‘Wanted’ Poster Appears On Immigration Website
A “wanted” poster has appeared on the Department of Immigration’s website, seeking information on the whereabouts of a 46-year-old foreign national, and also reminding the public that it is an “offence to harbour an illegal immigrant.”
Robert George McFarlane is described on the “wanted” poster as a black male of Jamaican nationality, who was born on October 29, 1968 in St. Thomas, Jamaica.
The poster says, “If you have any information on the whereabouts of Mr. McFarlane, please contact the Department of Immigration on [441] 297-7950/[441] 297-7694 or via the Immigration Hotline [441] 296-5202 or the Immigration Online Tips website or http://www.doiapps.gov.bm/immigration/.
“Pursuant to Section 112 of the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act, 1956 it is an offence to harbour an illegal immigrant,” the poster adds.
Poster courtesy of the Immigration website:
In announcing some of the policy changes that came in effect on March 1st, Home Affairs Minister Michael Fahy previously said, “In December 2014, the Chief Immigration Officer sought advice from the Attorney General’s Chambers as to whether the Department of Immigration could use ‘wanted’ posters in an attempt to find person’s who are in Bermuda illegally.
“Advice was received that confirmed the Department can proceed with such an initiative,” Minister Fahy explained.
“The Department of Immigration is currently searching for at least one foreign national who is in Bermuda illegally [without the Minister’s permission]. To this end, the Department of Immigration will be seeking the general public’s assistance for ‘Wanted Persons’ via the Department’s website.
“These will normally be persons where all other avenues to find them have been exhausted,” the Minister added.
Will the Department of Immigration also post similar WANTED posters for US, UK and Canadian nationals (including those formerly employed in IB) who have been made redundant, are living here not as a Spouse of a work permit holder, and have not yet applied for Permission to Reside, or Permission to Seek Employment.
Just asking OBA, as we have to be deemed to be fair, transparent forthright to all foreign nationals so that we can protect local employment.
One can only assume so. Feel free to ask the Department of Immigration if you have any questions about the criteria for inclusion on a Wanted poster (which is clearly a measure of last resort). If you are just race baiting and implying improper motives, proceed as you wish.
I wonder if he ever even had a work permit…perhaps that’s why the poster????
So, you’re against foreigners here who have no job (you state they’ve been made redundant) but are continuing to live (and therefore, spend money) on the island? Let me take a wild guess here… Regressive Labour Party voter?
I support no political organization and have a HUGE problem with foreign nationals staying beyond their permitted stay. WHY must politics be bought up when people express their opinions? Get a life!
if you DH can afford to live and go grocery shopping in Bermuda without employment, then you can stay as long as you want…
One would think the landlord of these horrible illegal people would turn them in…no?
Would he be a horrible illegal person if he was from Europe, Portugal, Azores.
Nobody is horrible until they have proved to be horrible.
Isn’t that what Mr. McFarlane does? No job and spends money? But he’s on a wanted poster.
Typical response from the David Henry type , money over matter !
if they don’t have a work permit and are not on a visitor visa then they have to leave bermuda
There will be no local employment at all if we don’t have guest workers here pumping money into the local economy.
oh okay well let’s just continue to allow illegal immigrants to stay then. Let’s CIRCUMVENT OUR LEGAL SYSTEM for the sake of the economy (which apparently is the only way we can retain foreign investments)??? Give me a Damn break darius/David!
@ Darrius – in the context of this topic what point are you making? for your assistance – The Department of Immigration is currently searching for at least one foreign national who is in Bermuda illegally [without the Minister’s permission].
@stunned – apologies, I was responding to someone who said they didn’t want foreigners here at all. Obviously if you’re not legally entitled to be here, then you must leave. It’s the logic that only Bermudians should work here that makes absolutely no economic sense at all.
accepted and agreed.
Last year in the house of parliament it was revealed that between March 2011 to 2013 foreign workers sent out a rounded amount of $366million to other countries.
What was your point?
Was that invested in overseas Equities. You know investments.
Nope, that was from repatriation of earnings.
The amount for investments was 3.8 billion.
Whereas pretty much every dollar in Bermuda comes from overseas in the first place.
Glad you aren’t our minister of finance although you do seem to share the same logic as him. WOW, regardless of where the dollars come from the way to make an economy thrive is by keeping it within the nation.
Thanks for the compliment. Bob is a very logical guy.
Why would anyone who’s job is advertised every two or three years feel compelled to spend all of it here and not make provisions for the future?
A strict work permit policy and expats sending large chunks of their wages home will go hand in hand.
You seem to share the same misguided logic of the shallow finance minister/ Burt , you wouldn’t be him would you?? You FAIL to mention that over the same 2 yr period you mention, IB sector would have brought into the Island 85% of our revenue, which would equate to approx, 1.5 BILLION $$$$, your plp/xenophobic economics is rubbish!!! Our BDA $$$ are worth nothing anywhere else in the world, and we sure as heck cannot expect the rest of the world to throw their $$$ US at us for nothing??? These workers that you have little time for, FEED US!!! Everything has a price in this world which means Bda has to pay its share, whether you like it or not!!!L
It’s quite ironic that you are making the same assumption the party you oppose does. The job sector that is sending these vast amounts back was never mentioned by me or in the house when the minister revealed it. You just assume it’s all going out via IB. It’s highly unlikely that the majority of these millions is going out from IB and it’s more likely that there are more non IB expats sending this money back home than the expats in IB. The commenter WOW also makes that assumption. IB workers are highly educated and would be smart enough to know it’s more beneficial to keep their money here while they are here. This amount is not what workers are taking with them when they leave for good it’s what is sent while still here. With higher interest rates and no taxation here it is more profitable for IB workers to keep it here. Since unlike you I’m not a crony to any party so my vision is not clouded. Both parties have no idea about relativity. Sure I agree we need IB workers but more than half the permits issue are to non IB. In the years of our economic boom it was the opposite so the mass amounts of IB workers here were putting money in the pockets of locals who in turn were putting back into our system. I’m not blaming the current government for this shift as I fully understand it’s the previous government who allowed it to happen. The fault of the current government through continuing to allow it to happen and becoming BERMUDIAN business owners puppets and feeding into their nonsense. How can a local live on sweat shop labor wages when their life is fully based in a country where everything is overpriced? The government previous and present have no idea about this relativity because they are overpaid and cannot feel the strain the rest of society does. Our civil service wouldn’t be so bloated if Bermudians were able to make a decent wage in the private sector and we wouldn’t have to pay millions to financial assistance either. The party you oppose did this but the party you are a crony of has let it continue to appease their circle of interest.
at Future alliance – what are you implying about the ethics of the Department of Immigration? Anything or just pure mischief?
All………I am stating facts.
I work in IB at the VP level, do not support the PLP and am accountable for top line revenue growth so I know well enough what the issues are on a macro level impacting our economy and my ability every day to position Bermuda as a viable proposition for the large cap corporates and UHNWI which I steward.
Its time for us to stop blindly allowing people who have been laid off to stay and seek employment, especially when they are in direct competition with highly qualified Bermudian candidates who are often overlooked or maligned at the hiring stage because they don’t spend time on the weekend with the hiring manager socially.
On your points about “we need expats to buy groceries, etc etc” i have used this argument to keep key people here in the past but we are at a critical juncture now where we are giving employees who are not “key worker” material way to much opportunity, if they are as valuable as they are being portrayed they can easily find highly paid jobs back home, now equipped with Bermuda Market experience to contribute to US, UK and Canadian GDP and retail consumption.
I would rather avoid more local mortgages being impaired due to job losses, than perpetuate the dangerous imbalance we have now created where every secretary, TA, AVP, VP is somehow a Key Worker and a major contributor to Bermuda’s economic survival.
Without calling names, recently a gentleman i the insurance sector died, during his short Bermuda career he was allowed on more than one occasion to stay here for long periods, unemployed, actively seeking employment until he then found something and was then hand selected, each time based on relationship and not any advanced aptitude from his Peer Group, many of whom are way more qualified than he was.
Am not going to get into the new Work Permit Policies, will leave that the the Government to defend as i see merit in some of the widening, but this Wanted poster, for a blue collar worker is laughable – to reverse your argument, is his consumption of alcohol, other substances, rent, groceries and whichever households he buys groceries for …….any less valuable ? than the person going to Miles once a week to buy their next flan for a dinner party to lament their loss of employment and last years $45,000 – $150,000 performance bonus.
As far as the Department of Immigration is concerned, the reality is you guys act on complaints and repeatedly will throw man hours at chasing labourers through back-of-town, instead of spending minutes emailing UK and US companies to verify the fake qualifications that many in IB enrol for on being awarded a contract here, and then get their new bermuda employer to pay their course fees because they could only afford their monthly travel card and groceries back home, before landing the dream job in bermuda where they become a much coveted and seemingly now irreplaceable, “Key Worker”
at Future – if i comprehended correctly, the thrust of this wanted poster is to find people who are here in Bermuda illegally. period. without the minister’s permission.
the disparities that you speak of seem related but i have no intelligence unless you do that the examples you cited are residing here illegally. if that is indeed the case then i imagine there will be wanted posters all around this island.
the wanted posters may be effective but hardly justifies the witch hunt approach. Bermuda is better than that. the simple way to address it would be to station an immigration officer at the ports of departure to check for over-stayers and mete out a hefty fine and/or detain them until it is paid. But make sure the warning is properly displayed.
If you think I beleive any one of your 8 paragraphs of nonsense, you are sadly mistaken!!! You being just another Alaska hall/ plp plant would be closer to the truth!!
If you know of anyone on a made up qualification, then report them immedietly…what are you waiting for !!!!
@hmmm, I really get mad at the likes of ” future alliance” making outright false statements which could lead to mass exodus of those that actually FEED US because of these types of attacks on them, in my eyes these actions can be equated to treason on our Island!!! What some would do for the sake of political party?? The plp way, party first, Bermuda LAST!!!!
Hmmmm!…VP level huh…Ok, then i’m sure you know, at least half of the corruption that nourishes Corporations so that they may flourish…but that’s a whole different story.
I don’t even know where to start with this. You need ex-pats to keep the economy going (see Larry Burchall’s articles on the population.) So if one is laid off, it is reasonable to allow them some time to find another position. Why are Bermudians so afraid of competing with ex-pats? Either you are the best candidate for the job, or you’re not. I wouldn’t want a job that I didn’t deserve or wasn’t right for.
Furthermore, the policy states that a company must demonstrate why an ex-pat is chosen over a Bermudian. They must make a case for why the Bermudian is not a suitable candidate for the position. And they have to pay a fee. I’d say the deck is already stacked in Bermudians’ favour.
What are these fake qualifications? I know that for my work permit, I had to provide my degree and certificates. The DoI does require proof of qualifications, how much more do you want?
If you know of someone, then report them. If you don’t report them you support what they are doing. So stop blaming others if you know of an illegal activity that is going ion and have chosen to say nothing.
The USA would NOT have the space to list 15 MILLION ILLEGAL invaders in the USA at this time….And Hussein Odummer wants to give “permanent residence” to over 5 million of them ILLEGALLY!! Complete madness!!
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THE OBA TO START DOING THE SAME THING IN THE ISLAND???
Is there a bounty?
I’m the dog, the big bad dog, the bounty hunter!!! Watch out brah I got bear mace brah
the wanted poster needs the insertion of the following [WORDS]:
“Pursuant to Section 112 of the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act, 1956 it is an offence to harbour [AND ENTER INTO A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE] an illegal immigrant.”
If only the U.S. would enforce their laws too.
A tad bit more difficult with a population of millions and thousands of miles to cover.
Dont let me start
Time to stop letting admin staff come to Bermuda, train up, get qualifications and then become Key workers to the detriment of local young people with college degrees who cant find work when they get back but are denied entry level or admin roles simply because they dont have the right accent
Look how many will now be ignored with this new summer jobs milk round when PRC and work permit holders children come for summer holidays to take all the jobs
Crazy Bermuda we have really bought this trickle down rubbish hook line and sinker and gotten hoodwinked in the process
Blame our fine examples of how productive Bermudians can be. With the BS going on with the Bus Service workers and W&E can you blame anyone for having incorrect preconceived notions of what the Bermudian worker is?! We allow it to happen every day, pretend we don’t see it, and therefore support it and allow our future generations to think that this is acceptable,
Sad thing is they ruin it for the rest of the civil servants that bust their a** every day.
I have never once seen the type of scenario you speak of. It’s way way way too expensive to hire an expat. You’re making things up now.
I hear PTB is hiring – you don’t even need to know how to drive a bus…… simply have to be able to pick up a phone to call in sick! Can’t get a better job than that!
That’s what U heard, George? I heard MAWI were admitting patience too. Check them out!
@Future Alliance. I am a PLP supporter and I thank you for your frankness and honesty. I have been singing that song a while regarding the double standards given to defend keeping IB workers at the expense of qualified Bermudians. In my long career as a professional accountant, I knew many a Bermudian that could run circles around IB workers and have long stated that many of these workers step off the plane without much IB experience and are mostly recruited via the major accounting firms working on IB audit jobs and GAIN THE VALUABLE EXPERIENCE HERE IN BERMUDA. Why? Because we have the expertise as a captive and reinsurance jurisdiction. They come here inexperienced simply armed with a professional designation often times newly qualified. They learn here ON THE JOB…HERE in Bermuda! After a number of years, 20 or so, they either say thanks to Bermuda after accumulating a nest egg that can rival many and go back home wealthy….or apply for a PRC. That has been my own factual experience over the years. Many foreign accountants I worked with on audit jobs way back in the early 1980′s who KNEW NOTHING about IB (including me but I am not supposed to be the foreign ‘expert’) learned on the job and moved on to super (and I mean SUPER)successful careers and I still see many of them today! They are probably Bermudian now!
My career has been relatively successful but not to their level financially. So this misinformation about bringing in foreginers because they are the experts, etc etc are in the minority. They are NOT the experts. We simply have not learned to trust our own people and truth be told, our people have not been encouraged enough with this total slave mentality headgame reliance on foreigners and constantly brainwashing ourselves to think we are not good enough. Yes there are some success stories here and there, but after all of this time we should be teaming with Bermudians all throughout IB who should look to US as the experts! But that is still not the case and this is sad indeed.
Yes it’s true more young Bermudians could try to get in and make IB their career choice but with the shenanigans to try and keep an IB worker whose work permit is expiring or expired, as you describe and also seeing first hand how employers twist and customize advertisments to suit the foreigner they want to keep here, etc, (increasing the number of years of experience is an easy one they use) it is no wonder that there is discouragement and the same story is played like a broken record, ‘..well we couldn’t find any suitable Bermudians’. The same thing has been happening for the last 30+ years and the picture stays the same with these games being played over and over and over and over again and the goal posts shifting over and over and over again. Work permit policy after work permit policy throughout the decades simply will not stop an IB employer who is hell bent in hiring who they want to hire and that is usually a non Bermudian. I wish I can be proven wrong. Smh! I really do not see things having changed that much because no Govt (PLP or other) have really been successful in insisting on BERMUDIANS ONLY on a consistent basis! And it’s a catch 22 because we want IB business so there tends to be more appeasing done to keep them here and let them do what they want at the expense of Bermudians. There will always be loopholes found to avoid hiring the Bermudian. Always.
I agree with much of what you say. However, we forget that Bermudians are working all around the world and taking jobs too in many fields.
How many Bermudians with zero qualifications are overseas collecting health paychecks while others are unemployed. We have three our four football players in the UK, USA and Canada making a living at a sport?
What is the % of Bermudians overseas and how are they effecting the unemployed from not working.
This is only 21 square miles and if this S!@# is not monitored this powder keg will BLOW.
Tasha Fasha Masha says:
March 3, 2015
“Blame our fine examples of how productive Bermudians can be. With the BS going on with the Bus Service workers and W&E can you blame anyone for having incorrect preconceived notions of what the Bermudian worker is?! We allow it to happen every day, pretend we don’t see it, and therefore support it and allow our future generations to think that this is acceptable,
Sad thing is they ruin it for the rest of the civil servants that bust their a** every day.”
Bermudians are horrible they are lazy and unreliable at home and stealing other people’s job and benefits abroad…….horrible horrible Bermudians……..according to Tasha Fasha Masha
Dumb example. Fool.
If you are advertising a position because the ex-pat holding that position requires a new work permit, it does make sense to increase the number of years experience. If it was originally 2 years experience, and the ex-pat has been with you for 3 years, it is reasonable to expect 5 years experience, because that is what you are losing if you have to replace that ex-pat.
They might as well post up all those that have over stayed their welcome not just 1 man. LETS B FAIR
Think I saw him driving pink bus today. Overheard he was going over Catlin – pick up redundancy cheque, then was going Botanical Gardens – clean up da mess from hurricanes so Bermudians can have AG show, then BIU pay Union dues, then BA to London to catch Spurs QPR, Saturday with Usain Bolt…..
Why did the first face of the wanted by this OBA/ UBP government had to be ..1) MALE ..2) BLACK ..3) JAMAICAN ? So your telling me that there are no ..1) FEMALE ..2) WHITE ..3) ENGLISH , CANADIAN , AMERICAN , immigration law breakers ?
Some times you just have to be so stupid.
Coffee, would it make you feel better if the immigration dept, ( NOT OBA by the way ) found the first WHITE Joe and Mary Blow and made fake wanted posters of them??? Your race baiting compliments your ability to tell LIES very nicely!!! Are you still claiming to be a white female??? Plp = party first, Bda last!!!!
If if know of any, tell us.
But you don’t, do you.
chances are….. probably not.
all these illegal immigrants here ,but a black man makes the most wanted list?
When you allow a foreign worker a permit two things perhaps more should transpire, blood type and medical records “must be provided”, both phsycologic and health. Must submit any criminal history, must provide sample of DNA for cataloguing, and have three dimentional facial recognition performed at police have, prospect… facial recognition must be pertinent to all cctv throughout island and a service to be provided through paid or govt suplimental observation in the interest of national security!
This is really quite perplexing…
Why is it that the OBA supporters just go against every little thing that the PLP supporters say (and vice versa). I am just in total awe of this. Everything thing in Bermuda is spilt totally down on racial lines from what school you go to where you work to where you hang out at. You are all grown people and you mean to tell me that there is nothing you can agree with, NOTHING!! You are all becoming see through. I have read two posts on this subject of persons with first hand experience and all some of you basically tell them to shut up and stop laying. Really!!!!
And all are supposed to be grown ( and perhaps educated ) and these are your responses? Really!!!! I always felt that no matter your race, beliefs, education, or political preference that a level of decency should prevail. You guys have no respect for each other. And to think that you people are grown folk.
One last question: All you people who attack each other on racial/ political lines, will you treat the children of the bloggers you attack the same way? Now that’s scary because the cycle continues. Grow up and lets have a intelligent and respectable debate.