This is according to Minister for Natural Resources, Labour and Immigration, Hon. Vincent Wheatley, who explained recently that exemptions are granted to certain persons in certain professions if they are deemed valuable enough.

"For example VISAR [Virgin Islands Search and Rescue], a voluntary organization that often times receive subsidy from government , so to augment the subsidy what we have done or what I have done is to exempt that one paid position within that voluntary organization because it helps the organization to be able to give back more to the community if they are paying less in taxes," Hon. Wheatley explained.

He stated that an exemption can also serve as a subsidy for category of persons.

"We are looking to expand on that base going forward where certain category of workers , once we are sure we can make up for loss revenue. so its something that we are exploring to see how we can widen that base of organization of persons who we would give exemption as a subsidy to the organization not just to a person, but to an organization," Hon. Wheatley stated.

Since coming to office nearly a year ago, the Virgin Islands Party administration has rolled back the practice or providing indefinite work permit exemptionsใ

"And the reason for that is that exemption is not a status. It is a process to relieve persons from certain circumstances . The maximum for exemption now is six years , we expect you to apply for Residency or Belonger after that period. Exemption is not a status, it’s a programme to allow certain persons to work freely without work permits who would normally require work permit for various reasons," the Minister explained.