If you think the work permit process in Bermuda takes too long, the Government agrees.

Speaking on the first day of the Bermuda Risk Summit, Jason Hayward, Minister of Labour and Economy said the Government is dissatisfied with the processing time of some work permit applications.

“That is why we are embarking on a full digitised strategy,” Mr Hayward said. “We want to create efficiencies in that particular space.”

Speaking to Kendaree Burgess, managing director of the Bermuda Business Development Agency in a fireside chat, Mr Hayward said the goal was to ensure that all of their application forms, and responses were submitted digitally.

He also wanted to digitise payments.

Mr Hayward said that more than half of the 5,112 people working in Bermuda’s international business sector are Bermudian, up from 10 per cent in the 1990s.

The minister said the Government has deliberately invested in Bermuda’s talent pool so that the island has suitably qualified people to take advantage of opportunities in IB, whether through internships, employment programmes or scholarships.

However, he recognised that not all jobs in the sector could be filled with Bermudians.

Mr Hayward said the Bermuda of today is not going to be the Bermuda of a decade from now.

The Government’s economic strategy plan expires next year. Mr Hayward said the next one will involve greater integration of technology within our society.

“We will be looking at how we can ensure the infrastructure is in place to support growth and development so people can function in the current and future world of work,” he said. “We will be looking at how they can have a better entrepreneurial system to compliment the international business we have.”