Immigration Reform Working Group’s Report

November 1, 2017

The Immigration Reform Working Group delivered their report to the Government yesterday and it has now been released to the public, with the 15-page report detailing their recommendations, with the Group noting that “care was taken to identify potential impacts on stakeholders within the Bermuda community be they social, cultural, political or economic.

The introduction states, “The Consultative Immigration Reform Working Group [CIRWG] has deliberated extensively on the issues of Mixed Status Families, the Permanent Resident’s Certificate [PRC] and the Grant of Bermudian Status as it pertains to the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956.

“The current law creates Mixed Status Families through a series of factors principally related to effective dates of various sections of the Act, which lead to some members of a family qualifying for either PRC or Bermudian Status while others do not have an avenue to apply for neither the PRC nor Bermudian Status, leaving them subject to Immigration control.”

The Group said that considerations when drafting specific Legislation & Policy should include:

  • Consideration should be given to measuring and maintaining records of Bermudians emigrating from Bermuda
  • Consideration should be given to the impact on Bermudian job seekers
  • Consideration should be given to ensuring the criteria/points system is balanced to reduce the impact on racial bias, ethnic diversity and cultural change
  • Care must be taken so as not to create a right for all long term residents to Bermudian Status
  • Consideration should be given to International standards
  • Consideration should be given to the economic growth in relation to population growth needed to support Bermuda’s infrastructure, health insurance,
  • Government debt, unfunded pensions etc.
  • Consideration should be given to the impact on attracting and retaining global talent
  • Consideration should be given to attracting and retaining global investment and economic stimulation
  • Consideration should be given to external and global factors
  • Consideration should be given to ensuring Bermudians are given priority in policies and implementation
  • Enforcement and compliance efforts should be stringent enough to ensureabuses are sufficiently dealt with

The Principles and Recommendations follow below [PDF here]

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Comments (19)

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  1. jammel says:

    No No No!

  2. Wake up & smell the roses says:

    This is why I left, Bermuda’s laws are backwards & divisive. Living in the stoneage.

  3. lily says:

    So if Bermudians can not fill an accountant position job why are there accountants filling up the same position through years?..instead of giving the job to other qualify accountants. That way no one will expect to get statues for working in Bermuda over 10 years.

  4. Onion Jiuce says:

    Consideration should be given to who the members of the immigration reform working group were. In of itself, this is page upon page of what? What are the most likely points in this, that this Government will see fit for purpose?

    Gild the lily.

  5. OMG says:

    So far, all the complaints here is referring to not having enough jobs or by giving mixed families status will take Bermudians job. But you fail to realize that these people have been here for years and have already jobs. Its not fair to have a father have status but his wife and children have nothing. Alot of families are divide. Let these divided family that have already been here for X amount of years and that have been contributing to the economy grant status.

    • bermuda triangle says:

      Totally agree. If you have been here 20 plus years, brought up families here (do not ‘qualify’ for PRC) there is no consideration for this in this childish report.

    • X ubp/OBA voter says:

      Stop being a OMG = idiot!

      If the father has Bda status the wife obtains it after 10 years of marriage. The kids will obtain it through the parents. Problem solved!

      • where is the rest of the report? says:

        What if they divorce or he dies? The kids will be Bermudian but the parent has to leave once the kids are 18.

      • OMG says:

        Before u going calling people names maybe you need to do some research. If both married parents are Non Bermudians and the father or mother obtains PRC and then years done the line obtain status, he/she cannot pass his/her status to their spouse and children’s and that is called mixed status families IDIOT!

      • Anbu says:

        You lot make me holler with your screen names lmfao. X ubp/oba voter. Like you ever were. just by having a name like that u expose your true self, as in a LIAR.

        • Onion says:

          Seriously. As convincing as the one black Trump voter.

  6. Will says:

    To preotect jobs for bermudians is total rubbish. Firstly, the jobs are here for bermudians its that simple. The only priblem is that many of the Bermudians not innwork are unemployable. Most are uneducated for the jobs at hand so instead of creating this bill more should be done to train bermudians for those jobs duh! Even so, i work in the hospitality industry and let me tell you the reason they hire foreigners is because they have the proper training and etiquette and knowledge of whats going on whereas the average Bermudian does not. Also i see it all the time with locals getting waiter jobs they have an attitude right at the start: its one of those ‘i will work for you under these conditions and oh ive got three kids but no fathers around so i cant work all the time and need special treatment blah blah blah.’ What employer in their right mind would want to hire and keep on people who tell the employer how, what and when they can work. The sense of entitlement to a job shouldnt mean you get the job!!!!

    • Onion Juice says:

      They hire foreigneres because its easier to exploit them.

      • bdaboy says:

        They hire foreigners because they’re educated and willing the work. The alternative is people like Onion Juice, who have a sh!tty attitude and no skills.

  7. Mixed Status Couple - Voted PLP for first time ever says:

    ……….amazing how the CIRWG’s Recommendations focus on PRC’s (people who came to work and earn a larger salary than their country of domicile), yet the Report is largely silent on Mixed Status Families/Couples who suffer because of the widespread discrimination in our employment market which prefers foreign workers, forcing some Mixed Status Families to leave Bermuda simply to survive or even get entry level positions in Insurance and other sectors overseas, yet their residence overseas then prohibits them from applying from Bermuda Status, even if they have been married more than the 10 year period.

    What a joke.

    Hopefully the new PLP Administration has its own mind and will adhere to its promise of Comprehensive Immigration Reform as our one household vote went to the PLP for the first time in 25 years.

    Fingers crossed.

  8. Hope says:

    After 18 months and really all this report says is that “yes we should give status to those who have deserved it all along” but “yes we should consider everything else”…there really aren’t many strong recommendations in here. This seems like a report running scared.

  9. Albie says:

    Lord Pitts observation that Immigration should be reduced reflects the Bermuda of 40 years ago. I met him and attended the meetings held in public. Since then the education system cratered, tourism is a shadow of what it was, local entertainment/nightlife is practically non existent, the social fabric of Bermudian families is radically diminished, we now have a massive debt and our birth rate is below replacement levels.

    Without a brand new and very profitable leg for our economy we are in major trouble.

    We need new job creators to be encouraged to make Bermuda their home and place of work. Give them all sorts of perks etc but require that they generate a minimum number of jobs as part of their becoming “Belongers”. Require that if they can’t find locals to fill the jobs, that they sponsor scholarships, say $10k per job not filled by a local, annually.

    Without new workers be they locals or not the tax base will continue to contract which means that the hope of ever having a balanced budget or even better reducing the debt will be just a dream and as international interest rates begin to rise as they surely will the outlook for our island home is in greater peril.