TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Antibodies Test Confirmation

Do I understand correctly? A positive antibodies COVID test will get me into St. Thomas from BVI? Once on St. Thomas I will not be required to present any COVID test to board the airplane back to the States?

Correct..but you must fill out the portal..just did it yesterday..safe travels..

Yes but only for sea arrivals. Via air it is CDC mandated PCR test.

Good luck with that test - with the BVI results coming in no EARLIER than 72 hours that means you are SOL if trying to fly from the BVI!

We tested on JVD Friday at 745AM, received results on Saturday at 9AM, and departed from Beef at 1145AM Sunday (yesterday). I'm wondering if the stated 72 hour+ turn around is meant to deter travelers or if that is truly anticipated based on increasing demand at the lab. If it were truly 72+ I guess we would have had a much longer stay in the BVI than anticipated!

I still haven't gotten confirmation or a test date for my test request. I sent it on Friday.

Zanshin, did they give you permission to leave?

For what it's worth I emailed the JVD Clinic directly on Tuesday at 10:51AM and included our completed test request form (2 Persons) and received an email response with confirmation at 12:17PM same day. Seems like we were amongst the most fortunate who have been thru the process. We arrived at the clinic at 7:25AM and paid, tested, and left within ~20mins.

They are great via email...we did same and got 8 in and out back on Jun 25th at 7 am for a 745 appt...getting thef orm to them in advance is key

In March we spent several days at JVD so went in to The clinic to make our appt. filled the form out on site and called the day before the test to confirm.

I have neither permission to leave (request sent 10 days ago) nor a test date (request sent Friday). I am going to sail to Trellis this morning so that if I do get my exit permission I can taxi into town and finish the paperwork in order to leave. The weather window for St. Martin is good for today and tomorrow; but I might have to do 7 days quarantine on the boat upon arrival because of my missing test. The BVI isn't on any blacklist yet.

We brought a boat out off the BVI to take to the Key West a few months ago. The owner got the Exit papers in West End. Took a few hours but they let him leave. Do you know why they are not letting you leave? We were able to schedule PCR tests at the JVD clinic by email last Wednesday for Friday.

They have instituted a new policy in the BVI. You cannot go to clear out until you have written permission from both the minister for Immigration and the Governor. This process is expedited through the immigration offices. Once that "pre" permission is granted, one can then clear out at either the West End or in Road Town. Without that permission they will not let you clear out. They recently "streamlined" this new process so that it takes even longer to complete. I spoke with Moorings and they have a number of boats that have been waiting just as long as I have for that permission. Nobody I have spoken to knows what sort of added value this pre-permission process is supposed to bring.
Last Wednesday the testing centres weren't overrun yet. There's now a link on the BVI government page to allow people who have been tested but haven't gotten results to try to find them... Sounds like something has gone awry. I'm not sanguine about the test since it will most likely be 100% useless for me to use due to the long time it takes for the results to come back, but if I do get a chance to take a test I'll do so as a kind of insurance policy and who knows, perhaps the results might come back quicker than expected.

I wonder if the BVI is concerned about boats permanently leaving and is doing this intentionally to try and retain boats and the revenue and jobs they generate. It’s a dangerous thing to do as nobody is going to clear a boat into the BVI knowing the hassle it will be to leave. It also eliminates boats coming over from the USVI.

Just to throw it out there again....I'm not sure why anyone at this point would rely on BVI officials to administer exit testing to get back into the US. It seems like a total cluster. All that has to be done is to order the self administered test kits from emed.com and then take the test 15 min before you are ready for results. Not to mention from the comfort of your own boat or land based camp, AND if you test positive you have the opportunity to re-test again whenever you want in the event it was a false positive. If you test positive with a BVI administered test then you are now at their mercy for re-testing.

While the USA allows those self-administered tests, other countries will not accept them for travel.

Agreed Zanshin...I'm only referring to a return to US which is what the original post was referencing.

Good luck, Zanshin. Hope you are able to get out.

I am seeing a movie from this event. “Escape from the BVI”.
Hold tough on the movie rights and ask for residuals! Still trying to figure out what the BVI government angle for not letting people leave might be. Sounds almost like you are being held hostage. Might be time to involve your home country.

You can check-out but you can never leave.

Yes, a tough situation!!

I’m beginning to get a lil concerned about exit testing results. Sunday at Virgin Gorda clinic they said 24 to 36 hrs. We are past 48 and counting. We fly tomorrow. Anyone left via EIS in last few days had trouble getting results?

You might try the following page:

https://bvi.gov.vg/media-centre/tested-covid-19-and-haven-t-received-your-test-results

(Sent while sailing from VG to Trellis and checking to see to if I got permission to leave yet. None yet.)

Zanshin, it sounds like it requires permission from several government offices, each of which may have one person who does that task. Given how many people are quarantined and offices closed, the whole process may have simply ground to a halt.

RW - That is my thinking as well. There are certainly worse places to get stuck, but I would then need to extend my stay and that is always a nasty and time-consuming thing to do. Plus I don't even know if they are processing in that downtown office at the moment.


I am on a mooring ball now at Trellis but don't really like it here (although the Loose Mongoose looks impressive). I might just head to either CGB or Jost now. I'll give it another half hour to see if I get any response.

Just reiterating, for those taking ferry or water taxi to USVI upon return, if you can get the positive antibodies test done before you travel it will save you headaches.

Loose Mongoose is very well done with a nice cafe, gift shop, and well run kitchen with lots of faces you might recognize from Anegada Beach Club.

If you need to take on any fuel or water, they have a nice new fuel dock.

I left Trellis and just passed Monkey Point enroute to either Jost or CGB. I've gone below to see if I got a mail. Negative. I haven't used more than a couple of gallons of fuel and with the watermaker running I don't need to fill up on that either. But the beer supplies are looking pretty bad

First things first, why didn't you stock up on beer at Trellis Bay Market?

LOL...well played RW

we did not receive our results from the JVD clinic as promised. After almost 48 hours e-mailed them -- they mistyped the email and did not try the phone number - we very quickly received the results by email so someone was standing by to fix problems....

I received my first response regarding my 10-day old pre-clearance exit request at 9PM last night. It seems that I need a negative PCR test in order to leave the territory. BVIHSA still hasn't given me a test date although I contacted them on Friday. But at least Immigration was cc'd on the e-mail so I hopefully will not get in trouble for staying past my "expire by" date.

Penn Medical is a better option with more reliable appointments.

Agree 100%, Laura. So grateful we got our whole crew covered with antibody testing before our trip. No issues clearing back in to USVI yesterday.

In fact, big kudos to Michelle Cornish and Harris at Island Times Water Taxi for a smooth exit. Harris picked us up at Marina Cay anchorage (in a very sweet and fast boat), cleared out at West End, entered USVI at Cruz Bay, and taxi to STT from Red Hook. Pick up to airport 2.5 hours, total. First time taking that route from BVI in lieu of ferry service. Highly recommended if you have extra funds in your travel budget.

This might be a dumb question, but it is my understanding that a US citizen cannot be turned away at the border. What happens if you arrive at the USVI and don't have the test?

They won't even let you on the ferry to go and get turned away with a green QR Code and a Neg Test...

I think that an American can't be turned away for not having a passport. If they don't have a required medical clearance, I think they can..

Flagler Paul is correct about getting turned back at the border as a citizen, but unfortunately you won't get to the border without a test - that is the crux of the problem. As many Australians who have wanted to be repatriated in the past year have discovered to their chagrin.

I do understand they ferry companies may not be willing to take you. And this is more theoretical than anything, not planning to ignore the rule. But what if you arrive on a private vessel?

As a US citizen they cannot turn you back. If you've broken rules or laws that won't prevent them from arresting or fining you, but at least you'll be in the USA