Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister’s statement on long term visitors in The Royal Gazette <$>yesterdayshines a light on some of the problems that Government faces — and on some of the problems it creates for itself.

Mr. Lister was called upon to defend the Government’s policies on extending the length of time visitors can remain on the Island.

That policy now allows visitors to stay on the Island for three weeks, after which time they must apply for an extension.

Mr. Lister stated that extensions were customarily turned down, unless the visitor was able to justify his for reasons for staying longer.

This is not a policy that Mr. Lister created. He inherited it from his predecessor Paula Cox, who inherited it from the previous United Bermuda Party government.

And there may be some good reasons for having a policy of this kind. It is a form of immigration control, preventing people from coming on “holiday”, disappearing into the community and then working illegally.

It may also help to keep tabs on people who may be coming to the Island for other illegal reasons such as drug dealing.

And there is a risk that visitors may come here on termless visas, run out of money and then have to be returned to their home countries courtesy of the Bermuda Government.

Having said that, the policy as it stands, at least according to the stories The Royal Gazette <$>has been told, does not seem to be applied either sensibly or consistently.

A frequent visitor, who often stays for more than three weeks, has her length of stay extended on several visits, but is then told on her most recent visit that she cannot stay for more than three weeks. She decides to go home, and who can blame her?

An Australian visitor wishes to stay longer, but is told he must fly to New York and fly back (almost immediately and at a cost of $1,000) in order to stay do so.

Mr. Lister said the department looks at these applications on a case by case basis. And he also said that if visitors were staying in hotels, he would look more favourably on the application since hotel guests, by default, spend more money than house guests.

Bermuda is trying hard to attract more visitors — of any kind. And long-term visitors help the economy more than someone who drops in for the weekend.

If the three-week policy is inconsistently applied, it will merely annoy legitimate guests, most of whom could not afford to stay in a top Bermuda hotel for four or five weeks anyway. Indeed, the only people who could afford that kind of length of stay are either millionaires or drug dealers.

But if houseguests are staying on the Island, renting bikes, sightseeing, going to restaurants and so on, they are still helping the economy. Why are we making it so difficult for them?

The length of stay could be extended to six weeks, which is not an unreasonable length of time to figure out if someone has more than holidays on his mind, but is also all the time most vacationers, and indeed, visiting yachtsmen, need.

Bermuda needs solid law enforcement. It also needs to send out the message that it wants vacationers and it wants them to stay as long as they wish.

Right now, the wires are crossed.