Country-wide policy
What Trinidad and Tobago Publishes, and Why It Says Unofficial
Every page of the Laws of Trinidad and Tobago published on the Ministry of the Attorney General's site carries two lines of its own: UNOFFICIAL VERSION and UPDATED TO 31ST DECEMBER 2016. Both are true and both matter. The Law Revision Act makes the Law Revision Commission responsible for preparing, publishing and maintaining the revised edition; section 5 says the Laws shall be published in loose-leaf form or in such other form as the Commission may determine; section 6 provides that every page must be authorised for inclusion by Order and that every page so authorised, and no other, shall form part of the Laws; and section 15 makes those authorised pages, in all Courts and for all purposes, the proper Statute Book. The web PDFs do not claim to be those pages. Their Current Authorised Pages table has a column headed Authorised by L.R.O. and the column is empty. In May 2026 Parliament passed an Act to fix this - the Law Revision (Amendment) Act, which would let the Minister designate a website as the sole official website and make a download from it deemed official and authoritative, prevailing over the loose-leaf where they differ. It was assented on 15 May 2026 and comes into operation on such date as is fixed by the President by Proclamation. No such Proclamation appears among the 822 legal notices of 2026.
Topics it changes
- Visiting as a tourist
- Residency on passive income
- Residency as a retiree
- Residency through work
- Residency through investment
- Residency as a student
- Residency through ancestry
- Residency through marriage
- Residency under a regional treaty
- Becoming a citizen
- When you become a tax resident
- Opening a bank account
- Access to healthcare
- Driving and licence exchange
- Bringing your belongings
At a glance
- What the published edition says it is
- UNOFFICIAL VERSION
- Date it is updated to
- 31 December 2016
The words printed on every page of the edition are UPDATED TO 31ST DECEMBER 2016.
- Authorised by L.R.O. column
- Blank on every Chapter we read
- What is authentic in law
- The pages authorised by Law Revision Order, in all Courts and for all purposes
- Act that would make a website official
- Law Revision (Amendment) Act, 2026 (Act No. 8 of 2026)
- Assented
- 15 May 2026
The date on the face of Act No. 8 of 2026, which carries the words Assented to 15th May, 2026.
- In force
- Not shown to be in force
- Website designated under it
- None found
What the Act makes authentic, and where it is not
The chain in the Law Revision Act is short and it is about pieces of paper. Section 4 charges the Commission with preparing, publishing and maintaining a revised edition. Section 5 says it shall be published in loose-leaf form or in such other form as the Commission may determine. Section 6 requires every page to be authorised for inclusion by a Law Revision Order and provides that every page so authorised, and no other, shall form part of the Laws; subsection (3) requires every page to bear on its face or overleaf a reference to the Order that authorised it. Section 7 requires the heading Laws of Trinidad and Tobago at the top of every page and makes it an offence punishable by five thousand dollars and two years' imprisonment to print or possess a page falsely purporting to be one. Section 15 then makes the authorised pages, in all Courts and for all purposes, the proper Statute Book in respect of the written laws contained in them as in operation on the last revision date. The pages on the website carry the heading. They do not carry the Order reference: the Current Authorised Pages table on the front of each Chapter has a column for it and the column has nothing in it. That, and not the domain name, is why the pages say UNOFFICIAL VERSION.
Compared with Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia's revised edition is published at a .com address and is nevertheless the authentic law, because the Revised Edition of the Laws Act makes a data bank reached by remote computer a statutory format and the Attorney General's order under section 10(5) makes what results the sole authentic edition. Trinidad and Tobago's statute has no equivalent of either. Section 5 contemplates a form other than loose-leaf only if the Commission determines on one, and no determination is recorded in the Chapter's own note on subsidiary legislation, which lists Commencement, Revision Date, Inclusion and Removal, Special Inclusion, Omitted Acts, Metrication, Transfer of Functions, Increase of Monetary Sums and Correction Orders, and nothing about electronic publication. The domain is not the test anywhere; the statute is, and here the statute has not yet been made to reach the website.
The Act that would change it, and the Proclamation that has not come
Act No. 8 of 2026 would insert sections 5A, 5B and 5C. Section 5A(1) would let the Minister by Order designate a website as the sole official website for the publication of electronic versions of the Laws; 5A(3) would make an electronic copy or printout from it deemed official and authoritative unless the contrary is proven, provided it is in PDF or another approved format and meets prescribed requirements about how it was created, transmitted, stored and authenticated; 5B would make the electronic version prevail over the loose-leaf where they are inconsistent; 5C would require a notice of any correction. Section 7 of the Act would amend section 15 so that the proper Statute Book expressly includes the electronic version. The Act was passed by the Senate on 10 March 2026, by the House on 13 March, agreed as amended on 21 April, and assented on 15 May 2026. Its own section 2 says it comes into operation on such date as is fixed by the President by Proclamation. We read all 822 legal notices of 2026 in the Digital Legislative Library's chronological list and none of them is that Proclamation, and none is an Order designating a website.
What the law says
«4. The Commission shall prepare, publish and maintain a
Commission.
revised edition of the written laws of Trinidad and Tobago (to be
called the Laws of Trinidad and Tobago) in accordance with the
provisions of this Act.»Quoted as printed: the marginal note sits inside the text column. The Commission is established by section 3 and consists of a Chairman appointed by the President, the Chairman of the Law Reform Commission, and such other legal officers as the President may appoint.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Commission established by section 3 of the Law Revision Act, Chap. 3:03, whose statutory function under section 4 is to prepare, publish and maintain the revised edition of the written laws of Trinidad and Tobago. It serves the whole statute book as one PDF per Chapter from a flat path, each file carrying the Chapter number as its name, together with the subsidiary legislation made under that Act printed behind it and an index of it on the front. The Constitution is served separately. This is where every consolidated Chapter cited for this country comes from: the Immigration Act 18:01 with the Immigration Regulations, the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act 18:03, the Citizenship Act 1:50, the Income Tax Act 75:01, the Caribbean Community Act 81:11 with the whole Revised Treaty as its Schedule, the Customs Act 78:01, the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act 48:50 with the 1986 driving exemption Notice, the Foreign Investment Act 70:07, the Exchange Control Act 79:50, the Proceeds of Crime Act 11:27 with the Financial Obligations Regulations, the Health Surcharge Act 75:05 and the Regional Health Authorities Act 29:05.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It says on every page that it is not the law. Each page carries the words UNOFFICIAL VERSION and UPDATED TO 31ST DECEMBER 2016, and the Current Authorised Pages table on the front of each Chapter has a column headed Authorised by L.R.O. which is empty. Under sections 6 and 15 of the Law Revision Act only pages authorised by a Law Revision Order form part of the Laws and are the proper Statute Book, so these files are a copy and not the edition. It must therefore never be cited as the authentic text, and never for the law after 31 December 2016: the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act printed here is the pre-2022 text, in which sections 3 and 4 are the other way round from the sections now in force, and the Income Tax Act printed here states a personal allowance of seventy-two thousand dollars that has twice been raised since. It must also not be used for commencement after that date, because no instrument later than the cut-off appears in it at all. Its layout sets each section's marginal note inside the text column rather than in a margin, so a section number usually sits in the middle of a line and a sentence is interrupted by the note's words; quotations have to reproduce that, and our own check for sections an edition lists and does not print reports these Chapters as incomplete when they are not. Its server sends an incomplete TLS chain, so a plain client rejects it until the GeoTrust intermediate is supplied.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«5. The Laws shall be published in loose-leaf form or in such
other form as the Commission may determine and shall comprise
such pages as may be authorised to be included therein under
section 6.»Unlike Saint Lucia's Revised Edition of the Laws Act, which names a data bank reached by remote computer as a statutory format, this section names only loose-leaf and leaves anything else to the Commission's determination. Nothing we found records such a determination.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Commission established by section 3 of the Law Revision Act, Chap. 3:03, whose statutory function under section 4 is to prepare, publish and maintain the revised edition of the written laws of Trinidad and Tobago. It serves the whole statute book as one PDF per Chapter from a flat path, each file carrying the Chapter number as its name, together with the subsidiary legislation made under that Act printed behind it and an index of it on the front. The Constitution is served separately. This is where every consolidated Chapter cited for this country comes from: the Immigration Act 18:01 with the Immigration Regulations, the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act 18:03, the Citizenship Act 1:50, the Income Tax Act 75:01, the Caribbean Community Act 81:11 with the whole Revised Treaty as its Schedule, the Customs Act 78:01, the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act 48:50 with the 1986 driving exemption Notice, the Foreign Investment Act 70:07, the Exchange Control Act 79:50, the Proceeds of Crime Act 11:27 with the Financial Obligations Regulations, the Health Surcharge Act 75:05 and the Regional Health Authorities Act 29:05.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It says on every page that it is not the law. Each page carries the words UNOFFICIAL VERSION and UPDATED TO 31ST DECEMBER 2016, and the Current Authorised Pages table on the front of each Chapter has a column headed Authorised by L.R.O. which is empty. Under sections 6 and 15 of the Law Revision Act only pages authorised by a Law Revision Order form part of the Laws and are the proper Statute Book, so these files are a copy and not the edition. It must therefore never be cited as the authentic text, and never for the law after 31 December 2016: the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act printed here is the pre-2022 text, in which sections 3 and 4 are the other way round from the sections now in force, and the Income Tax Act printed here states a personal allowance of seventy-two thousand dollars that has twice been raised since. It must also not be used for commencement after that date, because no instrument later than the cut-off appears in it at all. Its layout sets each section's marginal note inside the text column rather than in a margin, so a section number usually sits in the middle of a line and a sentence is interrupted by the note's words; quotations have to reproduce that, and our own check for sections an edition lists and does not print reports these Chapters as incomplete when they are not. Its server sends an incomplete TLS chain, so a plain client rejects it until the GeoTrust intermediate is supplied.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«6. (1) The Commission, with the approval of the Minister,
pages to be shall by Order authorise the inclusion in the Laws of every page
authorised by
Order.
to be comprised therein, and every page so authorised, and
[47 of 1980]. no other, shall form part of the Laws.»Quoted as printed: the marginal note and the amendment reference sit inside the text column. The words and no other are what the empty L.R.O. column on the website's pages runs into.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Commission established by section 3 of the Law Revision Act, Chap. 3:03, whose statutory function under section 4 is to prepare, publish and maintain the revised edition of the written laws of Trinidad and Tobago. It serves the whole statute book as one PDF per Chapter from a flat path, each file carrying the Chapter number as its name, together with the subsidiary legislation made under that Act printed behind it and an index of it on the front. The Constitution is served separately. This is where every consolidated Chapter cited for this country comes from: the Immigration Act 18:01 with the Immigration Regulations, the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act 18:03, the Citizenship Act 1:50, the Income Tax Act 75:01, the Caribbean Community Act 81:11 with the whole Revised Treaty as its Schedule, the Customs Act 78:01, the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act 48:50 with the 1986 driving exemption Notice, the Foreign Investment Act 70:07, the Exchange Control Act 79:50, the Proceeds of Crime Act 11:27 with the Financial Obligations Regulations, the Health Surcharge Act 75:05 and the Regional Health Authorities Act 29:05.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It says on every page that it is not the law. Each page carries the words UNOFFICIAL VERSION and UPDATED TO 31ST DECEMBER 2016, and the Current Authorised Pages table on the front of each Chapter has a column headed Authorised by L.R.O. which is empty. Under sections 6 and 15 of the Law Revision Act only pages authorised by a Law Revision Order form part of the Laws and are the proper Statute Book, so these files are a copy and not the edition. It must therefore never be cited as the authentic text, and never for the law after 31 December 2016: the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act printed here is the pre-2022 text, in which sections 3 and 4 are the other way round from the sections now in force, and the Income Tax Act printed here states a personal allowance of seventy-two thousand dollars that has twice been raised since. It must also not be used for commencement after that date, because no instrument later than the cut-off appears in it at all. Its layout sets each section's marginal note inside the text column rather than in a margin, so a section number usually sits in the middle of a line and a sentence is interrupted by the note's words; quotations have to reproduce that, and our own check for sections an edition lists and does not print reports these Chapters as incomplete when they are not. Its server sends an incomplete TLS chain, so a plain client rejects it until the GeoTrust intermediate is supplied.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«15. Subject to sections 14 and 17, the pages duly authorised Laws of
for inclusion in the Laws shall, in all Courts and for all Trinidad
Tobago
and
purposes, be the proper Statute Book of Trinidad and Tobago in constitute
proper Statute
respect of the written laws contained therein as in operation on Book.
the last revision date; and all such written laws shall be
judicially noticed.»Quoted as printed: the marginal note sits inside the text column, splitting the words Trinidad and Tobago.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Commission established by section 3 of the Law Revision Act, Chap. 3:03, whose statutory function under section 4 is to prepare, publish and maintain the revised edition of the written laws of Trinidad and Tobago. It serves the whole statute book as one PDF per Chapter from a flat path, each file carrying the Chapter number as its name, together with the subsidiary legislation made under that Act printed behind it and an index of it on the front. The Constitution is served separately. This is where every consolidated Chapter cited for this country comes from: the Immigration Act 18:01 with the Immigration Regulations, the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act 18:03, the Citizenship Act 1:50, the Income Tax Act 75:01, the Caribbean Community Act 81:11 with the whole Revised Treaty as its Schedule, the Customs Act 78:01, the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act 48:50 with the 1986 driving exemption Notice, the Foreign Investment Act 70:07, the Exchange Control Act 79:50, the Proceeds of Crime Act 11:27 with the Financial Obligations Regulations, the Health Surcharge Act 75:05 and the Regional Health Authorities Act 29:05.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It says on every page that it is not the law. Each page carries the words UNOFFICIAL VERSION and UPDATED TO 31ST DECEMBER 2016, and the Current Authorised Pages table on the front of each Chapter has a column headed Authorised by L.R.O. which is empty. Under sections 6 and 15 of the Law Revision Act only pages authorised by a Law Revision Order form part of the Laws and are the proper Statute Book, so these files are a copy and not the edition. It must therefore never be cited as the authentic text, and never for the law after 31 December 2016: the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act printed here is the pre-2022 text, in which sections 3 and 4 are the other way round from the sections now in force, and the Income Tax Act printed here states a personal allowance of seventy-two thousand dollars that has twice been raised since. It must also not be used for commencement after that date, because no instrument later than the cut-off appears in it at all. Its layout sets each section's marginal note inside the text column rather than in a margin, so a section number usually sits in the middle of a line and a sentence is interrupted by the note's words; quotations have to reproduce that, and our own check for sections an edition lists and does not print reports these Chapters as incomplete when they are not. Its server sends an incomplete TLS chain, so a plain client rejects it until the GeoTrust intermediate is supplied.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«17. (1) Nothing in this Act, except in section 23 and the
make alterations
of substance. Second Schedule, shall be construed to confer power on the
Second Commission to alter the substance of any written law.»This is why the Commission footnotes the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in a 1986 driving Notice instead of removing it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Commission established by section 3 of the Law Revision Act, Chap. 3:03, whose statutory function under section 4 is to prepare, publish and maintain the revised edition of the written laws of Trinidad and Tobago. It serves the whole statute book as one PDF per Chapter from a flat path, each file carrying the Chapter number as its name, together with the subsidiary legislation made under that Act printed behind it and an index of it on the front. The Constitution is served separately. This is where every consolidated Chapter cited for this country comes from: the Immigration Act 18:01 with the Immigration Regulations, the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act 18:03, the Citizenship Act 1:50, the Income Tax Act 75:01, the Caribbean Community Act 81:11 with the whole Revised Treaty as its Schedule, the Customs Act 78:01, the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act 48:50 with the 1986 driving exemption Notice, the Foreign Investment Act 70:07, the Exchange Control Act 79:50, the Proceeds of Crime Act 11:27 with the Financial Obligations Regulations, the Health Surcharge Act 75:05 and the Regional Health Authorities Act 29:05.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It says on every page that it is not the law. Each page carries the words UNOFFICIAL VERSION and UPDATED TO 31ST DECEMBER 2016, and the Current Authorised Pages table on the front of each Chapter has a column headed Authorised by L.R.O. which is empty. Under sections 6 and 15 of the Law Revision Act only pages authorised by a Law Revision Order form part of the Laws and are the proper Statute Book, so these files are a copy and not the edition. It must therefore never be cited as the authentic text, and never for the law after 31 December 2016: the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act printed here is the pre-2022 text, in which sections 3 and 4 are the other way round from the sections now in force, and the Income Tax Act printed here states a personal allowance of seventy-two thousand dollars that has twice been raised since. It must also not be used for commencement after that date, because no instrument later than the cut-off appears in it at all. Its layout sets each section's marginal note inside the text column rather than in a margin, so a section number usually sits in the middle of a line and a sentence is interrupted by the note's words; quotations have to reproduce that, and our own check for sections an edition lists and does not print reports these Chapters as incomplete when they are not. Its server sends an incomplete TLS chain, so a plain client rejects it until the GeoTrust intermediate is supplied.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«5A. (1) The Minister may, by Order,
of electronic
versions of designate a website as the sole official
the Laws website for the publication of electronic
versions of the Laws.»Quoted as printed: the publisher sets the marginal note Publication of electronic versions of the Laws inside the text column.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The legislature's own site, publishing every Bill and every Act as printed in the Legal Supplement Part A to the Gazette, with the assent date, the Act number, the commencement section and the dates of passage in each House on the face of the document. Files sit under a WordPress uploads path named a<year>-<number>.pdf, sometimes with a g suffix where the Gazette imprint is included. Act No. 9 of 2022 and the Law Revision (Amendment) Act, 2026 were read here.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes instruments as enacted and does not consolidate, so an Act read here is the amending Act and its section numbering is its own rather than that of the law that results. It must never be cited for the current state of a provision. It says nothing about whether an Act whose commencement is left to Proclamation has been proclaimed - for that the Legal Notices are the record - and an Act on this site is therefore not evidence that any of it is in force. The upload directory in the path bears no relation to the date of the Act, so a document cannot be found by constructing its address from the Act number and year.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«5B. On or after the coming into opera-
between
printouts and tion of the Law Revision (Amendment)
electronic
versions
Act, 2026, where there is any inconsistency
between the Laws published under section 5
and an electronic version of the Laws
published under section 5A, the electronic
version of the Laws shall prevail over the
Laws published under section 5 to the
extent of the inconsistency.»About this source
The legislature's own site, publishing every Bill and every Act as printed in the Legal Supplement Part A to the Gazette, with the assent date, the Act number, the commencement section and the dates of passage in each House on the face of the document. Files sit under a WordPress uploads path named a<year>-<number>.pdf, sometimes with a g suffix where the Gazette imprint is included. Act No. 9 of 2022 and the Law Revision (Amendment) Act, 2026 were read here.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes instruments as enacted and does not consolidate, so an Act read here is the amending Act and its section numbering is its own rather than that of the law that results. It must never be cited for the current state of a provision. It says nothing about whether an Act whose commencement is left to Proclamation has been proclaimed - for that the Legal Notices are the record - and an Act on this site is therefore not evidence that any of it is in force. The upload directory in the path bears no relation to the date of the Act, so a document cannot be found by constructing its address from the Act number and year.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«2. This Act shall come into operation on such date as Commencement
is fixed by the President by Proclamation.»About this source
The legislature's own site, publishing every Bill and every Act as printed in the Legal Supplement Part A to the Gazette, with the assent date, the Act number, the commencement section and the dates of passage in each House on the face of the document. Files sit under a WordPress uploads path named a<year>-<number>.pdf, sometimes with a g suffix where the Gazette imprint is included. Act No. 9 of 2022 and the Law Revision (Amendment) Act, 2026 were read here.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes instruments as enacted and does not consolidate, so an Act read here is the amending Act and its section numbering is its own rather than that of the law that results. It must never be cited for the current state of a provision. It says nothing about whether an Act whose commencement is left to Proclamation has been proclaimed - for that the Legal Notices are the record - and an Act on this site is therefore not evidence that any of it is in force. The upload directory in the path bears no relation to the date of the Act, so a document cannot be found by constructing its address from the Act number and year.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Two consequences follow for everything on this site about Trinidad and Tobago. Any provision amended after 31 December 2016 is not shown in the published Chapter, which is why the CARICOM skills certificate record is built from the 2022 amending Act and not from Chapter 18:03. And no reading of the web edition can be cited as the authentic text, because the edition says so itself.
The Digital Legislative Library at laws.gov.tt carries the same Acts to the same date and labels its own post-2006 versions Unofficial Update, but its collections of legal notices and its alphabetical register of Acts run to 2026. For anything after the cut-off that library and the Parliament's site are where the instrument is.
The 2006 Revised Edition is the last the library labels as an edition. Supplements after it are marked Unofficial Update, which matches what the Commission's own Act says: a page is part of the Laws only if a Law Revision Order says so.
The Law Revision Commission sets each section's marginal note inside the text column rather than in a margin, so a section number usually sits in the middle of a line rather than at its start, and a sentence is interrupted by the note's words. Quotations on this site reproduce that. It also means our own check for sections an edition lists and does not print reports these Chapters as incomplete when they are not: every section it flagged in the Foreign Investment Act, the Exchange Control Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act, the Law Revision Act, the Constitution and the Income Tax Act was found in the body by hand.
This record rests on the Law Revision Act Chapter 3:03 in full, on the Law Revision (Amendment) Act 2026 as gazetted, on the Digital Legislative Library's chronological list of legal notices for 2026, and on the mastheads of every Chapter read for this country.