The Minister for Immigration has recently published an order prohibiting the entry of nationals from various countries to enter Bermuda unless they either:
- have travel authorisation to re-enter Canada, the USA or the UK valid for 45 days from the date of intended departure from Bermuda; or
- can produce a Government of Bermuda letter confirming they are the spouse of a Bermudian or belong to Bermuda.
The order contains the list of countries whose nationals will be affected. Most common in the Bermuda context will be Jamaicans, Filipinos, Indians, and South Africans, but nationals of any country that typically faces excessive visa controls around the world should check the list to see if they are impacted.
I believe the purpose of the order is to tighten up control of visitors, given the expansion of charter flights that will not necessarily be going through the usual gateway cities in the USA and Canada. However, the way that the Order has been drafted may cause travel problems for regular residents of Bermuda whose nationalities are listed.
To explain further, many residents of Bermuda will not have an intended departure date, nor even need one. For example, PRC holders, residential certificate holders, work permit exemption certificate holders, may all reside in Bermuda indefinitely. Although the Immigration Act states that such Orders do not apply to those who have been given specific permission by the Minister to reside in Bermuda, these categories of person are not listed as being exempt from the Order, and it might be that an airline, concerned of liability for wrongly landing somebody in Bermuda, may err on the side of caution and refuse entry.
Even for work permit holders, they typically will not have a return ticket, and so the intended departure date might not be apparent, although perhaps the expiry date on the work permit would count for this.
For the other category, of spouses of Bermudians or those who belong to Bermuda, the issue is that many do not necessarily have letters from the government confirming that status, as it was not strictly required until now. Persons who belong to Bermuda may have a naturalisation certificate, but this is not exactly a letter.
If you are concerned that this may impact on you or a family member, please feel free to get in touch, and I can look into what can be done to minimise the risk of travel problems.