Government has clamped down on immigration abuses with the stop list rising by 42 percent said Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister in yesterday's budget debate.

He said close scrutiny of suspected marriages of convenience had led to the Registry General uncovering at least three marriages where the documents were fraudulent.

“In addition the department has asked at least another three non-Bermudians to leave Bermuda before they could marry the Bermudian,” said Mr. Lister. He added the Immigration department had worked with Police to identify locations where illegal aliens may be housed.

“Because of enhancements in our computer system the Department can also identify persons who frequently enter the island, whether they have been applying for jobs and whether they have outstayed.

“As a result of the increased vigilance of the Department the number of persons refused entry at the airport has risen by three percent, the number of persons added to the stop list has risen by 42 percent, the number of persons asked to leave has risen by 112 percent.”

He said the new policy of requiring visas from Jamaicans had led to 15 percent of applications being rejected because of applicants not having adequate funds, not having a bona fide host or having questionable reasons for entering Bermuda.

The Minister said Immigration also worked with Financial Assistance to make sure non-Bermudians did not enter the island and become a burden.

“The department of Immigration has revised procedures to ensure work permit holders who want to bring their families to Bermuda can afford to take care of them.”

If Government is not satisfied that the guest workers have the funds then permission for the wife and child to reside will not be given.

He said Immigration regularly sent job lists where there had been a work permit application to training and employment services in the hope there was a suitable Bermudian to fill the post.

“This list will now be copied to the Department of Financial Assistance to review on behalf of their clients.”

Mr. Lister said there had been two landmark laws passed in the previous year - the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Act 2002 - which allowed new long-term residents - and the British Nationality Act passed in the UK which extended UK citizenship to British Overseas Territory Citizens.

In 2002 1,633 UK passports were given to Bermudians. Mr. Lister said: “I would like to clear up some misinformation circulating that there is a deadline for applying for a UK passport.

“There is no deadline for applying for and obtaining a UK passport.”

Mr. Lister said he and the Chief Immigration Officer had visited the UK to see how they handled immigration.

He said the UK had a fast track service for handling passport applications in which applicants paid more for a turn around in four hours which Bermuda might adapt.

He said: “It's something we are considering - whether or not to install a premium service.”

Backbencher Arthur Hodgson said: “Just do it quickly and give everyone a passport.”

Moving to work permits Minister Lister said his department had worked hard with business to speed work permit processing.

He said hotels had been advised when to apply for renewals to avoid bottlenecks.

The reorganisation in immigration had led to the number of senior inspectors being increased from three to ten said Mr. Lister.

He said: “In 2002 the section completed 811 investigations, added 74 persons to the stop list, asked 70 persons to settle their affairs and leave the island, refused entry to 36 persons at the airport and deported a total of 11 illegal immigrants ten to Jamaica and one to India.”

Mr. Lister denied work permits had soared under the PLP. He said: “That is blatantly untrue. In 1989 the number of work permits issued was 10,114.

“In 1998, when this Government came to power, the figure was 7,500, a figure which has remained static, although the number of jobs has increased and the economy has continued to grow.”

Mr. Lister said the computer department was outdated and was being upgraded, with the first phase ready by spring 2004.

“We also intend to upgrade the passport system by the end of the first quarter of the fiscal year.

“The cost for the first phase, together with monies to upgrade existing computer hardware, is reflected in the capital expenditure for the 2003/2004 to the tune of $493,000.”

He said a $1.5 million reconfiguring of the department was part of the reorganisation and would make the department more customer friendly.

Opposition Home Affairs spokeswoman Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said instead of trotting out how many work permits, passports and visas the department had processed the department should have real output measures giving targets for turn around times.

She said she had heard of cases of people waiting more than a year for a yearly work permit to be processed.

The public should also be given information on what was a reasonable turn around time for a work permit so they would know what to expect.

Ms Gordon-Pamplin said the number of jobs in the economy had fallen under the PLP.

She said the process of appealing to the cabinet when immigration had turned an application down smacked of a kangaroo court because the person wasn't allowed to appeal in person.

Expatriate workers who had been forced to leave a job here because they had been exploited should be looked down upon. She said: “They have contributed to the economy.”

She listed the case of one widow of a Bermudian spouse who was being investigated by immigration on the basis of an extremely vitriolic letter which wasn't even signed.

“I think when we use anonymous letters we are trampling on thin ice.

Ms. Gordon-Pamplin questioned why the department was spending $1.5 million on changing the layout of its office. “What on earth are we building up there?

“What can possibly justify $1.5 million to change the layout? That money could have gone into the computer system they didn't get.”

The shadow minister raised the case of Bermudian graduate in international business who didn't get a job despite sending 30 resumes to international businesses in Bermuda.

She said: “It's scandalous and embarrassing.” She said she would publicise the situation.

Government backbencher Derrick Burgess spoke of employers who were placing adverts which blatantly flouted the Employment Act 2000 by asking people to work long hours on straight time, rather than paying overtime rates.

Local graduates were being put off by being offered insulting pay rates said Mr. Burgess.

Opposition MP Maxwell Burgess said foreign labour would always be needed but the key thing was to make sure the good jobs went to the locals by gearing education and scholarships to jobs.

He also suggested farming out work such as accountancy to overseas jurisdictions whose workers didn't need to be on site to function properly.