Immigration news
In the past few months, Immigration processing times have improved dramatically, with the backlog of applications being mostly cleared, and new applications being processed in a matter of months rather than 18 months plus. It remains to be seen whether this will sustain itself if numbers of applications increase substantially.…
Impact of the reinstatement of BMU passport code on non-Bermudian BOT passport holders
With much fanfare, the government has announced that the BMU code is returning to the Bermuda passport. The background to this is that Bermuda passport holders have historically been able to travel to the USA without any visa or even a visa waiver. However, when the UK took over the…
Government still focussed on PRC pathways
The Minister responsible for Immigration, Jason Hayward, has been reported making positive comments about progress on new PRC pathways. He says there were no fundamental objections, and feedback has been positive. There will be some tweaks and additional considerations but that the scheme as a whole is still being pursued.…
Government proposals for discrimination against non-Bermudians in employment
In my previous post about the government's consultation document on "Retaining the Local Workforce", I focussed on the proposals to make it more flexible to obtain PRC for many. I alluded to another aspect, which may be of great interest to long term residents, and which…
Consultation for 5 and 10 year PRCs released
The Minister for Immigration, Jason Hayward, has published a paper and announced a consultation for PRC, reducing it to 10 years in many cases, and to 5 years in others. However, the proposals create uncertainty as to whether it is contemplated that lower income families will still qualify for PRC.…
Changes to visitor rules coming
Around a year ago, I sent out an update that there was a Bill before Parliament that would limit visitors' stays to 180 days in any 12 month period. This bill was subsequently passed, but remains inactive at this time. This will put an end to the practice of…