How to create long term visas

With the freedom that remote work brings - can we use our location independent lifestyle as an advantage to help us erase world borders?

In this episode, we are joined by Peter Thompson - CEO at Remote Work Barbados and initiator of The Barbados Welcome Stamp Visa.

After coming back to Barbados and seeing the devastating economic turbulence brought on by the pandemic, Peter outlined the solution that could start the evolution of the Barbados tourism industry into long term sustainability: simply welcome remote workers to the island.

Since then, more countries have created their versions of a long-term visa for remote workers, realizing that they not only help the economy but are actively interested in contributing to the local community. "Barbados wants tech-savvy people with 21st-century skills, because we want those skills to spread," Thompson said. "It's very easy on an island to be insular, and this could catalyze the type of cultural change Barbados needs."

Together with Peter, we will discuss the following topics:

How the Barbados Welcome Stamp was created.
How to actually make initiatives like this happen.
Pros and Cons for moving to Barbados as a Remote Worker.
A walkthrough of the application process.

Barbados is only one of the countries realizing the potential remote workers bring, which goes right along the trajectory of location independent workers starting to understand they can actually create the change they want to see in the world.

Find the full transcript here!

Stay tuned for the next episode, in which we will talk with Uri Bram from The Browser — a curation newsletter you'll definitely want to subscribe to.

What should we talk about next? We are open to any feedback and suggestions about our previous and future episodes, so send us an email at jakob@safetywing.com!

About your hosts

Sondre Rasch

Co-founder & CEO

SafetyWing

Sondre co-founded SafetyWing together with Sarah Sandnes and Hans Kjellby. Born in Bergen, Norway, he studied economics and computer science, before starting work as a policy advisor for the government of Norway advising on social policies. After getting frustrated with the slow pace of government change, Sondre first founded SuperSide (YC W16), a platform for freelance designers. It was here he discovered the lack of a safety net for online remote workers. SafetyWing was then born with the aim of building a global social safety net.

Peter Thompson

CEO

Remote work Barbados

Peter Thompson is the CEO of Remote Work Barbados and the initiator of The Barbados Welcome Stamp - a yearly visa that allows remote workers to live and work in the Caribbean.

Peter describes himself as a social entrepreneur: "I use entrepreneurial techniques to pursue social missions that create value for entire communities, not just shareholders."

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