This is a continuation of the House of Assembly debate on Friday on The Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Act 2003. The legislation, which has been tabled, allows children born outside of marriage and who have only one Bermudian parent to have Bermuda status.

Children born out of wedlock used not to automatically acquire Bermudian status at birth, Home Affairs Minister Randolph Horton told the House of Assembly.

"An application had to be made to the Ministry and the Minister had to be satisfied that the Bermudian parent had a genuine relationship with the child."

But the situation was altered by changes made by the Children Amendment Act 2002.

Mr Horton said it was important to make the point that if the Children Amendment Act 2002 had been allowed to become law without any further amendments, every child born to a Bermudian, whether within marriage or outside marriage, would at birth automatically be deemed to possess Bermudian status.

"All such children born in Bermuda would be born Bermudians, those born overseas, provided they were Commonwealth citizens at birth, would also be Bermudian from birth if the Bermudian parent was domiciled in Bermuda at the time.

"There would be no need for the Bermudian to have any relationship whatsoever with the child in order for the child to have rights to Bermudian status."

He added that under the Children Amendment Act 2002, the non-Bermudian parent could claim the right to reside in Bermuda with his or her Bermudian child.

Mr. Horton said that everyone welcomed the removal of the distinction between children born within a marriage and those born outside marriage.

"Unfortunately by removing the Minister's tests for familial relationship between parent and child, not only would people with no real connection to Bermuda become Bermudian, but the door would be opened for criminal elements who could falsely claim a Bermudian child as their own, or claim rights of residence in Bermuda on the basis of the existence of a Bermudian child of which they were the natural parent," he said.

"In order to plug these loopholes, it is necessary to retain the power of the Minister to take into account such information as he considers necessary to establish the parentage of the child and to be satisfied that a genuine familial relationship exists between parent and child from a young age.

"The age specified in the amending Act is 15 years.

"This provision enhances the likelihood that a familial relationship has been established while the child is still in his or her formative years as a school student."

The amendment to the 1956 Act means that before a child born to a Bermudian is recognised as Bermudian, the Minister has to be satisfied firstly that the child is the biological child of the Bermudian and, secondly, that the Bermudian has established a genuine, ongoing familial relationship with his or her child before the child reaches the age of 15 years."

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Maxwell Burgesssaid in principle his party had no problem with the bill.

But he questioned the age limit of 15, because sometimes after a split in a relationship the mother did not allow the father to see the child.

He said: "It would be hard for the father to establish a relationship with the child.

"The courts are full of these cases."

Mr. Horton explained that in Bermuda a child could be adopted up to the age of 18 years, which was recently reduced from 21 years.

"In the past, this had led to adoptions of convenience," the Minister said.

"The amendment specifies that in order to be deemed to possess Bermudian status, a child who is adopted by a Bermudian must not only have been adopted before he or she turned fifteen, but also the adoptive Bermudian parent must have established a familial relationship with that child before then."

He said the tests of the biological and familial parent or child relationships were only necessary where there was doubt as to the parentage of a child or where a person may have acknowledged parentage in order to circumvent requirements or restrictions imposed by the Act.