Are you travelling on a Bermuda passport now? If so, it’s kinda your own fault for not getting a UK passport. That is my point: we have the luxury of easy visa-free travel to most of the Western world.

It’s not even a surprise look how many Bermudians are living over there for free. Free to the Bermudian but the UK is still fronting the welfare check. This is one way for their Government to receive the funds back.

After being married a Bermudian and living in Bermy for 1 year the Embassy here in most cases grants a US visa. If that doesn’t take place it’s because your spouse has some form of bad history.

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The one thing I do think the minister should discuss with America & Canada is allowing more ease of travel of Bermudian spouses from countries with visa requirements. Its not only difficult for spouses to get visas to visit America but also just to use America as a gateway to get to their home country making them feel like a prisoner in Bermuda. I know America & Canada are trying to protect their country from illegal immigrants but I don’t see why someone with documents proving marriage should have such a hard time to be allowed to visit their family. This just seems like discrimination to me & our governments failure to work something out for Bermudian spouses is not very welcoming.

I’m travelling in Hungary right now and can assure you that it isn’t a simple process on a BOTC passport.

The BOTC passport cannot get you into and out of many places wihtout significant issue, I know as I’ve tried and run into considerable trouble with it. You are better off having a British passport which is your right if you’re a Bermudian and keep the Bermudian one simply for ease of entry to the US.

Due to an omission of BOTC’s from a 2006 provision to the Schengen agreement, BOTC passport holders require a Schengen visa in order to enter the EU (aside from the UK, France and Norway, which don’t require it).

See here, which specifically lists Bermudian BOTCs as requiring a visa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_in_the_European_Union

In order to obtain a Schengen Visa a Bermudian would have to either fly to NY to submit the application to the Hungarian consulate in person and wait up to 2 weeks for it to be approved. Otherwise, one may be able to obtain permission from the consulate to submit the application via a lawyer who can notarize it, though this is considered an exception for special circumstances. Subsequently, it may be required to go in for an in person interview and the application can only be made 3 months prior to the intended date of travel and proof of travel need be supplied.

See the documentation from the Hungarian foreign affairs department: http://konzuliszolgalat.kormany.hu/download/f/09/70000/SHORTTERMSTAY20130715.pdf

If you look at the visa free list for Schengen you’ll note that it’s quite extensive. Countries not considered visa free and subsequent applications are usually those placed under heavy scrutiny because each member state of the EU is expected to maintain a border for effectively all of the EU.

Subsequently this “emergency passport” printing issue seems to be nonsense. All Bermuda should be able to do is print the BOTC equivalent of a British emergency passport (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_emergency_passport) and negotiate with the US and Canada to allow it to be used for emergency entry for medical purposes. British Consulates can already issue such passports for emergency repatriation to the UK in the event you’ve lost your passport.

Regarding the BDA passport, it is as good as a US passport almost everywhere outside the US (and on another note, almost as good as a US passport when traveling into the US!).

Given the status quo, the actual reality is that all Bermuda citizens are entitled to both an EU and a BDA passport-given the ability to travel to both the EU and the US without visa, perhaps the most ideal situation of any citizen internationally (unless you want to start paying US income tax).