Hi there,

I just wanted to ask someone how easy is it to move to St. Martin and work and make a living there. What paperwork is required as we are both Canadian. Right now we live in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and the outlook is bleak with the automotive downturn. My husband sells real estate and is a broker here. We were wondering if there are any real estate opportunities there for him. I am a marketing coordinator plus a graphic artist and have published and designed many magazines etc. Would it be hard to find work there?

We are just looking at different options and are ready to make a drastic change in our lifestyle. If we stay here, we will not be able to keep our heads above water. We are ready to sell everything and make the move but want to do our research on what is required. Work permits? Do you have to have a sponsor or a job to go to and where do we look?

Any feedback would be very welcome!
Thanks to anyone who replies to this, and I'm sure we'll have more questions if you don't mind us contacting you again.

Rainy & Craig Whittaker

stay where you are , working and living in St Martin is very tough for a outsider ..

.Bruce Wrote:
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> stay where you are , working and living in St
> Martin is very tough for a outsider ..


...is that why people from all over the world live and work on the `friendly` island?

Unless you are an EU citizen, you cannot work in St Martin I believe. If you wish to work in St Maarten, your employer will need to get you working papers BEFORE you arrive.

It is a long and arduous (sp) process.

HI Elaine,

Thanks for posting that. And to the Island Couple 4u...thanks for that too. We are just inquiring as things are very tough here and we've always wanted to move or work for a year somewhere different. We are both of British descent so we do have the Euro thing going for us. I really appreciate any feedback you can tell us. We don't know who to contact or how to go about even short term work. We are both professionals, my husband can sell real estate anywhere and we are just researching the options.

Thanks again, and looking forward to hearing from someone who has done this...

Rainy

Hi Rainy,
What Elaine said is correct, as what Bruce said too... It si very difficult to work and live here.... I explain :
To start, the economy is not very good, like anywhere else in the world, St Martin/St Maarten is only (mainly) oriented on the tourism industry and when economy os bad lsewhere it become bad here... so a lot of people are having a lot of hard time now, including n the real estate market which depend also from the same economic sector "Tourism"Beside that with a Canadian pasport you will need work permit and residency on either side you choose to establish yourself. On both side the process to obtain them is long, difficult and extremly frustrating. On the dutch side, a new imigration/work permit was implemented last november to make it even more difficult for outsiders to come and work on the island. It is on the table of the new Executive counsil to change it back to the old regulation right now, after complaint of the business community because lately it is more easy to obtain a work permit for your employee if she is an "exotic dancer" than if she is a potntial director carrying MBA and two masters in laws and business... Island priority are evry different than other places priority, and beleive me as a business man on tis island since 20 years, I am still being confronted to ths type of problem everysingle day which become headache trying to obtain or renew work permit for my staff...
So to make it short, on the Dutch side, if it is not impossible to obatin anything right now, it i close to it!
On the French side, it is prety much the same sh*t, it is only easier if you carry an EU passport (doesn't matter if you got English blood or else)... yo need to be European Citizen to waive the immigratio procedure and have the same rigts as the French citizen have...

Kind Regards,
Philippe



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To much of a good thing isn't good,IMO.I agree with the others stay where you are and enjoy SXM as a vacation island.

This link will supply you with info rather than option:

[www.netherlands-embassy.org]

Thank you very much! This is very helpful...we are just exploring some ideas for working in the Caribbean. Don't know where to find info and which place to search for jobs in this economy. I appreciate what you sent and will check it out. Do you know which island or region is doing good economically? We were even looking at the Caymans. Also would it be a good idea for my husband (a real estate broker) to contact some real estate offices in the Caribbean? Or is real estate suffering the same as here? We were also wondering about licensing requirements to sell real estate.

If you know of anyone selling or who owns a brokerage, we'd appreciate hearing from them.

Thanks again.
Rainy

I personally don't see what kind of info this link gives, except what was already stated in a more deatiled maneer above... the link only provide the info that foreigner need a residence permit if they want to stay more than 3 month, and that the residence permit doesn't give them the right to work. That if they want to work, then their employer need to apply for a work permit... Netherless this link wasn't updated with the new regulations from November.
It is important to take in consideration and to kow that immigratio matters in SXM (Netherlands Antilles) do not depends of the will of Holand nor the Kingdom, but strictly from the NA interior affairs and politics.

Kind Regards,
Philippe



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I agree, much has been stated however it does provides one (most) important detail that none of the other posts have: an address and phone #.

Department of Foreign Affairs
Ford Amsterdam 4
Willemstad
Curaçao, N.A.
Tel. + 5999 461 3933
Fax. + 5999 461 7123

Curacao has nothing to do with residency or working papers on SXM

[barcann.livejournal.com]

i want to love to st martin i am from England, my boyfriend is from Suriname we are currently living in Anguilla that's the next island across from st martin have we got a chance

i am an American citizen an we are interested in moving to and working in st. martin. how difficult is it to do so? thank you Jerry& shelley goldstein

Please read all the posts hereabove as well as this thread [www2.gobeach.com] so we do not have to repeat endlessly the same information which a re good for everybody. Overall you will realise that it is difficult to do so, just to answer basically your question.

Kind Regards,
Philippe



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