A month in Jamaica

UK visitors are usually granted up to 90 days, with the leave-by date stamped in the passport, and US citizens need no visa for 6 months. For EU citizens the immigration agency's list gives 90 days to nationals of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden, and 30 days to most others, including Austria, France, Greece, Portugal and Spain, so a month of more than 30 days needs an extension for them.

Extensions go to the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency before the stamped date, with a passport valid for at least 6 more months, a return ticket, a letter giving the reason and a fee. A visitor can stay at most 12 months as a Commonwealth citizen and 6 months otherwise. Overstaying without authority can bring a fine or arrest, according to UK travel advice.

No reliable source on monthly rents in Jamaica was found, so this guide gives no rent figures. The room tax is known: USD 1, 2 or 4 per occupied room per night depending on the size of the property, charged on every room a guest can use in a villa rented whole. A villa with three rooms, rented whole at the USD 1 rate, pays USD 90 for 30 nights. A stay of over 60 nights in a row counts as residential, and the tax stops from the 61st night; a letting for residential purposes is exempt from the start.

General Consumption Tax on tourism is 10%. Whether a small villa or guest house below the registration threshold charges it is unverified as of September 2026, so ask whether the price includes it.

Treasure Beach suits a month of small-scale living: community tourism, no all-inclusive hotels, and public beaches, though its minor roads suffer in heavy rain. Port Antonio suits a month away from the resort towns, in a parish that had about 60 tourist establishments in January 2025. Negril suits a month by the beach at the far west, where most hotels reopened by January 2026.

Kingston suits a month of city life, with UK travel advice on driving in the city in mind. These choices are editorial.

Hotels, guest houses, villas, apartments and home stays need a Jamaica Tourist Board licence under the Tourist Board Act. TPDCo keeps the register, and licensed places are listed on visitjamaica.com, which makes the licence the first thing to check for a month-long booking. UK travel advice adds that residential accommodation should have proper locks and window grilles.

A UK licence is valid for driving for up to 6 months.

Airbnb calls 28 nights or more a monthly stay: the first month is charged up front and released to the host 24 hours after check-in, later months are charged 10 days ahead, and a long-term cancellation policy generally asks for 30 days' notice of changes. Airbnb does not collect Jamaican tax itself, so the room tax and any GCT are the host's to charge.

Assuming 90 days. Several EU nationalities get 30, and the date that counts is the one stamped in the passport.

Counting the room tax per person. It is charged per room, and on every room of a villa rented whole.

Booking a place that has not reopened. The west and south coasts were hit by Hurricane Melissa in 2025.

Assuming utilities are included. No reliable source on typical practice was found, so ask before paying.