Immigration reform must go further, faster

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We must go further, faster with immigration reform if we are to stem job losses in international business.

Heads turned last month when the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) called for “accelerated action by the Government” to stem job losses, particularly for senior executives. It prompted many questions among Bermudians that rely on international business to make a living.

Is the Incentives for Job Makers Act not working? Why does the Government not agree to rethink the term limits policy if international business says it contributes to job losses? Are Government’s reforms of immigration policy ‘too little, too late’?

My sense is that employers appreciate that Government is moving in the right direction with immigration reform. But employers need Government to move much further, much faster.

For example, employers were encouraged several years ago when Government first announced that a ten-year work permit would be introduced.

However, it did not happen until late 2011 and employers were discouraged when the cost and eligibility criteria were set very high. Fortunately, a few months ago, once it became clear that there was virtually no demand, Government eased the criteria. So employers are grateful — but they regret not being at this stage two or three years ago.

Employers are experiencing a similar dynamic with the Incentives for Job Makers Act. In principle, employers are delighted because Government’s intent is spot on.

They just wished it had come several years ago and, more importantly, that the cost, incentives and eligibility criteria were such that more international business executives were motivated by it. Consequently, since its introduction six months ago, only a handful of Job Maker applications have been submitted. Whether there are many more will depend on Government’s willingness to rethink this well-intended and much needed law.

Perhaps that will happen in time.

But do we have time? Could we and should we be bringing about changes faster?

The business community is certainly feeling a real sense of urgency. ABIR’s call for “accelerated action” might have been seen as premature if it had come two or three years ago.

But it came after their members recorded a fourth consecutive year of decline in Bermuda-based headcount — and an average reduction in Bermudian employees of 19.6 percent by its five-member companies with the largest Bermuda-based workforces.

Employers would like Bermuda to move at least as fast as the Cayman Islands.

This month the Cayman Government just implemented several new immigration categories including a new type of Permanent Residency for wealthy business investors, one which leads to Caymanian status.

But that’s not all.

Last week, just nine months after Cayman suspended its term limits policy, the committee formed to recommend a new policy to inhibit long term residency completed its work. So the Cayman Government is likely to implement a new policy before the end of this year.

How does that compare to our situation in Bermuda? Last month, employers received a letter from Government saying that it was conducting a review of work permit policy but that it was not open to rethinking the term limits policy.

Upon reading that letter, a CEO from the international business sector informed me that one of his executives is relocating to an overseas office because his nanny was term limited. The CEO said he would have preferred that this executive be located in Bermuda but that “it was really no big deal from a business perspective — it’s heartbreaking for the two Bermudians that will lose their jobs as a result of the departure”.

Heartbreaking indeed.

To save jobs in international business, we must go further, faster.

Doug is a Partner in Expertise, Bermuda’s largest management consulting and outsourcing company. He may be reached at doug@expertise.bm or via www.expertise.bm.

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