The US Consulate General is to issue slips of paper to Bermudian travellers confirming their visa-free status after several recent mix-ups.

Travel agents have said new tightening of US borders has led to Bermudians being asked for visas they do not need. Some have even been held up and forced to shell out for new tickets.

New American Consul Jill Esposito said the old slips were no longer relevant as they dealt with an old Commonwealth agreement.

She said she didn't know when the new slips would be ready as permission needs to be granted from Washington.

"It's an urgent problem. We will have them available as soon as possible."

Problems surfaced last week after new Homeland Security rules in the United States stipulated that some non-Bermudians would no longer be able to transit through the US without a visa, until further notice.

Bermudians and other nationals, including most Europeans, do not need a visa to visit the United States so should not be affected according to official policy.

However C-Travel CEO Carl Paiva reported problems of Bermudians flying home via the US from the UK and the Azores.

Assistant Chief Immigration Officer Rozy Azhar said passport confusion when Bermudians travelled to the US was an age old problem as not everybody knows where the Island is or even that it existed.

"There may be an unfamiliarity with Bermuda, there are many people who say 'what is Bermuda? Where is Bermuda? Is it a real country?'. We have heard that on a constant basis."

Bermuda is one of just two countries whose citizens are totally exempt from needing visas, nationals of other countries need visas or must belong to a visa-waiver scheme, explained Ms Azhar.

But it was of little use when immigration officials were unaware of this and falsely associated Bermuda with the Caribbean, where visas are normally required.

This was particularly the case in Miami which has a lot of Caribbean traffic, said Ms Azhar.

She advised travellers who were challenged over visas not to argue with the immigration officer.

"It won't do any good. But ask them to check with their supervisor. Invariably when they check with their supervisor they are told we are exempt and they apologise."

She said the problem was worse on the West Coast rather than gateway cities like New York and Atlanta where immigration was much more familiar with the Island.

Some problems were caused by faulty information from airlines who often worked with wrong information, said Ms Azhar.

"It's not US immigration or Bermuda immigration, it's the airlines themselves. Again this problem has gone on for a very long time."

She said in such cases Bermuda immigration lobbied local airline representatives to get the right information out.