Expatriates who own land in Bermuda under a licence granted before August 2007 must still get that licence validated before June this year, Cabinet Minister Walter Roban said yesterday.

He told the House of Assembly that he gave out incorrect information last Friday when he said new legislation meant foreigners had been granted an amnesty until June 2012.

The Junior Home Affairs Minister said he relied on information provided by technical officers during a debate on the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 2010 — but they got it wrong.

"I now recognise that the bill, intentionally, did not include an extension to the amnesty period," said Mr. Roban. "I apologise to this House for my misstatement."

Mr. Roban told the House last week that the true scale of foreign land ownership on the Island had yet to be determined — with 2,300 acres "on record" but licences for only 356 acres of land validated since 2007.

He said yesterday: "To be clear, the substantive Minister [David Burch] has advised the public on numerous occasions since the passage of the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Act 2007, that their position with respect to land requiring a licence must be regularised before June 2010.

"That position has not changed. As a result of the apparent complete disregard of the requirements of the law to regularise such land, this Government is not about to extend the amnesty period.

"I, on behalf of the substantive Minister, once again remind all persons holding land requiring a licence that they must regularise their positions as soon as is possible."

His latest statement suggests expatriates who fail to get their licence validated or sell their property by this June will be prosecuted under the 2007 Act.

That piece of legislation was designed to outlaw the practice of fronting, where non-Bermudians gain an unlawful interest in land here by using a Bermudian "front".