A Bermuda business leader this week cited the need for the Immigration Department to maintain flexibility in its approach to work permit policies following furore in the business community over policies that introduced strict term limits.

In an interview this week on his company's global training initiatives, XL Capital chief executive officer Brian O'Hara said that in general terms, "some flexibility" was preferable to "strict rigidity" on work permit policies.

"Strict rigidity would be bad, no matter what you talk about," he said.

The issue of term limits has been a hot topic in the international business community as the 2007 deadline has loomed. The 2001 policy states that work permits will not generally be renewed beyond a six-year period. However, work permit term limits were said to not apply where an individual could be categorised as "key" to a business operation.

The policy also stated that where there were no qualified Bermudians to fill a post, a company should be prepared to demonstrate that they were a good corporate citizen, in which case term limits will not apply.

Although Mr. O'Hara said he recognised that Bermuda needed to consider different issues, such as the size of its population and "lingering infrastructure challenges", there must also be, as with all things, some flexibility.

The comments by Mr. O'Hara were made at the same time as new Labour and Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton said his Ministry was listening to the concerns from the international business community but had no plans to back down on its stated policy.

"We have a responsibility to help businesses feel more comfortable in the wake of policies we have come up with," Mr. Horton said, but added that the policy had come about after a lot of consultation.

In recent months there was speculation that Bermuda companies could be considering Dublin as a place to move their businesses if stricter immigration policies were enforced.

The outcry came to the fore ahead of the July 24 General Election when businesses expressed concern over the tone of comments made by then Minister Terry Lister who said he personally wanted to limit all work permits to nine years.

This week Mr. O'Hara stressed to The Royal Gazette that XL had "always enjoyed a good working relationship" with the Immigration Department but he added he believed that was in recognition of XL having been recognised as a good corporate citizen.

He also said that he saw this as a "highly-charged political issue before the election".

"We have demonstrated that we have a commitment to the development of Bermuda and Bermudians," he said, adding: "It is a bit of a two-way street."

Mr. O'Hara, a veteran of the Bermuda insurance market, said XL's commitment to Bermudians included offering secondment opportunities for Bermuda staff in other XL offices around the world. Eight of the 27 XLemployees identified as having "high performance potential" in a special training programme launched this week by the company are Bermudian.