Work-permit system now fixed, gov’t says

The government’s work-permit system is back up and running after more than two weeks of technical issues that delayed processing and sparked frustration among Virgin Islands businesses, officials said.

The issues were first announced on Jan. 6, when the Department of Labour and Workforce Development said a “service interruption” was affecting the Labour Management System’s work-permit applications.

“This issue arises from technical difficulties that are impacting the delivery of emails pertaining to the department’s applications,” the agency said in a press release. “As a result, applicants may experience delays in receiving notifications, confirmations or other correspondence associated with their submissions. The department is aware of the issue and is actively working to restore the service as quickly as possible.”

Last week, the department announced on Jan. 21 that the issues had been resolved.

“The delivery of emails and related notifications has been fully restored, and applicants should now receive confirmations, updates and other correspondence as normal,” the agency stated in a press release titled “Restoration of labour management system and work-permit applications.”

Previous issues

The department’s efforts to move the permit process online have been fraught with issues in the past as well.

The first online work-permit system shut down in February 2022 after barely six months in operation.

In 2024, officials tried again, rolling out the current LMS system in stages and phasing out print applications.

For more information, contact the department at [email protected].