A SENIOR has found to her cost65-YEAR-old woman born in the island of Bermudian parents has found to her costthat the GovernmentnJUST because you're born in Bermuda to Bermudian parents, don't assume the Government knows you're Bermudian.That's what a shocked 65-year-old Bermudian discovered during a recent visit to the Department of Immigration to get a new Bermuda status stamp in her passport.

The United States Department of Homeland Security last year announced new travel regulations, requiring Bermudian travellers to have a valid passport containing an official Bermuda status stamp.

Since then more than 30,000 Bermudians have filed through the Ministry offices and been issued the new stamp. The woman, who did not wish to be named, thought it would be easy enough. Walk in, get the stamp and walk out.

But, as she told the Mid-Ocean News this week, it was anything but, as it took her more than a week and visits to various Government departments to get the necessary documentation to first prove she was Bermudian.

She explained that on her first visit to the Department of Immigration she was told her name was not on the Bermuda Status Register because she had not registered to vote in the the last election — when the list was apparently drawn up.

"I'm a second-generation Bermudian for goodness' sakes, and they said I was not in their files," the irate woman said.

She was told to fill out an application for status, produce a birth certificate showing the name of a parent who was on the Register, a copy of her marriage certificate (to prove her name had changed) and divorce papers (as she was divorced).

Tired and irritated at having to wait in a line only to be told she had to first prove her status, the woman said she was then forced to pay $35 for a copy of her birth certificate.

"They provided me with a birth certificate, so how can I not be in their files?" she asked, adding that it would have cost her $50 if she had wanted it immediately, but she was willing to wait a few days in order to save money.When she returned to the Department of Immigration with all the necessary documents she said officials made her pay an additional $11 application fee.

"Please, give me a break! $11 to be put in their computer . . . I was not a happy camper that day," the woman said. "I know a lot of people who did not register to vote in the last election and are not going to be on this list."

She added: "After all that I thought they were going to put some type of official seal in my passport, but it's just an ink stamp that says 'Holder is registered as a Bermudian' and dated along with the initial of the girl who did it," she said.

The Government web site www.gov.bm has a link to the Bermuda Status Register where online users can check to see if they are on the list.

"People are not automatically added to the Bermuda Status Register when they register to vote," a spokesman for the Ministry of Labour and Immigration warned this week.

"The Bermuda Status Register was developed in the early 1990s from the then Parliamentary Register but one must make an application through the Department of Immigration now if they want to be added," he stated.

He added that many Bermudians were only now discovering they were not on the list because it was the first time any of them had checked.

"To get added to the Register one needs to fill out a Bermuda Status Application form and fill out the section titled 5(2), include fee of $11, provide a certified copy of their birth certificate (deed poll and/or marriage certificate) providing one of their parents are on the register," he said.

"If it is the father that is on the Register the parents would have had to have been married before the child was born. If through the mother, marriage is not a requirement. However, if the parents were not married and the mother is not on the Register she would have to be added before the child could be added," he explained.

The situation changes if children were adopted in that they fill out the same form, but under the section titled General Enquiry, and there is a $61 fee.

Meanwhile, a group of senior Immigration officials is looking at the possibility of allowing local parents to put their children on the Register the day their child is born — something which is not currently the Government's practice.

Woman, 65, counts cost of status stamp