Working in Trinidad and Tobago
This replaces the general rule for you
CARICOM nationals: no work permit with a skills certificate, and half the fees without one
Regulation 10(15) of the Immigration Regulations exempts a national of a Member State seeking to exercise any of his rights under the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act from the work permit requirement altogether. That is the whole of regulation 10 disapplied - the prohibition, the employer's application, the monthly fee and the offence. A CARICOM national without a skills certificate is in the ordinary position and needs a permit, but pays half of several of the fees: paragraph B of the Fourth Schedule gives citizens of CARICOM countries one-half of the fees for a Landing Certificate variation, a Certificate of Residence, a Student's Permit, a Change of Status and letters confirming citizenship or residence. The work permit fees themselves are not among them, so the TT$1,200 application and the TT$900 a month are the same for everyone.
Everyone who is not a citizen, not a resident, and not inside the thirty-day window needs a work permit. Regulation 10 of the Immigration Regulations puts the prohibition on the worker and on the employer at once, and makes both of them guilty of an offence if it is broken. The thirty-day window is narrow and exact: one period not exceeding thirty days in every twelve consecutive months, so it cannot be split into two fortnights. The employer applies, not the worker, and for fewer than ten people the application is made online through TTBizLink. The fees doubled on 1 January 2026: TT$1,200 to apply and TT$900 a month for the duration of the permit, subject to a minimum of TT$2,700. A CARICOM national exercising rights under the Skilled Nationals Act is exempt from regulation 10 altogether. So, on the face of the Regulations, is a CARICOM national exercising the right of establishment or the right to provide a service under the Caribbean Community (Movement of Factors) Act - an Act that does not exist in the Laws of Trinidad and Tobago.
At a glance
- Work without a permit
- One period not exceeding thirty days in every twelve consecutive months
- Application fee
- TT$1,200as of 2026-01-01
Fourth Schedule item (ii) as substituted by LN 493 of 2025. It was TT$600 before.
- Fee for the duration of the permit
- TT$900 per month, minimum TT$2,700as of 2026-01-01
Fourth Schedule item (iii) as substituted. It was TT$450 per month with a TT$1,350 minimum before.
- Who applies
- The employer
- Applications for ten or more people
- A single group application on the prescribed group form
Form 3A of the First Schedule to the Immigration Regulations, under regulation 10(3A).
- CARICOM skilled nationals
- Exempt from the work permit requirement
Regulation 10(15).
- Holder of a Minister's permit
- Exempt from the work permit requirement until 31 December 2026
Immigration (Exemption From Work Permit) (Immigrants) Order 2025, as amended in 2026. The exemption is dated and has been extended once.
- Registrant card for an exempt permit holder
- TT$700as of 2026-03-03
Introduced by LN 41 of 2026; the 2025 Order had charged nothing for the first card.
Requirements
- An employer who applies on the prescribed form, in twelve copies on paper or electronically through TTBizLink
- Payment of the application fee before the application is processed
- The permit, which states the terms and conditions of the employment and must be produced on demand
- Notification to the Chief Immigration Officer at least seven days before arrival and fourteen days before expiry or termination
- Security for the cost of repatriation if the Chief Immigration Officer requires it
In detail
The thirty days, read exactly
Regulation 10(1)(c) exempts a person entering to engage in gainful occupation for one period not exceeding thirty days in every twelve consecutive months. The Ministry of Homeland Security repeats the words on its own work permit page, which is worth noting because agencies usually paraphrase. The trap is the word one. This is not thirty days of work in a year; it is a single unbroken period. A consultant who comes for three weeks in March and two weeks in September has used one period and then needed a permit for the second, and regulation 11 - which deals separately with travelling salesmen - is the only other door. The prohibition in regulation 10(2) catches the employer as well as the worker and makes both guilty of an offence.
What it costs now, and what it cost before
The Immigration (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2025 revoked the Fourth Schedule and substituted a new one with effect from 1 January 2026. Every figure in it is exactly double its predecessor. The work permit application went from TT$600 to TT$1,200; the monthly charge for the duration of the permit went from TT$450 to TT$900 and its minimum from TT$1,350 to TT$2,700; the Certificate of Residence went from TT$400 to TT$800 for a CARICOM national and from TT$1,000 to TT$2,000 for everyone else. One item disappeared rather than doubling: the Certificate for Facilitation of Entry, which had cost TT$100 for a CARICOM national and TT$500 for anyone else, is not in the new Schedule at all, and the remaining items were renumbered accordingly.
The exemption that expires
Since 1 January 2026 a holder of a Minister's permit under section 10 of the Act has been exempt from the work permit requirement by Order, and is issued a registrant card showing his name, date of birth, photograph and the expiry date of the permit. This is the instrument under which Venezuelan registrants and other long-stay permit holders work. It is not permanent: the Order as made expired on 30 September 2026, and an amending Order of 2 March 2026 moved the date to 31 December 2026 and at the same time imposed a fee of seven hundred dollars for the registrant card, which the original Order had issued free. A person relying on it is relying on something that has already been extended once and has a date on its face.
The Act that is not there
Regulation 10(16) exempts from the work permit requirement a national of a Member State seeking to exercise any of his rights conferred by the Caribbean Community (Movement of Factors) Act. Section 9(1B) of the Immigration Act, inserted by the same 2005 statute, obliges an immigration officer to admit such a person. Neither provision works, because there is no Act of that name. The alphabetical register of Acts in the Digital Legislative Library, which runs from 1838 to 2026, lists four Caribbean Community Acts and none of them is it; what Parliament actually passed in January 2005 was the Caribbean Community (Removal of Restrictions) Act, Act No. 2 of 2005, which is the Act that inserted the reference. The right of establishment is nevertheless enforceable in Trinidad and Tobago, because the Caribbean Community Act gives the Revised Treaty the force of law and provides that it prevails over inconsistent legislation - but it is enforceable through that Act and not through the hook the Immigration Regulations offer.
Country-level policy
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.
Act No. 9 of 2022 was brought into operation on 28 February 2023 by Proclamation, and the Proclamation is partial. It names sections 1 through 10, section 11(a), (b) and (c) limited to the subparagraphs (2)(a) and (2A)(b), section 12, sections 14 through 19, and section 20(a) and (b) as to Schedules III and IV. What it does not name is section 13, which would have given the spouse of a six-month entrant the right to work without a work permit, and it does not name the part of section 20(b) that inserts Schedule V, which prescribes the skills certificate fees of $750 to apply, $400 to renew and $1,000 to replace. The holes line up: section 11(c) was proclaimed only as to the subparagraphs that do not mention Schedule V, so the fee machinery was held back as a piece. The consequence is a live dangling reference - section 7C(2), which is in force, requires an applicant for a replacement certificate to pay the fee prescribed in paragraph (c) of Schedule V, and paragraph (c) has not commenced.
The Immigration (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2025 revoked and substituted four Schedules to the Immigration Regulations with effect from 1 January 2026. Set against what they replaced, every figure that survived is exactly twice what it was. The work permit application went from TT$600 to TT$1,200 and the monthly charge from TT$450 to TT$900 with the minimum from TT$1,350 to TT$2,700; the Certificate of Residence from TT$400 to TT$800 for a CARICOM national and from TT$1,000 to TT$2,000 for everyone else; the Student's Permit from TT$200 to TT$400; the Visa Waiver from TT$400 to TT$800; the Change of Status from TT$100 to TT$200; ship clearance from TT$100 to TT$200 for the first three hours. One item did not double: the Certificate for Facilitation of Entry, which had cost TT$100 for a CARICOM national and TT$500 for anyone else, was dropped from the Schedule entirely and the remaining items renumbered. The half-rate for citizens of CARICOM countries survived, and its cross-references were correctly updated to the new numbering.
What applies to you
CARICOM nationals: no work permit with a skills certificate, and half the fees without one
Regulation 10(15) of the Immigration Regulations exempts a national of a Member State seeking to exercise any of his rights under the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act from the work permit requirement altogether. That is the whole of regulation 10 disapplied - the prohibition, the employer's application, the monthly fee and the offence. A CARICOM national without a skills certificate is in the ordinary position and needs a permit, but pays half of several of the fees: paragraph B of the Fourth Schedule gives citizens of CARICOM countries one-half of the fees for a Landing Certificate variation, a Certificate of Residence, a Student's Permit, a Change of Status and letters confirming citizenship or residence. The work permit fees themselves are not among them, so the TT$1,200 application and the TT$900 a month are the same for everyone.
- A Certificate of Recognition of Caribbean Community Skills Qualification, to be exempt from the permit requirement
- Without one: the ordinary work permit, at the ordinary fee
What the law says
«10. (1) Subject to subregulation (14) and to regulation 11,
[70/1993
132/1996 no person other than—
2 of 2005
138/2007]. (a) a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago;
(b) a resident of Trinidad and Tobago; or
(c) a person entering Trinidad and Tobago to
engage in gainful occupation for one period
not exceeding thirty days in every twelve
consecutive months,
shall engage in any profession, trade or occupation whether for
gain or not in Trinidad and Tobago or be employed in Trinidad
and Tobago unless there is in force in relation to him a valid work
Form 36. permit in the form set out as Form 36 and every person so
engaged or so employed shall be employed in accordance with
the terms and conditions specified in the permit.»Quoted as printed: the marginal note, the amendment references and the form reference sit inside the text column.
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
«(c) a person entering Trinidad and Tobago to
engage in gainful occupation for one period
not exceeding thirty days in every twelve
consecutive months,»One period, not an aggregate. Two visits of twenty days each in the same twelve months are not within 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
«(2) No person other than those described in paragraphs
(a), (b) and (c) of subregulation (1) shall be employed by any
person in Trinidad and Tobago, unless there is in force a valid
work permit in relation to that employment, and any person
who engages in any occupation or employment in Trinidad and
Tobago in contravention of the provisions of these Regulations,
or any person who has in his employment in Trinidad and Tobago
any person other than those described in paragraphs (a), (b) and
(c) of subregulation (1) without a valid work permit issued by
the Minister, is guilty of an offence.»About 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) A national of a Member State seeking to exercise
Ch. 18:03. any of his rights conferred by the Immigration (Caribbean
Community Skilled Nationals) Act, shall be exempt from the
provisions of this regulation.»About 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
«(16) A national of a Member State seeking to exercise
any of his rights conferred by the Caribbean Community
(Movement of Factors) Act, shall be exempt from the provisions
of this regulation.»Inserted by section 14 of the Caribbean Community (Removal of Restrictions) Act, Act No. 2 of 2005. No Act called the Caribbean Community (Movement of Factors) Act appears in the Laws of 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
«(ii) On application for the grant of
Work Permit … … … … … 1200.00
(iii) For the duration of Work Permit 900.00
per month
subject to a
minimum
of 2,700.00»About this source
The Government's legislative database at laws.gov.tt. It carries three things nothing else does: a chronological list of Legal Notices and Government Notices from 1838 to 2026, each downloadable as the Government Printer's PDF of the Legal Supplement; an alphabetical and chronological register of Acts and Ordinances from 1838 to 2026 with commencement dates; and lists of Acts by status, including unproclaimed Acts. This is where the Proclamation bringing parts of the 2022 CARICOM Act into force, the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Immigration Regulations amendments, the work permit exemption Orders and every Finance Act from 2017 to 2026 were read. Documents are reached by a numeric download identifier rather than by name.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Its consolidated Acts are the same edition as the Law Revision Commission's, updated to 31 December 2016, and it labels its own post-2006 versions Unofficial Update; it must not be cited for the current text of any Act. Its Unproclaimed Acts page is captioned Acts not in operation as at December 2015 and must not be read as current. Its download addresses are opaque numeric identifiers with no relation to the Act or Notice number, so an instrument cannot be reached without going through a listing first, and the year filter on the legal notices page works only by HTTP POST - a year in the query string is silently ignored and the current year is served instead, which is how a reading can appear to cover 2023 and in fact cover 2026. Its full-text search returns results in a sidebar without the document, so an apparently empty result is not evidence of absence.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«2. These Regulations shall have effect from 1st January, 2026.»About this source
The Government's legislative database at laws.gov.tt. It carries three things nothing else does: a chronological list of Legal Notices and Government Notices from 1838 to 2026, each downloadable as the Government Printer's PDF of the Legal Supplement; an alphabetical and chronological register of Acts and Ordinances from 1838 to 2026 with commencement dates; and lists of Acts by status, including unproclaimed Acts. This is where the Proclamation bringing parts of the 2022 CARICOM Act into force, the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Immigration Regulations amendments, the work permit exemption Orders and every Finance Act from 2017 to 2026 were read. Documents are reached by a numeric download identifier rather than by name.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Its consolidated Acts are the same edition as the Law Revision Commission's, updated to 31 December 2016, and it labels its own post-2006 versions Unofficial Update; it must not be cited for the current text of any Act. Its Unproclaimed Acts page is captioned Acts not in operation as at December 2015 and must not be read as current. Its download addresses are opaque numeric identifiers with no relation to the Act or Notice number, so an instrument cannot be reached without going through a listing first, and the year filter on the legal notices page works only by HTTP POST - a year in the query string is silently ignored and the current year is served instead, which is how a reading can appear to cover 2023 and in fact cover 2026. Its full-text search returns results in a sidebar without the document, so an apparently empty result is not evidence of absence.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«3. An immigrant who is the holder of a permit is exempt from the Work permit
exemption
requirement for a work permit to engage in employment in Trinidad
and Tobago as prescribed by regulation 10 of the Regulations.»Made under regulation 10(14). Permit means the written permit referred to in section 10 of the Act - the Minister's permit.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Government's legislative database at laws.gov.tt. It carries three things nothing else does: a chronological list of Legal Notices and Government Notices from 1838 to 2026, each downloadable as the Government Printer's PDF of the Legal Supplement; an alphabetical and chronological register of Acts and Ordinances from 1838 to 2026 with commencement dates; and lists of Acts by status, including unproclaimed Acts. This is where the Proclamation bringing parts of the 2022 CARICOM Act into force, the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Immigration Regulations amendments, the work permit exemption Orders and every Finance Act from 2017 to 2026 were read. Documents are reached by a numeric download identifier rather than by name.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Its consolidated Acts are the same edition as the Law Revision Commission's, updated to 31 December 2016, and it labels its own post-2006 versions Unofficial Update; it must not be cited for the current text of any Act. Its Unproclaimed Acts page is captioned Acts not in operation as at December 2015 and must not be read as current. Its download addresses are opaque numeric identifiers with no relation to the Act or Notice number, so an instrument cannot be reached without going through a listing first, and the year filter on the legal notices page works only by HTTP POST - a year in the query string is silently ignored and the current year is served instead, which is how a reading can appear to cover 2023 and in fact cover 2026. Its full-text search returns results in a sidebar without the document, so an apparently empty result is not evidence of absence.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«4. Clause 5 of the Order is amended by deleting the words Clause 5
“30th September, 2026” and substituting the words “31st December, 2026”.»The exemption was first expressed to expire on 30 September 2026. This Order moved it to 31 December 2026 and nothing yet carries it further.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Government's legislative database at laws.gov.tt. It carries three things nothing else does: a chronological list of Legal Notices and Government Notices from 1838 to 2026, each downloadable as the Government Printer's PDF of the Legal Supplement; an alphabetical and chronological register of Acts and Ordinances from 1838 to 2026 with commencement dates; and lists of Acts by status, including unproclaimed Acts. This is where the Proclamation bringing parts of the 2022 CARICOM Act into force, the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Immigration Regulations amendments, the work permit exemption Orders and every Finance Act from 2017 to 2026 were read. Documents are reached by a numeric download identifier rather than by name.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Its consolidated Acts are the same edition as the Law Revision Commission's, updated to 31 December 2016, and it labels its own post-2006 versions Unofficial Update; it must not be cited for the current text of any Act. Its Unproclaimed Acts page is captioned Acts not in operation as at December 2015 and must not be read as current. Its download addresses are opaque numeric identifiers with no relation to the Act or Notice number, so an instrument cannot be reached without going through a listing first, and the year filter on the legal notices page works only by HTTP POST - a year in the query string is silently ignored and the current year is served instead, which is how a reading can appear to cover 2023 and in fact cover 2026. Its full-text search returns results in a sidebar without the document, so an apparently empty result is not evidence of absence.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«“(1) The Minister shall cause to be issued a registrant card
to an immigrant who is the holder of a permit, upon payment of
a fee of seven hundred dollars.»About this source
The Government's legislative database at laws.gov.tt. It carries three things nothing else does: a chronological list of Legal Notices and Government Notices from 1838 to 2026, each downloadable as the Government Printer's PDF of the Legal Supplement; an alphabetical and chronological register of Acts and Ordinances from 1838 to 2026 with commencement dates; and lists of Acts by status, including unproclaimed Acts. This is where the Proclamation bringing parts of the 2022 CARICOM Act into force, the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Immigration Regulations amendments, the work permit exemption Orders and every Finance Act from 2017 to 2026 were read. Documents are reached by a numeric download identifier rather than by name.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Its consolidated Acts are the same edition as the Law Revision Commission's, updated to 31 December 2016, and it labels its own post-2006 versions Unofficial Update; it must not be cited for the current text of any Act. Its Unproclaimed Acts page is captioned Acts not in operation as at December 2015 and must not be read as current. Its download addresses are opaque numeric identifiers with no relation to the Act or Notice number, so an instrument cannot be reached without going through a listing first, and the year filter on the legal notices page works only by HTTP POST - a year in the query string is silently ignored and the current year is served instead, which is how a reading can appear to cover 2023 and in fact cover 2026. Its full-text search returns results in a sidebar without the document, so an apparently empty result is not evidence of absence.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Individual work permits and extensions for one to nine people can only be processed online through TTBizLink, which requires registering both a personal and a corporate organisation first. An attorney-at-law may register a corporate organisation on a practising certificate in place of a company registration certificate.
The link the Ministry of Homeland Security labels Immigration Act of Trinidad and Tobago Chapter 18:01 on its work permit page does not serve the Act. It serves Legal Notice No. 493 of 2025, the fee regulations.
The fee for the duration of the permit is charged per month with a minimum of three months' worth, so a two-month assignment costs the same as a three-month one.
This record rests on regulation 10 and the Fourth Schedule of the Immigration Regulations as published in the Revised Laws updated to 31 December 2016, on Legal Notices 493 of 2025, 470 of 2025 and 41 of 2026 as gazetted, on the Caribbean Community (Removal of Restrictions) Act 2005, and on the Ministry of Homeland Security's work permit page.
- consolidatesImmigration Act, Chapter 18:01, with the Immigration Regulations
Law Revision Commission, Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago · consolidated to 2016-12-31
About 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
- issuesImmigration (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations, 2025 (Legal Notice No. 493 of 2025)
Digital Legislative Library, Trinidad and Tobago
About this source
The Government's legislative database at laws.gov.tt. It carries three things nothing else does: a chronological list of Legal Notices and Government Notices from 1838 to 2026, each downloadable as the Government Printer's PDF of the Legal Supplement; an alphabetical and chronological register of Acts and Ordinances from 1838 to 2026 with commencement dates; and lists of Acts by status, including unproclaimed Acts. This is where the Proclamation bringing parts of the 2022 CARICOM Act into force, the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Immigration Regulations amendments, the work permit exemption Orders and every Finance Act from 2017 to 2026 were read. Documents are reached by a numeric download identifier rather than by name.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Its consolidated Acts are the same edition as the Law Revision Commission's, updated to 31 December 2016, and it labels its own post-2006 versions Unofficial Update; it must not be cited for the current text of any Act. Its Unproclaimed Acts page is captioned Acts not in operation as at December 2015 and must not be read as current. Its download addresses are opaque numeric identifiers with no relation to the Act or Notice number, so an instrument cannot be reached without going through a listing first, and the year filter on the legal notices page works only by HTTP POST - a year in the query string is silently ignored and the current year is served instead, which is how a reading can appear to cover 2023 and in fact cover 2026. Its full-text search returns results in a sidebar without the document, so an apparently empty result is not evidence of absence.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- issuesImmigration (Exemption From Work Permit) (Immigrants) Order, 2025 (Legal Notice No. 470 of 2025)
Digital Legislative Library, Trinidad and Tobago
About this source
The Government's legislative database at laws.gov.tt. It carries three things nothing else does: a chronological list of Legal Notices and Government Notices from 1838 to 2026, each downloadable as the Government Printer's PDF of the Legal Supplement; an alphabetical and chronological register of Acts and Ordinances from 1838 to 2026 with commencement dates; and lists of Acts by status, including unproclaimed Acts. This is where the Proclamation bringing parts of the 2022 CARICOM Act into force, the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Immigration Regulations amendments, the work permit exemption Orders and every Finance Act from 2017 to 2026 were read. Documents are reached by a numeric download identifier rather than by name.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Its consolidated Acts are the same edition as the Law Revision Commission's, updated to 31 December 2016, and it labels its own post-2006 versions Unofficial Update; it must not be cited for the current text of any Act. Its Unproclaimed Acts page is captioned Acts not in operation as at December 2015 and must not be read as current. Its download addresses are opaque numeric identifiers with no relation to the Act or Notice number, so an instrument cannot be reached without going through a listing first, and the year filter on the legal notices page works only by HTTP POST - a year in the query string is silently ignored and the current year is served instead, which is how a reading can appear to cover 2023 and in fact cover 2026. Its full-text search returns results in a sidebar without the document, so an apparently empty result is not evidence of absence.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- issuesImmigration (Exemption From Work Permit) (Immigrants) (Amendment) Order, 2026 (Legal Notice No. 41 of 2026)
Digital Legislative Library, Trinidad and Tobago
About this source
The Government's legislative database at laws.gov.tt. It carries three things nothing else does: a chronological list of Legal Notices and Government Notices from 1838 to 2026, each downloadable as the Government Printer's PDF of the Legal Supplement; an alphabetical and chronological register of Acts and Ordinances from 1838 to 2026 with commencement dates; and lists of Acts by status, including unproclaimed Acts. This is where the Proclamation bringing parts of the 2022 CARICOM Act into force, the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Immigration Regulations amendments, the work permit exemption Orders and every Finance Act from 2017 to 2026 were read. Documents are reached by a numeric download identifier rather than by name.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Its consolidated Acts are the same edition as the Law Revision Commission's, updated to 31 December 2016, and it labels its own post-2006 versions Unofficial Update; it must not be cited for the current text of any Act. Its Unproclaimed Acts page is captioned Acts not in operation as at December 2015 and must not be read as current. Its download addresses are opaque numeric identifiers with no relation to the Act or Notice number, so an instrument cannot be reached without going through a listing first, and the year filter on the legal notices page works only by HTTP POST - a year in the query string is silently ignored and the current year is served instead, which is how a reading can appear to cover 2023 and in fact cover 2026. Its full-text search returns results in a sidebar without the document, so an apparently empty result is not evidence of absence.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- administersWork Permits
Ministry of Homeland Security of Trinidad and Tobago - Immigration Division
About this source
The ministry that applies the Immigration Act. It took the immigration portfolio from the Ministry of National Security, whose address now redirects here. Its pages set out the work permit process, including the requirement that applications for one to nine permits go through the TTBizLink portal and that applications for ten or more use a single group form, the eVisa and eStudent Permit services with the fees charged for each, the list of countries whose citizens do not require entry visas, and the passport fees and documents.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It states practice and not law. Its visa-free list carries no date on its face - only the upload directory in its address - and two different lists are served from the site at once, a longer one from February 2024 and a shorter one from September 2024, with nothing saying which supersedes which. Neither includes the United States or any European Union state, so neither is a complete answer to who needs a visa, and the exemption those travellers use is in regulation 13(8)(b) for countries with Visa Abolition Agreements, which the Division does not publish. Its statement that full-time registered students of the University of the West Indies at St Augustine do not require student permits appears in no instrument. The link it labels Immigration Act of Trinidad and Tobago Chapter 18:01 on its work permit page does not serve the Act: it serves Legal Notice No. 493 of 2025, the fee regulations. Its Minister's Permit page publishes weekly collection lists and no statement of what is required to obtain one.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- issuesCaribbean Community (Removal of Restrictions) Act, 2005 (Act No. 2 of 2005)
Digital Legislative Library, Trinidad and Tobago
About this source
The Government's legislative database at laws.gov.tt. It carries three things nothing else does: a chronological list of Legal Notices and Government Notices from 1838 to 2026, each downloadable as the Government Printer's PDF of the Legal Supplement; an alphabetical and chronological register of Acts and Ordinances from 1838 to 2026 with commencement dates; and lists of Acts by status, including unproclaimed Acts. This is where the Proclamation bringing parts of the 2022 CARICOM Act into force, the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Immigration Regulations amendments, the work permit exemption Orders and every Finance Act from 2017 to 2026 were read. Documents are reached by a numeric download identifier rather than by name.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Its consolidated Acts are the same edition as the Law Revision Commission's, updated to 31 December 2016, and it labels its own post-2006 versions Unofficial Update; it must not be cited for the current text of any Act. Its Unproclaimed Acts page is captioned Acts not in operation as at December 2015 and must not be read as current. Its download addresses are opaque numeric identifiers with no relation to the Act or Notice number, so an instrument cannot be reached without going through a listing first, and the year filter on the legal notices page works only by HTTP POST - a year in the query string is silently ignored and the current year is served instead, which is how a reading can appear to cover 2023 and in fact cover 2026. Its full-text search returns results in a sidebar without the document, so an apparently empty result is not evidence of absence.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source