The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

I expected returning home to the Bahamas was going to be a tedious experience, judging by what I’ve heard from a couple of my fellow Bahamians.

Once I received my RT PCR results (negative) I went online to the Travel.gov.bs website.

I read the instructions on the main page, which took no more than a couple of minutes — an easy read. I had to log in or join the website... easy enough...then I filled in my details, name, date of birth, nationality, passport information, etc.

One question asked was - how many times have you visited The Bahamas...thankfully I was advised by another Bahamian the magic number is 11... it worked like a dream.

You will be asked what date you had the RT PCR (Nasal) Covid test, the name, phone number and address of the lab you went to – then you will be asked to upload the lab print off onto their page.

When I was at the lab, I told the lady at the front desk that I would be returning to the Bahamas within five days and would appreciate a lab print out of my results as it was the only way I could return to my homeland, (a yes or no answer wasn’t enough for my health visa) this wasn’t a problem at all, she asked me to call her the following day at 3pm for my results, (24 hours later) she would take my email address and send me my results. She sent me an email instantly with a copy of my original lab results.

Once I submitted my details on the Government website I received a message saying “Pending.” Twenty to 30 minutes later that same evening I received an email saying please pay $40 for my health visa, I did and I was approved for travel, I had five days in which to return before this health visa expired.

So really it is not as bad as I was warned that it would be. In fact it was a welcome relief.

A GRATEFUL BAHAMIAN

November 23, 2020