Derrick Burgess, Minister of Labour and Immigration, has hit back at questions raised about the competence of the Immigration Department.

Last week, the Department of Parks revealed seven more lifeguards were necessary to cover all of the beaches, but a long-term resident said his non-Bermudian daughter couldn’t work as a lifeguard because her visa had not been processed.

Mr. Burgess responded by saying that children of work permit holders do not have an automatic right to seek and accept employment and that the Department of Immigration is usually highly regarded.

“It must be remembered that the children of work permit holders do not have an automatic right to seek and accept employment in Bermuda,” he said. “I view with concern your report that the long-term resident father of a non Bermudian has labelled the Department of Immigration ‘incompetent’ because his daughter had not yet secured employment as a lifeguard. Whilst I do not know the facts of this particular case, I do know that most Bermudians applaud the Department of Immigration for its due diligence in terms of vetting work permit applications.”

Mr. Burgess further explained that the Department must first ensure there are no Bermudians available for the positions and once that has been determined then permission is granted.

Questions about lifeguard coverage were raised after an American tourist died on John Smith’s Bay and two eyewitness accounts reported that the lifeguards were slow to respond.

The Department of Parks denied there had been any delay and said the young men had been told there was a bather with a leg cramp and had gone through the regular motions before attending the tourist.

There were two lifeguards on duty that day and the Department of Parks later admitted there was a shortage, which the father of a non-Bermudian lifeguard said was due to the lack of approved visas.

Advertisements were placed in both The Royal Gazette and the Bermuda Sun in March and April this year as were ads placed in the Ministry of the Environment, Telecommunications and E-Commerce supplement according to the Department of Parks.

And the Department revealed that a recent training session for lifeguards, which started on July 16, had seven students, all of whom were Bermudian.