Chief Justice Austin Ward will give preliminary directions today in a bid to get the Immigration Minister to make a decision on a work permit application for an English dentist battling to stay on the Island.

The dentist, David Thompson, is fighting to be allowed to work on the Island after a legal row with the Dental Board and wrangle with the Immigration Department over a permit renewal.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Dental Board had been biased against him in its handling of a professional exam that would have cleared the way for him to practise dentistry here. And in June the Human Rights Commission ruled that his human rights had been violated as well.

Shortly after the Supreme Court ruling Dr. Thompson's prospective employer filed an application to have his work permit renewed but received no response from the Immigration Department. The work permit expired in March and his lawyers say that repeated requests for a renewal since December has been met with silence. He is now asking the court to force the Minister to make a decision on the application. The hearing is closed to the public but The Royal Gazette understands that the Chief Justice will direct the Government to file an affidavit in response.

In a letter to Immigration Minister Terry Lister in June, Dr. Thompson's lawyer Megan Lewin said that as far as she was concerned, the Minister's failure to consider the matter was in breach of his statutory duty.

The Dental Board is facing another hearing - this time in front of a Board of Inquiry in relation to the Human Rights Commission ruling.

The matter was referred to the Board of Inquiry because the Dental Board rejected the ruling.

Dr. Thompson's saga began in February last year when he received a work permit to practice after being offered a job by local dentist David Dyer who then began making arrangements for him to sit the qualifying professional examination.

But the Dental Board later wrote to Dr. Dyer saying that only Bermudians or spouses of Bermudians could sit the qualifying examination, when no such restriction existed in the Dental Practitioners Act, and then made attempts to have the work permit revoked.

The Board later allowed Dr. Thompson to sit the examination after Dr. Dyer complained to Health Minister Nelson Bascome.

Dr. Thompson was given a failing grade and, contrary to past practice, was not allowed to resit the exam.

In October, the Supreme Court quashed the Dental Board decision saying the examiners' evaluations of his performance was full of contradictions and that at least one of the examiners had been biased against Dr. Thompson.

Dr. Thompson's lawyers also filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, saying the Board discriminated against him on account of his origin by refusing to allow him to resit the examination.