it states a five-year permanent-residence rule that exists in no instrument. Cite it for what a ministry charges and asks for, never for what the law requires, and never for a nationality list.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesCaribbean Community Skilled Nationals (Work Permit) (Exemption) Order, 2003 (S.R.O. 21 of 2003)
Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica - Laws of Dominica
About this source
The government's collection: the Revised Laws of 1990 as chapters, plus Acts and Statutory Rules and Orders year by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current text of any Act: the chapters are the 1990 revised edition authorised to the mid-nineties, and later amending Acts sit in the collection without being folded in - the immigration chapter prints its last amendment as 1995 while the database lists six later ones. It must not be cited for completeness either: the visa-exemption Regulations actually in force are absent from it entirely, as are three Acts of one recent year, so an absence here is not proof of non-existence. Every chapter is an image-only scan, so a quotation from one is a recognition. And its catalogue titles are unreliable - one instrument is listed under a name that is not its short title.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source