Immigration Minister Terry Lister has called on companies to come clean about suspect foreign employees rather than allowing them to move to other firms on the Island.

Mr. Lister said companies were being asked to provide a clean bill of health for exiting expatriate workers in order not to burden anybody else.

He said Bermuda was supposed to be the beneficiary of 8,000-plus first class workers.

"They should be among the best. So if you are allowing someone to leave you to go and work somewhere else after one or two years we want to know why.

"Because it's a hassle to bring people in. We all know that. So if after one or two years someone wants to go we want to know why.

"Most of the time it's because it didn't work out because they had these flaws and the employer couldn't identify them until they worked.

"If he isn't worthy of a job with you then he isn't worthy of a job in Bermuda," Mr. Lister said. "Let's stop this nonsense of giving these clean bills of health and sending them down the street where ten months down the line the new employer says: 'Oh my God, why am stuck with this guy?' It's craziness."

"So if a company is going to see itself as a good corporate citizen this demands they admit they made a mistake with that hire. They should inform Immigration that he has to leave. We are demanding openness and honesty."

Employers who gave misleading references would find their applications receiving much greater scrutiny said Mr. Lister, with the Labour Relations Office and the National Training Board all having input before work permits were processed.

"One of the problems for so many years was people would produce a reference letter which was just plain untrue, employers wouldn't know, they would be acting on them and find employees were doing crazy things but they had done them before."

The Royal Gazette has learned of one case where an employer put in a bad word to Immigration after facing the prospect of losing a good employee to a local competitor.

Employees trying to swap firms who are being blocked by their current employer have the right to talk to an Immigration officer, said Mr. Lister.

But he said Immigration frowned on people swapping jobs soon after arriving.

He gave the example of an expatriate growing a local business, picking up clients and then joining with a partner to set up a rival firm.

"If the first company makes the case we will say no," said Mr. Lister. "We will say to the guy, you are free to stay working with your first company but if you have blown the relationship with your first company and they don't want you then you are free to leave the Island.

"You are not supposed to come, build company A, see what a wonderful thing it is and then form your own company with a front guy. It is not supposed to work that way."

It hinged on how long the employee had been in place, said Mr. Lister.

He said now that there was a six-year cap on work permits and three years would be a reasonable time to serve before moving.

"If they are going to only do six years they shouldn't be tied to a company for four or five years. We had a situation with a beauty parlour trying to block the release of a hairdresser who was going to another company, another new small beauty salon, he had 40 percent ownership of the new small company which was all legal and the first company was trying to block it.

"It was ridiculous because the guy had been working for them for 19 years."

Mr. Lister said after such long service that person was entitled to do something for himself.

"The guy was on the verge of becoming a PRC (getting a permanent resident's certificate). Here they were refusing to release him, that's totally wrong, we wouldn't support that."