Hiring live-in domestic help in the Caribbean is very different than in, say, Mexico or even Panama. Hiring a maid, gardener, or a handyman in the English or Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries is usually more expensive and time-consuming than in the Spanish-speaking Central or South American countries. While labor is often cheap and salaries low in these countries, this is not always the case on the English or Dutch speaking islands in this region.
Still, the process is far less onerous than importing labor into the United States. Relatively flexible immigration and work/residence visa requirements are the norm. Unlike the United States, bringing a household worker into the Caribbean doesn't require running a gauntlet of IRS rules, Homeland Security Administration rules, worker's compensation regulations, not to mention state rules regulating every facet of the arrangement. Instead, the rules in the Caribbean, while varying country by country, are more straightforward and involve less hassle, although it is often necessary to wait several weeks to several months for approval.
In most countries, all you need to do to import a domestic worker is to lodge a petition with the required documentation to the immigration authorities in that country. You must be able to provide acceptable housing, a private room with meeting applicable local standards, and the minimum set salary for live-in servants. For instance, you may be required to provide a room of minimum size (the equivalent of 130sf is typical), a private bathroom and shower, plus food and medical care. Not all the islands provide requirements this specific. Normally, the term of a live-in servant's (e.g. housemaid) work/residence visa will be for a one-year period that can be extended by mutual agreement.
My rule of thumb is to keep a housemaid for a three-year period. This way, she can earn money to support her family and return home with a substantial savings. I have had housemaids from Cuba, India (both of which found local husbands and got married!), as well as from Indonesia. All have contributed to my home and have brought their own personality, culture, and cooking style. I have not regretted this practice for one minute!
The best way to find a domestic servant is to contact a local recruiting agency and see where they source their foreign workers, if at all. They should be able to assist you. Generally, you must pay for your domestic servant's flight ticket (both from and back to her country when she departs), her foreign worker deposit, and first time work/residence visa costs.
This is but one more example of how living abroad as an expatriate and being free of U.S. rules and regulations has really benefited me personally.
(P.T. Freeman is a pseudonym for a friend and business associate who is a former U.S. citizen.)
Copyright (c) 2011 by Mark Nestmann
(An earlier version of this post was published by The Sovereign Society, https://banyanhill.com/)
