Jamaica
We advise founders, investors and established businesses on the deals, data and ideas that propel their value.
Start where you are
Six doors into the firm
Regulatory
Advisory and consulting across special economic zones, trade, competition, insurance, AML/CFT and FinTech regimes.
Two paths
None of these quite yours? Not sure? Talk to us. Plenty of people arrive with a situation rather than a practice area, and the shape of it is enough for us to point you at the right person. Save the confidential detail for when we are properly engaged.
Not sure? Talk to us
World Trademark Review 1000 - SINCE 2014
Local Partner
Where we sit
Our attorneys are admitted in Jamaica but work daily with counsel across the Caribbean and the rest of the world. That means Jamaican law applied with an understanding of how cross-border deals, filings and regulators actually behave.
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We have nearly 20 years of experience. Select a practice area to see how you can leverage our experience.
Data Protection & Privacy
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Fractional General Counsel
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Intellectual Property
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Technology, Media & Telecommunications
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Real Estate
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Regulatory
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Insights
Six questions that founders, investors and expanding businesses actually ask us, answered without the brochure language.
Open the guide
01
Can a non-national own land here, and be a director?
Yes to both. Jamaica places no restriction on foreign ownership of land, and there is no requirement for a Jamaican resident director or a local nominee shareholder in order to incorporate a company.
02
What will the company actually pay in tax?
Corporate income tax is 25% for unregulated companies and 33⅓% for regulated ones such as banks and telecoms entities. GCT, Jamaica's equivalent of VAT, is charged at 15%, and registration is triggered once annual turnover passes the statutory threshold. Rates and thresholds can move with the annual fiscal budget.
03
Do I need a work permit if I own or am a director of a business in Jamaica?
Not always. CARICOM Skills Certificate holders, short business visits, and certain arrangements where the employing entity has no Jamaican establishment all sit outside the standard work permit route.
04
How far does Jamaica's tax treaty network reach?
Jamaica has double taxation agreements with more than a dozen jurisdictions, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and China, alongside the CARICOM multilateral treaty, the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which binds fellow CARICOM member states.
05
Who do I call to expand across the Caribbean?
We act as the point of contact for regional expansion, whether Jamaica is the base or another CARICOM jurisdiction suits the plan better. One point is worth knowing early. Jamaica does not currently allow LLC migration or redomiciliation, so an existing company cannot simply be moved here or moved on, and every Caribbean market still requires its own incorporation. The work therefore lies in sequencing entities, directors and licences across markets, which we coordinate with counsel we already work with in the region and across Latin America.
06
We are a technology or brand business. Why Jamaica?
Start with the fundamentals. Jamaica is an emerging economy that has spent the past decade becoming genuinely investor friendly, with an educated English speaking workforce, a stable governance structure and a long record of smooth transitions of government, and a settled common law legal system whose institutions are not in question. The opportunity sits in trade. The island's position on the main east to west shipping route has built a serious logistics sector, and the Special Economic Zone regime gives businesses that manufacture, warehouse or deliver services from here a favourable basis on which to do it. Rights are also enforceable here. Jamaica has a genuine enforcement culture that runs from oppositions and cancellation actions at the Intellectual Property Office through customs seizure and border enforcement to injunctive relief in the courts. We act for technology and brand owners regarding enforcement, clearing squatted marks, cancelling bad faith registrations and stopping counterfeit imports, and we run parallel actions through our partner network across Latin America and the wider Caribbean when infringement does not stop at one border.
All insights →
Breach Response
Charities Regulation in Jamaica - New Rules for Giving
Containment, privilege, and the point at which the Information Commissioner must be told.
Breach Response
Beneficial Ownership Reporting and Privacy
Containment, privilege, and the point at which the Information Commissioner must be told.
Breach Response
Ictp 280: Demystifying Jamaica’s Data Protection Act, With Grace Lindo
Containment, privilege, and the point at which the Information Commissioner must be told.
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