Robert Horton, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Immigration, provided this explanation of the law late last night:

“Where a non-Bermudian spouse provides financial assistance to the Bermudian spouse to acquire or hold land in Bermuda, that non-Bermudian spouse acquires an interest in the property. The Bermudian automatically becomes the trustee of the non-Bermudian spouse’s equitable interest in the land [a ‘constructive land trust’]. That interest is a real one and part vi of the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956 Act [‘the 1956 Act’] requires the Bermudian to obtain a licence as trustee, even though the non-Bermudian spouse’s name does not appear on the deed of conveyance. The rule that limits a non-Bermudian to one parcel of licensed land, restricts to a single property the amount of land in which a non-Bermudian spouse can have an interest.

“Bermudians are free to acquire any number of properties in Bermuda provided they use their own resources to purchase them and do not rely on the wealth of their non-Bermudian spouses. One can argue that the non-Bermudian spouse has rights to all of the Bermudian’s property because of the marriage. However, in our view, this is a right contingent upon divorce or death and is not an interest in land that we would insist was licensed. Should the non-Bermudian spouse receive a benefit from the additional unlicensed properties, such as the receipt of rents or by occupying the property, then that person would be appropriating the land and would be in breach of section 78.

“It should be remembered that the restrictions on the non-Bermudian spouse of a Bermudian are limited to the time when they have not yet obtained Bermudian status, for which the non-Bermudian spouse becomes eligible after ten years of marriage and an aggregate of seven years of residence in Bermuda during the marriage.

“The only fee that a non-Bermudian spouse of a Bermudian has to pay is the application fee, which is currently $1,271. They do not pay any land-holding charge.

“All non-Bermudian spouses who, before 22nd June, 2007 held an interest in land, including as beneficiary of a constructive land trust, and continue to hold such an interest in land, require a licence or need to dispose of the land. Such persons have until June 21, 2010 to comply. Where the non-Bermudian spouse has no interest in the land, no licence is required.”