Limiting The Expats

Premier Alex Scott has been defending the Government's odd policy on work permit term limits again.

The 2001 policy restricts expats to a maximum stay of six years, or nine years for "key staff". The effect of this policy will be first felt in 2007 when many expats granted their permit during or prior to 2001 will find the Immigration Department asking them to leave. Unsurprisingly, the business community isn't too happy about this.

According to Mr. Scott the policy is necessary to "protect our labour market for Bermudians. Whenever there is a Bermudian who is able, capable and desirous of being in the industry, we would expect the industry to be positioned to take them on".

But why, if a qualified Bermudian is available, would a company would prefer to hire a foreigner anyway? Companies generally need to pay expats more than locals and there's a lot more red tape to go through to get them in. So why bother?

The problem, of course, is that often no local is sufficiently skilled to take on the role. That's no criticism of Bermudians, it's an inevitable fact when you're trying to staff the whole international business sector from a working population of some 35,000 people. But then what purpose do the term limits serve?

If they required the company who is losing the employee to hire a local in their place, I could understand it, but this is not the case. If no qualified Bermudian is available, the company can simply hire another foreigner. Net result: they're forced to swap one expat for another. There's no gain for Bermuda, yet the company still has to cope with the loss of the original employee's skills and knowledge.

Mr. Scott is being disingenuous. The real reason for the policy is to prevent any expat from being here long enough to have grounds for claiming residency. In itself, that's a reasonable enough aim. Bermuda is small and its population growth needs to be restricted. But term limits, which are hugely damaging to Bermuda's international businesses, are not the way to achieve that. It would be much better to cap the numbers of permits than can be issued in a given year and require those that are issued them to sign a document forfeiting any right to long-term residency.

Comments

[jake on 19.03.04 at 08:22]

Hey Phil,

You hit the nail on the head. Term limits are a poor mechanism for achieving a prohibition of long term residency. It is a policy which is not truly understood by the international community, although those who are "in the know" and more savvy recognise that they will not have the policy applied against them if they are "good corporate citizens". Loosely defined that means they offer good opportunities to Bermudians. What is good about the corporate community in Bermuda is that they get this. They recognise that they have the potential to do great good here - and they do it.

But it would be better policy to scrap the term limits altogether. Word has it that Lt. Col. David Burch had planned to do this, and had the support of the former Premier Jennifer Smith, who had a very good rapore with the international business community. It can only be hoped that the current Premier would make the stand that the policy is defective, and should be repealed pending a (never ending) review. That should be appropriate for the hacks, and send a clear message of friendship to our international partners.

Let's be friends.

[graeme outerbridge on 19.03.04 at 16:08]

Sorry but there is no way around term limits other than cooling off our economy. Bermuda has grown to quickly and with over 10,000 white collar expats on the island --enough is enough!!! Bermuda is like an aircraft carrier for other people's success at the expense of Bermudians and the false trust issue is just one more loop hole being exploited by foreigners.

[Ross Eldridge on 19.03.04 at 18:53]

Graeme may be right. And there may be more to consider. How many foreigners are there living in Bermuda who are in no way "working" in Bermuda, or for Bermuda? I'm not talking of spouses of Bermudians or immediate dependant families of working expats. Allowing unattached and uncommitted foreigners and tax-emigres the right of abode here has to be reconsidered. It is giving away part of our limited number of residences and hard-pressed social services, and at no benefit to the Bermudian tax revenue. If the USA can restrict non-Americans to so many weeks or months without special permission, and then of necessity being open to real taxation ... why isn't Bermuda, with so much pressure and congestion, saying: "Pay up ... or go after six months." Or six weeks! If a visiting yachtsman cannot tie up alongside, how is it that other people without yachts can? Or are some animals still more equal than others?

[The Limey on 19.03.04 at 22:16]

Graeme - I don't deny Bermuda's need to restrict the growth of the expat community. But perhaps you could explain how term limits will do this when they do not require the company to replace to departing expat with a Bermudian?

Ross - My knowledge of the residence requirements is hazy. But I was under the impression that no-one can now claim long-term residence here unless they are the spouse of a Bermudian (although I understand this was not always the case in the past). And as I understand it, it's impossible for any non-Bermudian without a job here to stay any longer than three weeks (or six weeks with the permission of the Immigration Department). Is my understanding incorrect?

[Greme Outerbridge on 20.03.04 at 10:18]

Consider term limits a first attempt at an economic tap.You are correct in pointing out this will not work in itself.Companies will invest in Bermudian job training if there is an ecomomic need to do so. Unrestricted growth in a very small 22 square mile series of islands is not going to work long term. Sadly the economic tide is not reaching many poor Bermudians.We are simply putting a huge foreign white class on the shoulders of a fragile social system and many Bermudians can not compete with the huge purchasing power of this group--affordable rents are just not a reality and while there are many positive benifits to the Bermudian professional classes and service sectors there is an equal measure of economic stress for those cut off from this ecomoic sector.

[Amin Swan on 21.03.04 at 00:38]

I feel like thowing up just reading this ridiculous site I stumbled upon. You are so biased it's sickning. You can't even begin to understand Bermuda and it's people as it relates to the subject of Independence.

I don't know anything living thing on this earth that by holding onto it's mother until the next coming of Jesus can truly understand and live life
or that by being so afraid to face the world can solidify a spot on this earth for themselves.
Yes there are real pro's and real con's of Independence, but until the BORN islanders of many generations have an opprtunity to full understand and analize all aspects will they be able to make an educated desicion, which should ultimatly be yes.
I am a born Bermudian who lives in the States and will hop on the next flight home to drop my YES vote for Independance, why? Because I have a deep rooted faith in the people of Bermuda to stand tall and firm on the world stage next to the many great countries of the world, all 21 square miles of us.
The concentration of Brain power on that 21 Square Mile Island is envious, many independent countries wish they could conduct their affairs as effectivly as Bermuda does. Do we have social issues, of course, many that other "independent" countries would probably pay us to have.
I say this to say as my future "Prime Minister" said, "listen clearly to all sides."

P.S. We were without British Citizenship for many many years and Bermuda did just fine. So I certainly won't lose any sleep without it.

Proud born Bermudian.

[graeme Outerbridge on 21.03.04 at 09:17]

Amain while you have some strong views on Independence actually we are talking about term limits and a better control of Bermuda's economic growth ect ect---nice that your for Independence but in the modern world all countries are really inter-dependent.So calm down and stick to the subject at hand--

[The Limey on 21.03.04 at 13:51]

Amin - My viewpoint is inevitably influenced by my background, as is yours. As a Brit who has been living in Bermuda for less than a year, I'd be amazed if I fully appreciated every facet of the independence debate. However I'm doing everything I can to listen to both sides of the argument and my opinions will almost certainly undergo some adjustment as my understanding changes. Can you say the same?

I recently posted on the pros of independence here. If you can think of any other advantages that I missed, I hope you'll add them there.

[John on 21.03.04 at 20:14]

Phillip, I think that Ross was referring to ability to apply to live here a la Ross Perot, and others in the past like Pat Rafter.They aren't allowed to work here but are allowed to reside,own certain types of property etc. I think he has a point.

[BDA on 22.03.04 at 10:09]

Let them stay longer.
When someone enjoys their job and enjoys where they live, they are more productive. Why not let these workers have 5-year work permits, renewable up to 15 years. The workers who don’t want to stay will leave. And believe me, not everyone likes it.
I am not an advocate of giving new long-term residency certificates; I am however an advocate of letting people do their job well, without interruption. How many of these workers do you think would stay all 15 years? Why not have it explicitly stated in these longer permits that the holder agrees never to receive any form of permanent residency certificate?
As The Limey stated, companies are not forced to replace expats with Bermudians, they are just required to change their foreign staff every 3 - 6 years. What harm comes from letting the ones that already work here stay longer if they wish? If the companies are willing to renew their permits and work contracts, there must be some value in these people.

Proud born Bermudian 2 (One that didn't bail to the states)

[Nitjanirasu on 22.03.04 at 12:41]

I'm back and I'm bored, so...

By constantly rotating the foreign staff none of them become integrated into Bermuda's society. They'll come here, knowing they'll only be around for a few years, then they'll be gone. They (can) contribute virtually nothing, and won't boost the economy (they have no reason to spend their money locally for nonessentials).

In response to Amin: you're wrong. The people who live in the country have the right to decide its future. You're a person living hundreds of miles away. You sit back and watch what's happening. You don't have to live it.

By the way: I'm currently in the U.S. studying at college. I don't live in U.S., and I spend about 5 months of the year at home (and yes, I'm born Bermudian)

[true person on 25.03.04 at 19:36]

The expatriate population in Bermuda should be expanded to include black Africans, Carribeans of African origin, and Hispanics from Central and South America.

The number of European applicants is already too high and if you look at the upper echelons of private sector firms in Bermuda, they are overwhelmingly white.

Hence, the expatriate population should be expanded to include more people of color, and not just white Europeans.

[Nitjanirasu on 25.03.04 at 21:33]

True Person- in Bermuda, the term "expat" is used exclusively for white immigrants. I can't seem to find any recent figures, but in '91 black immigration alone made up almost a quarter of the total, with white immigration being merged with "others".

At any rate, one of the main reasons for the high rate of immigration from Europe, the US and Canada would be because these are the places we do business with.

Oh, we all appreciate how you aren't being your usual, "kill off all vile white pig-men" self. Thank you.

[Eric on 26.03.04 at 08:11]

To say that they need to control and/or change the type of expats they allow in seems to imply that Bermuda even wants them in the first place.

I think it has been made fairly clear that they don't, but they are a "necessary evil" that comes with doing business here with companies such as ACE, XL, etc - and that business is currently what keeps the island alive.

They bring in people due to a need based system. They have a position and it needs to be filled by someone of a certain skill level. It is far far easier for them to use someone locally, so they look here first (and due to many factors, rarely find someone - largely due to the fact that Bermudians that leave the island to get educated at higher levels frequently don't come back to live here - lawyers, actuaries, programmers, etc).

So they have this position that needs to be filled, and they seek elsewhere to fill it. It is a position to do a task, fill a need. It isn't a position where it says in the paper "we need three white people to sit at a desk for 5 days of the week... some travel."
It is a task with a specific skillset that needs to be met.

So your concept of diversifying the expat population has nothing to do with Bermuda itself or even the expats. You are instead just going to back to affirmative action, saying that regardless of what skill they are looking at for this position, they should make sure that they have even amounts of X, Y, and Z working in their company. So even if someone of ethnic background X would be perfect for the job and far better than person of ethnic background Y... they are low on Y and therefore need to hire person Y.

That is a foolish system and I imagine you are well aware of that and are just trying to stir the pot here.

I'm all for stirring up the discussion, but it would seem better to spend the time doing it in a constructive and intelligent way instead of useless trolls - which is all I have seen out of you so far.

[Charger on 06.05.04 at 13:01]

Firstly this is an interesting site and I am glad I stumbled upon it good job to whoever runs it.

Now to the matter at hand - to start off I am Bermudian have lived here all my life born, to Portuguese parents, studied abroad, have my CFA and work for an insurance firm. Right all out in the open.

My problem with most Bermudians is this - we complain about expats getting jobs but what do we do to advance ourselves. The world is becoming increasingly global and movement of labour more free (as it should be) thus competition for jobs increases. Hey its a fact of life live with it. What Bermudians need to do is stop going to these crap universities and get a real education. The days are gone when just having a degree was enough. With all the competition you have to be the best of the best in what ever field. Hey if it's not a professional job then make sure you train and are educated in the most up to date advances in your industry. If we as Bermudians are not educated how do we expect to compete - you think people owe you something because you are Bermudian????

I take this view to expats - learn what you can from the ones you come into contact with - they are people just like us and we can learn from their experience and better ourselves. At the end of the day Bermuda is getting like any advanced white collar society only the best survive. I strive to be the best at whatever I do (investment professional) but I never worked in London or New York or Hong Kong so when I come across people who have hey I shut up and learn, at the same time I pass on my knowledge. Bermudians start competing and stop complaining, strive to be the best and you will never fail. Expats thanks for your knowledge I hope I was able to pass on some to you as well stay as long as you like just keep teaching me!!

Expats all in all most of the abuse thrown at you is a result of the political and social system which has evolved over the years and probably none of your fault and there is nothing you can do to solve it so do not worry once other Bermudians wake up and stop thinking the world owes them something then your stature on the island will change. But remember this as well we do not need you for all aspects of our existence so do not think you a necessity to our livelihood. Remember you are still guests so treat us with respect just as the majority of us treat you with respect!

[Pitts Bay on 18.09.06 at 10:52]

Recent commentary on why the offshore jurisdictions will be able to capitalize on their current growth:

"Rollover is the term given to the way Caribbean jurisdictions police immigrant workers. Once you've been in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands seven years, for instance, you get "rolled over'' - that is, ordered to leave - a policy aimed at protecting the heritage of the islands.

This policy is seen as one of the threats to the eventual dominance of the offshore sector. If every few years, the most experienced staff are forced to leave the country, it can make it hard to maintain momentum."