TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands BVI Portal 101-How we got approved

I am eternally grateful for those on this board that have made out trips to the BVI so much better. In an effort to pay it forward I wanted to share some tips on the BVI portal. 8 of us (fully vacced > 14 days) got fully approved 1st go around at 115 AM this morning, a full 3 1/2 days before our trip thanks to a lot of pre-work and mainly to the credit of 2 ladies who are running the system. As usual in BVI the great people make a bad system work.

Our 2 week trip starts Jun 14th (Monday) - Day 0. Day 5 for PCR-RT test is Jun 9th, the Wednesday before. Days matter, hours don't so you can go at any time Wednesday Day 5 for your PCR tests.

1) Pre work. Create folders with each of your crews names in it. Well before the trip collect pdf's for your folder of (1) pdfs pics of their passports, (2) pdfs of their insurance cards, and (3) pdfs of their vaccination cards front and back (you need to upload both sides but I had both on 1 pdf so uploaded same document 2x for front and back)

In another folder have your (1) flight (entry into BVI) information in pdf form, (2) your lodging or vessel proof to include all the names of the crew (this needs to be uploaded), and (3) pdf of any travel insurance. (4) In addition I had pdfs of the general insurance coverage internationally for our crew. Fortunately 4 were BCBS and 2 its sister company Anthem so 1 pdf. More on (1),(3),(4) later

2) PCR-RT test - Have your crew set this up on Day 5 as early as they can. We used a local pharmacy, CVS, and local medical center. CVS is now free for all with insurance card. The tests need to say PCR-RT contain your name and DOB. We live in DC and all tests were returned within 24 hours via email (my charts for CVS) in pdf form. The crew emailed the results to me to complete their files.

3) BVI Portal (the beast)-Wait until you have your Covid test results so you can enter all at once unless of course you are up against the 48 hours window. If you do without Covid tests you will have to manually get an email link to go back and enter the results. They will want to know type and date of 1st and 2nd vaccination. I paid $105 each at the end of each entry.

Use 1 email (an email you can check your spam filter) for all people and 1 cell phone (lucky me). One person enters everyone's information in the portal for the other people. Everyone needs to be entered and they will ask if any are travelling together for the purpose of the custom form only. At the end you will see a list of people as you add.

Don't do this alone. In my case my wife and daughter sat with me and like surgery we confirmed everything we did 3x and entered by comparing to the actual documents and a spreadsheet we created and uploading their (1) covid tests results, (2) proof of destination, (3) insurance cards, and (4) vaccination cards front and back. We started at 415 on Day 4 (Thursday) and ended at 545 with all 8. After each you will get a long string of letters and numbers as an ID for each person. We wrote it down and then at the end realized we could just take a screenshot of all 8 of us with this information. Keep this information if you need to reference an application later.

After the portal entry at 6 pm I emailed to Lynette Harrigan (1 of the stars of this show) pdfs of (1) our flight entry information (Island Birds bill showing crew names-note for private charter select "charter" and flight number "1111" in portal), (2) travel insurance 2 page document listing names (we got travel insurance through Moorings), and (3) pdfs showing international coverage for health insurance even though none of this was asked for in the portal.

At 115 AM this morning (Day 3) I got 8 emails with the all clear for our crew and their pdfs 7 hours after portal entry.

1 more hurdle down....

PS I then took all the pdfs I have for each crew member and stapled together in 8 packets (1) passport pic, (2) covid test results, (3) vaccination cards, (4) health insurance cards, and (5) BVI entry acceptance so everyone has these in paper form and on their cell phones. On the front I stapled a 3x5 card with my email in huge font to hand to the person at the testing center for the last of the Day 0 tests on the 14th. One email for all results...and want to make sure it is correct.

I also have everyone's information on my phone and in dropbox

We have scheduled our return to US test on the Friday before the Monday we return at JVD at 745. Again they have via email all the information they need via spreadsheet.

Wishing you fair winds and following seas

Don’t lose your phone! You did a really thorough job.

We are MedJet members, but they didn’t even require those cards. We took our Covid test arrival -4, in case we were delayed. You are chartering, so little risk there, but we were concerned about making the Seaborne flight.

LOL...good point on delay. I guess then we are stuck in PR and have to get test again. But then we have no quarantine in BVI as it would be the 15th. Perfect planning? LOL

Had I known the portal could turn it around so quickly maybe would have done Day 4 but didn't want to deal with this stuff on the weekend. Certainly if not taking charter would have waited a day to Day 4 as we have been stuck everywhere trying to get there

Thanks for such a thorough breakdown of the process. We're heading down in a couple of weeks, with fortunately some changes in the entry protocol, so I'll use this as a guide.

I read somewhere in FB posts, and take this for what it's worth, that if there is a flight delay you can contact them and get that 5 day window extended. I hope that is the case because I will start the process on day 5 to give it as big a window as possible to get processed.

In reading our BVI approvals they are valid until June 16th so 2 days beyond our June 14th arrival. So if we are delayed we are still good and miss quarantine. Would rather be quarantined...

Emailing Lynette may have been the tipping for you, bailau! I did all of the above except emailing her afterwards for our group of 7. Finished at 5:45 on Wednesday evening for our Saturday (tomorrow) arrival, and the only one approved is my 12 year old. I'm not too worried about it, because I know I did everything correctly. But I sure will sleep better tonight if I have those acceptances already printed out and in my folders!

Good luck my friend...maybe we will see you down there. Never had more stress planning for a trip in my life...

Good luck my friend...maybe we will see you down there. Never had more stress planning for a trip in my life...

No need to email Lynette until there is a problem (no email like to upload test results 36 hours out or no approval 12 hours before arrival). It only adds extra work for her when she could be helping someone with a real issue. Imagine the traffic if she had to read thru an email for every person planning their trip.

Love this site. You answered my question before I had a chance to ask. We're arriving the 16th and will be aboard HYC cat "Luna".

Thank you all.

Mark

Another "kodos" and thanks for Lynette Harrigan --20 hours before our 5 AM flight with "pending" status -- e-mailed her and 2 hours later had her kind reply and our confirmation e-mails. Might have come through without her intervention but with the clock ticking I really appreciate her prompt and effective results.

WOOHOOOOOOOO!

Phil & Wendy
Dallas
SV Shelly Kay June 28-July 9

Has anyone got an "Error - application already submitted/pending" message? This is the FIRST TIME I've been on the gateway site for this trip (traveling July 1) and it seems to be telling me I already have one pending. Same thing happened on my wife's application. We did travel last December and our applications were approved. I'm thinking there is some remnant record in the database that should have been deleted. I PM'd Lynette on facebook. Not sure what else to do. Any suggestions?

Yes, they need to "close" your December trip. It has happened to several people I know.

Lynette will likely take care of it. You could also try the WhatsApp support number.

Thanks Jason!