The
British Virgin Island's work opportunities are primarily limited to the main Island of
Tortola. There are about 50 smaller Islands in this group, fifteen of which are
inhabited. The next most populous Islands, after Tortola, are Virgin Gorda, Anegada,
and Jost Van Dyke; these three smaller Islands comprise the main tourism base, however,
besides the occasional lone lucky foreign worker, all the jobs are staffed by locals.
Other Islands in the group offer little in terms of work but do have some
interesting Island names; Beef, Ginger, Guana, Mosquito, Necker, Norman, Peter, Salt, et
cetera. You can reach the BVI by ferry from St. Thomas or flying into the airport
located on Beef Island.
Jobs are mainly wait staff, scuba diving, hotel and
spa, and day cruise boat staff, however, the recession has hit the tourism sector fairly
hard, so currently there are less jobs than normal...on a good note, the annual holiday
season (and great time to find a job) is from late September/ October all the way into
March. I would suggest trying to move down to the Caribbean right before peak
tourism starts and then only plan on staying there for about 6 months the first time.
Obviously, when the approximately 350,000 annual tourists stop coming during high
season, there are still jobs but just not as many. Plus, I'm not saying you would do
this, but you can imagine how much diversion there is in the Islands, so invariably, there
are quite a few people that move to the Virgin Islands, get a job, then have trouble
making it into work on time or don't work that hard and end up getting fired; that's good
for job seekers because positions open up throughout the tourist season but obviously can
put the fired people in a difficult financial position...most pack up and move back to
their home country (in this case, most foreign workers are from the United Kingdom).
Also, don't move there and immediately buy a car or boat. Once you live in the
Islands for a few months you will start seeing some great deals (usually from the stuff
the people bought that ended up getting fired or decide they've had enough of island
living and are ready to move back home (impossible to believe but it happens alot!).
You might be able to get a job bartending on the
famous Willie T's, a party boat parked in a small bay off of Peter Island, but they don't
advertise for the position which only opens up every once in awhile (staff stay on board
in a small room).
Your best bet is to seek out a job in Road Town, the
capital with a population of about 9,000, which has the most hotels and shops in the
Island chain and where the cruise ships anchor or the other harbor which contains all the
charter sailboats (Bareboats BVI) in the marina with bars, a hotel, and shopping.
You could indirectly work in the British Virgin
Islands by getting a job on a day cruiser out of St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands).
These boats typically bring about 40 to 60 tourists over to Jost Van Dyke to party for the
day in its absolutely beautiful White Bay or at the famous Foxy's beach bar in Great
Harbour.