We can now report that all our colleagues and their families are all safe and well following the recent historic Category 5 Hurricane Irma, which hit the BVI less than 2 weeks ago. Irma was followed by Cat. 4 Jose, which past north of Caribbean islands and Puerto Rico. We then had Maria which luckily was a near-miss BVI this time, but did cause winds of 50-60mph and heavy waves. According to National Emergency Operations, the consensus was that the BVI had been somewhat lucky and on the whole, there was not a lot of further damage and no major casualties.”
Cat. 5 Maria left surrounding islands, Dominica in complete devastation, and heavily pummeled Puerto Rico.
We would like to thank our colleagues, friends and clients for all your offers of support during these difficult times.
We are able to report that our offices were unscathed during the hurricanes and are operating as normal albeit with generator power. It has not been necessary to implement crisis management plans or a business continuity plan as our business and our offices were well secured to deal with such a catastrophic event. We are at this time helping the local community in housing other businesses on the island to assist with their recovery efforts in these difficult times.
All client enquiries and communication to our BVI office should continue as normal unless you are notified to the contrary. Some staff have relocated temporarily for personal reasons at this moment, but many have chosen to remain so that we can start the rebuild of this community. Our Cayman and Mauritius offices remain fully functional and can assist in the event that your business requests have not been dealt with in the BVI office.
We can also report the following:
- The BVI Company Registry online VIRRGIN system is functional and accessible from our offices within the BVI, allowing us to carry out company searches, make filings, incorporate new companies and obtain certificates. In addition, the BVI’s beneficial ownership information portal (BOSSs) was unaffected by the hurricane and is also operational.
- The BVI High Court Registry re-opened on Monday 18th September which, amongst other things, will enable the fulfilment of cause list searches and the issuance of legal opinions for which such searches are required.
- The Commercial Court will temporarily sit on St Lucia with effect from Monday 25th September.
Should you require any further information then please contact Miles Walton miles@oit.world Peter Todd peter@cs00195.wpengine.com/ocs and George Titan George@cs00195.wpengine.com/ocs