Orderly families for the new economic order: Belonging and citizenship in the British Virgin Islands

The British Virgin Islands became a tax haven shortly after the U.K. enacted changes to citizenship policy for itself and its colonies. The new citizenship law disaggregated an old citizenship category into several new categories and emphasized legal paternity and descent rather than place of birth. The law encouraged BVIslanders to position themselves against increasing numbers of immigrants from other Caribbean islands by imagining BVIslander identity as an attribute of descent, thereby naturalizing it. Citizenship law also enabled BVIslander legislators to craft tax haven services in the BVI for another new class of foreigners—the British. BVIslanders and immigrants recreate their families in order to guarantee the “stability” required by this new industry, while BVIslanders monopolize the few good jobs created and shunt immigrants into menial work.

Key Words:

• British Virgin Islands
• offshore finance
• citizenship
• Caribbean
• identity