After speaking in the Cayman Islands on the subject, employment services expert David Soares says that Cayman employers are afraid work term limits will scare away their international businesses.

"In Cayman, employers are very apprehensive about the potential economic impact of work permit limits over there," said Mr. Soares, a partner at Bermuda employment firm Expertise. "In fact, the day I arrived a cartoon was published in one of the daily newspapers indicating that international companies were moving out of Bermuda due to our term limits."

As reported in Monday's Royal Gazette, he said in the presentation that the limits had not caused businesses to leave the Island or caused a "mass exodus of ex-patriates," but that it may have contributed to an increase in xenophobia and feelings among ex-patriates of being undervalued.

"I was careful not to suggest that term limits are solely to blame. I contended that term limits are a contributing factor," said Mr. Soares in a press release.

Other contributing factors, said Mr. Soares, include the high cost of doing business and restrictions on home ownership by foreigners.

While Bermuda and Cayman both rely on foreign workers, according to Mr. Soares Cayman is more reliant, given that approximately 50 percent of the workforce in Cayman are not locals, while in Bermuda that number is closer to 25 percent.