Employers across the Territory will participate in a pilot group to assist the Government with testing an E-Government New Work Permit Prototype.

The New Work Permit online application project is one aspect of the overall transformation of the public service initiative.

Speaking on this transformation initiative, Premier and Minister of Finance, Honourable Andrew A. Fahie said, “The testing phase of the work permit prototype is an example of Government’s commitment to doing business more efficiently.”

The Premier added, “By including stakeholders in the testing phase this creates an avenue to foster public private partnership and create confidence from the stakeholders before we implement the full project.”

The work permit application online process will be introduced over a three month period to 20 companies which represent a cross-section of business classifications Territory-wide.

Minister for Natural Resources and Labour, Honourable Vincent Wheatley said, “The selected companies will test the system in its pilot phase where employers will submit new work permit applications online along with all the required supporting documents [medical and police records, passport photo].”

“It is a very important first step in making the government more efficient and streamlining our services,” he added.

Honourable Wheatley said that upon completion of the initial testing phase, users can expect a full roll out to the business community and a move to  phase two which will provide new features of the same application as well as online payments before moving to an online process for renewal work permits.

 The soft launch to the 20 pilot companies will take place on April 4^th, 2019.

The Government of the Virgin Islands remains committed to transforming to a Stronger, More Resilient and More Effective Public Service.