Living in Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda asks nothing of a paycheck in income tax, so what you're paid is what you keep. The catch is that living here is expensive, and once the bills are settled the surplus is modest rather than generous. As with its neighbors, the economy leans heavily on hospitality and tourism, and a newcomer without connections already in place will find it hard to enter. English is spoken at work throughout, so what holds people back is the sheer smallness of the place.

Antigua and Barbuda draws its newcomers from across the Caribbean. Roughly 30K residents — about 32% of the population — were born abroad, arriving mainly from Guyana, Dominica, and Jamaica. The inflow has been modest, with the immigrant population up just 8% over the decade, but it still outweighs the small diaspora of about 13,000 who have left, leaving the islands a net destination within the region.