Citing unreadiness, the proposed amendment to Bermuda’s immigration legislation has once again been withdrawn
Having been postponed due to the passage of Hurricane Humberto, the town hall meeting to discuss the status of comprehensive immigration reform in Bermuda and the proposed mixed status legislation in particular was held last evening.
The meeting was moderated by Scott Simmons and a panel consisting of Wayne Caines, the Minister of National Security, Renee Ming, MP, Leah Scott, the deputy leader of the One Bermuda Alliance, and other members of the Bipartisan Immigration Committee were on hand to provide information and answer questions put forward by members of the audience.
Minister Caines informed the meeting at the outset that the draft legislation relating to so-called mixed status families would not be laid before the house of assembly in Bermuda the next day. Instead, he advised those gathered that the Bill was still in the process of being finalised as unforeseen issues had recently arisen which made him reluctant to put it forward in its current form.
Collingwood Anderson, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, lead the discussion of the proposed overall changes to the government’s immigration policy of which comprehensive immigration reform is merely a subset. He advised the meeting that the government intends to implement the changes in four phases which included tackling the work permit backlog, identifying problems and implementing processes, determining policy and making legislative changes, and the implementation of processes including border management system upgrades and other long term recommendations.
While it was acknowledged that the government is now in the third phase, no specific timeframe was given for the implementation of the new legislation. The meeting was advised that the changes will be made “when they are ready”.
