Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Minister says it's a challenge to get BVI businesses to hire locals

Minister says it's a challenge to get BVI businesses to hire locals

Minister of Labour & Immigration Vincent Wheatley said it has been a challenge for him to get businesses in the British Virgin Islands to hire locals.

In a recent television interview, Wheatley said he and his ministry have noticed that some businesses have been intentionally failing to hire locals, which is becoming a problem.

“I’ll say this very frankly, there are some companies who have no intention absolutely of hiring local persons qualified or not, and that cannot be allowed to be continued,” the minister said.

“I am hearing it too often where there are locals who are in positions and there are not being allowed to advance to the next level. They (businesses) want to bring in somebody else from outside when there are definite confirmed qualified locals,” he added.

Expats preferred because of less labour costs


Wheatley said the practice is in all sectors and he believes businesses prefer to hire expats over locals from a cost-saving standpoint.

“As a former business owner myself, I have hired both locals and expats. What we have discovered over the years is that they prefer to hire an expat worker versus a local worker because they feel that they can pay them a little less because in the work permit, they have a little more control over them,” he explained.

He continued: “They tend not to want to hire locals because the locals would demand more money, but you also get a lot of times where you get good value for money but sometimes it would go the other way.”

Recipe to create a problem in the BVI


Minister Wheatley further said if locals continue to get overlooked for jobs in the territory, it will create a big problem for the BVI.

He, therefore, called on business owners to give locals a chance.

“If they need training, provide the training for them or give me a road map on how you plan to train these persons to advance their careers,” the minister urged.

“But some are saying, ‘I want to bring my friend. I’ve known this person all my life. We work well together. I want to bring that person with me’. How can that work? If our people remain at home or remain stagnant and outsiders keep coming in and going over them, it is going to create a problem for all of us. We don’t need that,” he explained.

The minister’s statements follow reports that operators of local ice cream parlour, ManJack Creamery has decided to close down because the Department of Labour was denying them from hiring a non-local.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×