Home Affairs Minister On Immigration Legislation
[Updated] Minister of Home Affairs Michael Fahy spoke today [Sept 13] regarding the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment and the Incentives for Job Makers Act.
“Today we introduced two key pieces of legislation aimed at creating and protecting jobs for Bermudians and reinforcing Bermuda’s reputation for being a world class competitive jurisdiction welcoming of financial and human capital,” said Minister Fahy.
The Act currently requires that a company has at least 25 persons with Bermudian status on its staff, and the amendments seek to reduce that to 10 persons.
Minister Fahy said, “Other areas of note include amending the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956 to remove the eligibility date (1 January 2005) for the Permanent Resident’s Certificate so that eligible persons can apply for a PRC based on the earliest date when the employer, responsible for their exemption, would have first met the conditions of the Economic Development Act.
“And finally, we are seeking to amend the Act to reduce the application fee for the PRC from $120,000 to $25,000, a fee deemed to be more palatable to the business community.”
The Immigration and Protection Amendment (No 2) Act, 2013 also tabled in the House today stems from the Policy: Measures to Discourage Work Permit Violations.
Under the provisions of the proposed legislation the Chief Immigration Officer will have the ability to impose a civil penalty of $5,000 for a first offense and $10,000 for a second or subsequent offense. Such violations could include working without a work permit or working outside of the scope of a work permit.
Criminal penalties for offenses under the Act are also set to increase from $5,000 to $10,000 for a first offence and from $10,000 to $25,000 for a second or subsequent offence.
“It is firmly believed that these amendments will help to further renew and revitalize our economy. This Government represents change and as we move to rejuvenate the business sector with a view to stimulate economic growth and to secure jobs for Bermudians we are mindful of our regulatory responsibilities,” said Minister Fahy.
The Minister’s full statement follows below:
Good afternoon and thank you for joining me.
Today we introduced two key pieces of legislation aimed at creating and protecting jobs for Bermudians and reinforcing Bermuda’s reputation for being a world class competitive jurisdiction welcoming of financial and human capital.
With the tabling of the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment (No. 2) Act 2013 and the Incentives for Job Makers Act 2013, the Ministry of Home Affairs in partnership with the Ministry of Economic Development, has taken steps to amend policies and introduce legislative initiatives in support of our goals.
As a reminder, the Government’s immediate goals, amongst others are:
- To strengthen our economy; and
- To create jobs for Bermudians.
This Government is committed to building a stronger economic foundation for Bermuda and therefore the amendments to the Incentives For Job Makers Act forms a part of a strategic initiative designed to encourage the location of key executives in Bermuda.
This is critical to our economy and a factor which is expected to lead to a continued physical presence on island by senior executives working in international business.
Essentially this Bill seeks to amend the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956 and the Economic Development Act 1968 to strengthen the incentives regime and to remove some of the barriers that have been identified by industry. The anticipated result is a far more effective legislative tool that our Minister of Economic Development, Dr. Grant Gibbons, JP, MP, will use to further advance business development activities.
It should be clear that everything what the Government is doing is for the recovery and renewal of Bermuda to get it working better for our people.
Data collated by ABIR shows that the larger companies on-island generate annually nearly One Billion Dollars in economic impact to Bermuda.
Therefore the Government is taking the necessary steps to ensure that the critical contributions of key business executives is recognized via immigration reforms with a view to securing the executives and their companies in Bermuda, and in so doing, protecting and securing jobs for Bermudians.
While time will not permit me to provide a full review of the amendments, I can share that currently the Act requires that a company has at least 25 persons with Bermudian status on its staff.
This figure has been deemed as too high.
The amendments seek to reduce the requirement of a company in order to be eligible from 25 persons with Bermudian status to 10 persons with Bermudian status on its staff; this way more companies are eligible to participate in the scheme.
Also, companies that employ a large number of Bermudians (e.g. 100+) can only have as many exemptions, a maximum of 5 employees, as a company that only employs 25 Bermudians.
This does not provide an incentive to hire as many Bermudians as possible. We are therefore seeking to amend the legislation to remove the maximum number of 5 persons that can be exempted from at any one time in accordance with conditions that will be set out in the Guidelines.
Other areas of note include amending the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956 to remove the eligibility date (1 January 2005) for the Permanent Resident’s Certificate so that eligible persons can apply for a PRC based on the earliest date when the employer, responsible for their exemption, would have first met the conditions of the Economic Development Act.
And finally, we are seeking to amend the Act to reduce the application fee for the PRC from $120,000 to $25,000, a fee deemed to be more palatable to the business community.
Ladies and gentlemen, Bermuda is already starting to move in the right direction.
It is firmly believed that these amendments will help to further renew and revitalize our economy. This Government represents change and as we move to rejuvenate the business sector with a view to stimulate economic growth and to secure jobs for Bermudians we are mindful of our regulatory responsibilities.
To be clear, we welcome the presence of our guest workers and the intellectual capacity that their presence brings.
Our sophisticated economy requires them. Their mere presence helps to create jobs for Bermudians.
Yet we are ever mindful that we must remain competitive in every sense by ensuring a well managed regulatory environment.
The Immigration and Protection Amendment (No 2) Act, 2013 also tabled in the House today stems from the Policy: Measures to Discourage Work Permit Violations.
The policy and the measures are modeled after regimes in the UK and the Cayman Islands.
Under the provisions of the proposed legislation the Chief Immigration Officer will have the ability to impose a civil penalty of $5,000 for a first offense and $10,000 for a second or subsequent offense on employers and or employees wherein work permit violations occur.
Such violations could include working without a work permit or working outside of the scope of a work permit.
To support this regime, the Act sets out the procedure to be followed before a civil penalty is imposed and provides for an appeal to the Supreme Court against a decision to impose a penalty.
Criminal penalties for offenses under the Act are also set to increase from $5,000 to $10,000 for a first offence and from $10,000 to $25,000 for a second or subsequent offence. A Civil Penalties regime incorporated into Immigration legislation is not uncommon and already practiced in competitive jurisdictions.
In the Cayman Islands’ immigration law any immigration officer at or above the rank of Deputy Chief Immigration Officer may impose a fine; and in the UK, the UKBA introduced a civil penalty system for employers in February 2008 – a requirement to pay money for an offence without the need of court conviction.
The public will recall that when the Government made a decision to eliminate term limits, we also made a commitment to strengthen our compliance regime and today we are taking the necessary steps to bring Bermuda’s Immigration legislation in line with competitive jurisdictions.
Government is of the view that the people of Bermuda will be well served by these enhancements to the Act.
You have often heard me say our policies must be friendly to business while simultaneously protecting the rights of Bermudians to work in their own Country.
I’ve also said that this requires balance and with the introduction of this proposed legislation I am certain that we are moving in the right direction in taking this balanced approach.
By evolving our Incentives for Job Makers regime we are securing the human capital that is required to run our sophisticated economy and by extension securing the continued physical presence of the companies that retain them – thereby securing Bermudian jobs and our economic future.
By strengthening our immigration compliance regime we are enhancing our attractiveness as a well managed jurisdiction.
Collectively, these legislative initiatives are designed to keep Bermuda moving forward.
Thank you.
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Update Sept 15: The full Incentives for Jobmakers Act, as tabled in the House, is below [PDF here]
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Articles that link to this one:
- BermudaFirst Supports Job Makers Amendments | Bernews.com | September 16, 2013
- ABIR: Incentives For Job Makers Act ‘Welcomed’ | Bernews.com | September 16, 2013
He just said he introduced legislation to PROTECT BERMUDIANS and then goes on to say
1 “The Act currently requires that a company has at least 25 persons with Bermudian status on its staff, and the amendments seek to reduce that to 10 persons.”
and 2 – reduce the application fee for the PRC from $120,000 to $25,000
WHAT THE **** OBA!!!!!!!
Your argument is incongruous.
@ smh that’s a good point, that’s like someone saying um not gonna slap you in the face no more but um gonna kick you in de a$$ LMAO
In English please, my friend. I have absolutely no idea what you said.
Oh yes forward thinking like what we see here will kick start BDA. A step in the right direction Mr. Minister.
This is not how it works….you must believe in Santa. All my Bermudians in the IBS sector I hope your kissing muchoo tail to be included in the top ten when they decided to bring in more work permit holders that can perform the same job your doing. No new company is opening up in Bermuda to employ at least 10 Bermudians.
From September 2013 until next year September 2014 we can ask the Minister if he’s still there. He may jump to his forth party UBP, BDA, OBA, what party next Faheeee.
The clock is ticking.
Good morning Mr. Smith I can fire you soon the OBA government has introduce a legislation that will allow me to only keep 10 Bermudians employed and bring in has many Xpats boys as I want. Here’s your last check bye bye. Look on the brighter side at least I can import folks to rent your empty apartment.
“OBA if you keep doing the same thing wrong over and over and expect differant results you are a morons ” — Albert Eienstien
To all the PLP supporters and opponents of this policy.
Several times, on this website alone, I have come across the argument that under the PLP’s reign Bermuda’s economy reached heights never experienced before and resulted in the overemployment of locals and the enrichment of many.
How did the PLP achieve this and what were the circumstances?
This was achieved via the issuance of a record number of work permits and the lack of enforcement of the term limit policy implemented in the early 2000’s. These acts allowed for Bermuda’s overall population to increase which increased the client base for local firms across the island as well as growing the tax payer base which in turn increases the Government revenue base and thus Government revenues. Read the numerous articles penned by Mr. Larry Burchall and Sir John Swan which attempt to highlight the correlation of these factors.
An increase in revenues leads to the Government being able to spend these funds on improving our infrastructure and the funding of social programs designed to assist the local population. Unfortunately, the previous administration, during the boom years, went on an unsustainable spending spree and now there is nothing to left to spend which could assist in stimulating the economy during a downturn. Economics 101 – save during the boom times and spend during the bad times. That premise can be applied to personal as well as Government finances.
Then a change in leadership in 2007 led to the appointment of Dr. Brown and Col. Burch as Bermuda’s leaders. Along with their appointment came about the actual enforcement of the term limit policies which were accompanied by other isolationist policies such as land licensing and land purchase restrictions as well as an overly aggressive approach to IB and foreigners in general. Isolationist policies will and have proven not to work in a highly globalized world such as the one we all live in today. Ask North Korea what isolationist and protectionist policies have done for them. Even the “communist” Chinese figured that one out and their economy has grown since then and will eventually be the largest on earth. So with the aggressive enforcement of these policies, in the beginning/middle of a recession, saw the exodus of both businesses and their expatriate employees in droves. With them went their rental payments, grocery bills, restaurant bills, gardening bills, cable bills, internet bills et al. What has been the end result of this change? Well, we have all somehow been affected by the numerous local and international business closures (two of my immediate family members have been unemployed for nearly two years) which in turn have directly and indirectly resulted in numerous job losses for Bermudians. It has also led to a much reduced tax paying base, which in turn has negatively affected Government revenues in a much increased civil service.
Now I know some like to attribute all of our ills to the global economic downturn back in 2007/8 and nothing of our doing. However, one must ask as to why out of all of our major trading partners and similar sized economies why little old Bermuda is the only one to have experienced four consecutive years of negative GDP growth or economic contraction. Why have we suffered so much while jurisdictions that we trade with and/or compete with have not? What did we do so different that resulted in our current economic depression? I agree that the global economic downturn adversely affected our economy, but the institution of isolationist policies only exacerbated and prolonged the issue along with the decimation of Government finances.
So if we are to return back to the days of pre-2008 we need a major influx of foreign capital (as the BDA dollar is worth nothing outside of our shores) and an overall increase in our population to sustain our current way of life. Without either of these then expect further pain to come with the affected to be solely Bermudians as the expatriates can simply leave our shores and the debt with 50,000 odd Bermudians.
Anyways, I do realize my argument will fall on deaf ears and that the thought of foreigners coming to BDA makes many ill and emotional and irrational. And that is your right. But think carefully about what I said above, because driving away Government revenues is not very pro-Bermudian as some will have you believe, as the requirement of austerity and cut backs are the inevitable result of protectionist and isolationist policies.
In other words we can’t expect things to change for the better if continue with on the same tact as the last 5 years which has seen our economy deteriorate to the breaking point we all find ourselves at now.
Ok Mike Fahy, I mean Double Standards! You write just like to speak! Smh
When will YOU be contributing something?
You try to denounce me for not contributing, yet THIS is your response to a post this long?
You’re a joke.
Yea hi Fahy. lolol next time grow some and place your real name lol.
Amazing that an anonymous poster has the audacity to demand this.
Mindboggling.
Great idea.
Providing key members of the non-Bermudian labour force with an option to remain in Bermuda, along with their capital (both intellectual and monetary), means more jobs for Bermudians.
That’s Bull S!@t we all know that cheap labor (globalization ) is the order of the day and the (key non-Bermudian labour force with their capital have minimal concern for Bermudians , just look at construction. Why pay a Bermudian $25-$30 an hour when you can pay a guest worker half that and the reason I came up with that wage is the cost of living on this beautiful little Island that everyone is dying to get too(bypassing many countries and travelling thousands of miles)just in case some nut head thinks that wage is unreasonable.
This was from the PLP’s 2012 election platform
Encourage business to
choose Bermuda as a
jurisdiction by enhancing our
work permit policies while
being mindful of the needs of
Bermudians, and businesses.
• Enhance the Incentives for
Job Makers legislation to
expand opportunities for
Bermudian employment.
God you people can’t read but only interpret.
Key word is “company”.
I need to do drugs.
????? Please help me understand this better, Terry….
lol@terry..funnyyyy!
This is a travesty, that’s all I can say. If Bermudians don’t understand the motive of the Oba now, then all I have to offer is a SMH!!
OBA fail to remember they only got in by the swing vote of BERMUDIANS looking for better.. Don’t worry, while you may not remember I can assure you many BERMUDIANS will come next election..
That’s why I refuse to have de Johnny Barns mentality (no disrespect to him I think what he’s doing is noble) how do you think the Native American Indians got their land taken away from them ,being nice , easygoing and trustworthy, I saw Obeah coming a mile away. LMAO
I agree fully with you on that one for sure. If we look at many other jurisdictions they are actually doing more to secure the long term instead of a short term money grabs that will have lasting negative effects on their locals.
I like your name play on the OBA, I was actually telling people not to fall for the Voodoo of the OBeAh man (but then I was also very critical of the PLP as well to be honest).
While we certainly need to encourage international business, I do not agree with selling the farm in the process.
Trickle down economics has always failed historically, so why are we trying to do it again. I agree with the sentiment of an earlier statement, ‘Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity”.
Come on OBA, give us some hope that you have some useful, new ideas that will turn the tide. Anything please!
Anything is better then nothing at this point. Fahy is as anti Bermudian as we’ve had in government for some time. Seriously, the OBA leadership are an evil bunch.
Ya, he blasted Bermudians for being anti ex-patriot but says nothing about ex-patriots being anti Bermudian, I wonder how deep his blood line flows through Bermuda. LMAO
For Bermudians in middle management positions you will not go no further now as we all know in Intertional Business in majority companies there is only ONE Bermudian or none at the Senior Level as we Bermudians do not fit into the Corporate Plan coming down from the head office overseas. And if they do say we have Bermudians 99% of the time its aspouse of a Bermudian
I can see allot of Bermudians now being made redundant.
I believe that the biggest problem with our immigration policy is that Bermuda never understood the motivation behind non Bermudian employment in the International Business sector. Bermuda has historically believed that our international workers ‘are super special human beings and will make every effort to hire and train Bermudians’. This is not and has never been the case, especially for senior employees.
The business success of the companies is largely based on relationships, both internally and externally. Therefore they will hire persons that they are socially comfortable with. It then follows that if the hiring manager is from England for example, there is a strong possibility that the person they hire will be from the UK. There are exceptions of course but that is the general trend. The historic immigration requirement to make sure there is a qualified Bermudian in the first instance would always fail because it is easy to tailor an ad (based on qualification or experience- even language requirements) to a preferred non Bermudian applicant.
Some will argue that it is ‘cheaper to hire a Bermudian’ which is the case, but the difference between hiring a Bermudian and hiring a non Bermudian is not sufficiently high to justify hiring the Bermudian. For example, if the difference is $20,000 but the company profit is $300m, the $20,000 difference does not matter to the hiring manager since the social relationship is more important.
I do not believe it is possible to change ‘the social hiring perspective’ since we cannot legislate altruism. Instead immigration policy should be more advantageous to Bermudians. Thus the difference in hiring costs should be sufficient to allow a Bermudian to be trained overseas. Failure to do so has resulted in the current problem of many Bermudians having the required education but insufficient experience.
A simple example would be to increase the cost a work permit based on the number of times a renewal has been requested. This would be coupled with a register of qualified Bermudians so that we know which qualified Bermudians are available.
The overall impact of making it easier to grant PRC status to our IB Executives is therefore a mistake that will cost the OBA votes since the impacted Bermudians will realize the impact of the change in their personal circumstances. If the legislation is passed, the PRC status should be connected to continued employment and residence of the PRC holder. It is also clear that the cost for the PRC should be substantially higher, at least in the $100k range.
This a critical and non partisan issue since all Bermudians will be impacted. Bermuda’s future is really at stake!!
From my read of the above in conjunction with other news sources, at the heart of it is that we are now granting unlimited exemptions and PRC opportunity for Senior Executives for companies that employ 10 Bermudians. My question is, what is the definition of Senior Executive? Anyone can have a big title. Is that CEO, CFO, or does the term Senior extend to EVP, SVP and even VP is the second seniormost position in some companies while very common at others. The one concern I have is that the definition of ‘Senior’ may be very broad and while yes, you may have 10 Bermudians in very administrative/lower level jobs, there is never opportunity or desire to really progress them to Senior Management. Now in reality, many companies do much of this in practice already (sure they may promote a few Bermudians but by and large the whole notion of an expat ‘training a Bermudian to fill their job in the future’ is overlooked). Now however, this legislation seems to legalize and encourage such behavior. Once again implementation is key here and depending how it is implemented, the unintended consequences could be significant especially in IB where 25k is nothing for an employer to flip the bill on behalf of his ‘senior’ staff.
Ah… and here’s the ones you missed on the other page.
Nothing but baseless accusations and the talking points you’ve been given.
Back this stuff up, man. The more you say it without backing it up, the less believable it is!
The posts for today seem to be more constructive than normal. Perhaps you can take the time to make a reasoned comment rather than the typical ‘political push back’??
More misrepresentation from you. Par for the course. Do better
Mike Hind lol
Great contribution. Well done, “Concerned Citizen”. You, who holds contributing to the threads in high enough esteem to denounce someone for, according to you, not contributing enough… then THIS is what you post.
Brilliantly done.
You’re a joke.
It is well known that the reason for Bermuda’s decline is a lack of resident population. Lets try this and get behind it – right now we have very little to sell and are on the edge. If it does not work (and I believe it will), then policies can change. Also, as someone noted above, something of this type was also planned by the PLP.
All of these negative comments are read by the world – how do you suppose our potential new residents are feeling right now?
Yup, people are saying they can’t wait for the next election, I wonder why!!
At this rate the OBA will kick all the Swing Voters of their ship before it sinks like the PLP.
Fahy your not in the BDA I mean UBP anymore. Start acting like someone we can trust, because your actions speak a thousand words and their making me doubt you even more.
We must do what we reasonably can to attract business to Bermuda which operates FROM Bermuda. The Minister’s recommendation will only encourage the larger companies to import even more of the executive level but at the expense of the production level Bermudians. It is the administrative positions which are outsourced in record numbers. Ironically, the executive level receive over the top packages which contribute significantly to the company’s expenses however those positions are retained at all costs. The divide between the haves and the have nots grow daily.
Let us also stop assuming that the expat executive is better for this country than the Bermudian who has worked his/her way through the business over several years. Remember it was the non Bermudian executive level that brought our oldest bank to it’s knees.
I have witnessed many executives with the attitude that they have come to Bermuda to save us when in fact these same people could not get jobs in their own countries! We need politicians who have the fortitude to do what is right for Bermuda and not just for a select few.
is weed legal yet?
This same principle needs to be applied in the Department of Immigration. The administrative processes are in some cases reminiscent of the 1970/80s and the leadership styles are VERY autocratic despite operating in a modern framework.
Here are a few examples of the Stone Age approach to administration:
Very paper based (I guess the answer is because you need to “verify” the authenticity of a document). Most other jurisdictions have moved towards more accessibility to online forms with increased functionality.
No continuity in process or decision. Each case is dealt with individually but case studies will prove that typical cases should be approached in typical fashion by all officers or inspectors or whatever they want to be called.
Leaders are very do as I say not as I do. There is one who has an earpiece all the time who has definitely been there too long. Over inflated egos for a job that requires constant training and policy upgrading.
Leaders do not listen due to their “high horse” attitude of “Um bin hur all this time and made this department what it is – but none much of it if any at all is written policy that is available readily nor is it supported by Legislation.
Bravo Min. Fahey for trying to MODERNISE this department also – Planning and Immigration respectively
I know there may be some fallout from this little post but I could write a policy paper on the revamp that the CIO – Dr. Ming would probably like to get her hands on and implement.
“Implementation” is another poor area. Policies are always evolving but the dissemination of information is akin to a schoolyard where it is delivered via a whisper here and a whisper there but no collective or centralized method of delivering changes that the staff may effectively put into action.
New policy in some cases means remind/revise/re-train……………