Bryan Seeks Broader H-1B Access
Governor Albert Bryan says a planned meeting with the US Department of Homeland Security was cancelled after he sought to expand H‑1B categories allowed into the US Virgin Islands beyond sports, energy and entertainment. He told reporters he is pushing to bring more Caribbean workers from familiar source markets to support recovery, even as US visa rules and social media screening tighten.
Governor Albert Bryan on Monday, December 8, 2025, said a hoped-for meeting with the US Department of Homeland Security — scheduled with Secretary Kristi Noem — had been cancelled, delaying talks to broaden the H‑1B categories the United States Virgin Islands may accept. Bryan told reporters the discussion was intended to expand permitted H‑1B uses beyond the current allowances for sports, energy and entertainment.
A lobbyist group representing a contractor that does business in the territory is reportedly working to reschedule the meeting, he said. "I gotta go follow up…to make sure that we get that done because our recovery is heavily dependent on being able to bring in foreign labour. When I say foreign labour, I mean foreign to the Virgin Islands," Governor Bryan said during a press briefing.
He added that he prefers workers from traditional Caribbean source markets: "I rather have people who are already reflective of our diaspora to come and join us. We want people more akin to have our moral values and cultures to come." Bryan named Dominica, St Kitts, Trinidad and Saint Lucia as examples of places he would like to recruit from.
The governor acknowledged challenges ahead: three of those four countries operate citizenship‑by‑investment (CBI) programmes, and the US has recently voiced security concerns about such schemes. Also complicating the picture, the US Department of State has introduced an "online presence review" that increases scrutiny of social media for H‑1B applicants, their dependents and users of the ESTA visa‑waiver system.
Those changes signal a tightening of vetting for people seeking work or travel to the United States and its territories, potentially limiting the pool of workers who could move into the USVI under expanded H‑1B rules. If visa issuances to nationals of several Eastern Caribbean countries are already uncertain, winning visa‑free or easier access for workers could prove difficult.
Why this matters to the BVI: many local businesses and infrastructure projects across the Eastern Caribbean rely on regional labour mobility to recover from storms and spur tourism and construction. Policies that make it harder for Caribbean nationals to work in neighbouring territories could increase competition for workers, raise labour costs, and prolong recovery timelines.
Bryan said he will continue diplomatic and lobbying efforts to reschedule the meeting and press the case for broader access to Caribbean labour. For BVI residents and employers, the outcome will be worth watching as regional labour markets and travel rules evolve.
Primary source: VINO