VisaThe British Virgin Islands’ online arrival card is free and does not replace a visa
Travellers should use the government arrival-card service and check their passport, visa and authorised stay separately.
Official source date: 2026-11-02
Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Use the official free service and recognise the existing fraud warning
Travellers to the British Virgin Islands should obtain the online embarkation and disembarkation card through bviedcard.gov.vg. The Immigration Department’s warning of 2 February 2026 identifies that address as the only authorised website for the service and says the card is free. This current guide revisits the warning and the separate entry requirements; it does not announce a new November charge or fraud incident.
The department warns against providing personal information or making payments to unauthorised sites claiming to facilitate entry. Anyone who believes they used a fraudulent site or paid one should contact the relevant banking institution immediately. Use the official advisory to verify the service address before supplying passport information. A charge advertised by an intermediary is not evidence that the government has introduced an arrival-card fee.
Complete the arrival information within the published window
The territory’s Tourist Board says the paper immigration and customs form ceased to be used for entry from 1 January 2025. Its air-arrival guide allows the online form to be completed starting seventy-two hours before arrival. That is the opening of the filing window, rather than an instruction to complete the form more than three days in advance.
The guide takes travellers through language selection, resident or visitor status, and air or sea arrival. It asks for flight and embarkation details, personal and contact information, travel information, a photograph of the passport identity page, destination details and customs information. Submission produces an email at the address supplied. Use this step-by-step resource to prepare the information and choose the actual arrival method. A passenger who flies to a neighbouring island and then takes a ferry should not describe the final BVI entry as a flight simply because the wider journey began by air.
Check the visa category and its separate payment process
The BVI London Office’s visa page publishes the nationality list and tells visa-required travellers to contact [email protected]. It describes supporting records including the passport identity page with at least six months’ validity, photograph, accommodation or invitation, employment or study evidence, financial reference and police record. Foreign-language records require certified English translations and the stated authentication. A child’s case requires birth evidence.
The page lists a non-refundable US$175 visa charge. A complete application triggers an official payment request; after clearance and approval, the electronic visa is emailed. Use that resource to determine whether the traveller needs a visa and how to submit the file, rather than pay an arrival-card website for a purported visa. The Office warns against booking travel before issuance. Confirm any nationality-specific exemption with the Visa Unit; an arrival-card submission is not a decision on visa eligibility.
Residents with expired passports need prior permission
The Immigration Department’s March 2025 passport bulletin says only BVIslanders and Belongers may seek permission to enter without a valid passport under the arrangement effective from 1 March that year. It is a permission request, not an automatic exemption for anyone who previously lived or worked in the territory.
The bulletin asks those eligible to email [email protected] at least forty-eight hours before arrival, providing the expected date, port and copies of an expired passport, birth certificate or Belonger Card. Other travellers must have the valid travel document specified by the authority. Use this bulletin for a resident’s expired-document problem and obtain an individual response before travelling. Carrier and transit-country acceptance must also be checked; local permission should not be assumed to settle the whole route.
Keep the permitted stay and departure costs separate
The UK government’s BVI entry guidance is expressly written for full British-citizen passport holders. It describes an initial one-month visitor stamp and possible extensions of up to six months, supported where requested by funds, accommodation and departure plans. Those travellers should check the actual permission granted rather than infer a six-month stay from a general visa exemption.
The UK page separately lists a US$10 environmental and tourism levy on arrival, a US$50 air-departure tax generally included in the ticket, and ferry departure charges of US$20, or US$15 for residents. These charges do not contradict the government’s statement that the online arrival card itself is free. Use the UK guidance for those scoped visitor and transport-cost questions, while asking BVI Immigration about an individual extension before the stamped stay ends. No guaranteed visa or extension decision time was verified.
