Minister of National Security Wayne Caines has announced that the latest report by Bermuda’s bipartisan immigration reform group which was submitted on December 11, 2018 will soon be considered by Cabinet with key elements of the island’s immigration reform to be debated and passed in the House of Assembly before the end of July 2019.
According to Minister Caines, over the last 3 months he has been working diligently on comprehensive immigration reform, a policy that was also considered by the previous Government. He claims that his department has been reviewing the report and analysing the data and recommendations. Once the Cabinet and respective Parliamentary stakeholders have made their recommendations on the group’s findings, the Minister has agreed to make the immigration reform recommendations and plans public, at which time key stakeholders will be invited to share their thoughts and provide feedback.
Minister Caines has been adamant that immigration reform is pivotal to the success of Bermuda and it is his desire to have a balanced approach to immigration reform.
There was some criticism from Shadow Minister of Home Affairs Sylvan Richards of the Minister’s statement, particularly the fact that it was released on social media, rather than through official government channels.
Mr Richards, noting the delay in real progress, again reiterated the need to provide a route to status for those long term residents who are Bermudian in every sense of the word, namely that they have known no home other than Bermuda, but who do not currently have an avenue to obtain Bermuda status. He was also of the opinion that change would help to stem the tide of residents leaving the Island and promoted the idea of a measured liberalisation and streamlining of Bermuda’s immigration policy to encourage job creators currently not operating in Bermuda to consider the island as a domicile of choice which would in turn facilitate job creation for Bermudians.
