Work permit woes are stifling businesses and threatening the Island's future according to bosses.

Bermuda Employers Council (BEC) president Eddie Saints fears the Immigration Department mistrusts business and he said a lot of `unusual investigations' were being done by the department over unfounded concerns.

He said: "They analysis it to death. It's as though the Immigration Board doesn't believe the employer and they have taken it upon themselves to say what you should or shouldn't be doing. It's too much of a re-occurring scenario.

"You get the impression they are saying, `I don't trust you, I am going to second guess you on the way you do your business and I will decide what you can and can't have'."

He said firms were asked by the Immigration Board to proffer up CVs of all their applicants and justify why they had plumped for one particular candidate. The CEO of Cable and Wireless said: "You have reputable companies out there, including mine, who have demonstrated their commitment to Bermudianisation for decades, who are still run through the wringer."

Mr. Saints said there was no reason why every application should go to the Immigration Board if it had already been passed by civil servants.

"It's a part-time board meeting once a week. If you don't get it approved you have to wait until next week." Businesses had flooded into Bermuda on short notice after September 11, said Mr. Saints but they could decide to ship out equally fast if they got caught up in red tape.

"They might decide if they can't do business in Bermuda, let's go somewhere else."

BEC executive director Andrea Mowbray said: "Given what's happening on the international stage where employers might be re-evaluating whether they need to be in Bermuda it's not a time to make it more difficult for business to be here."

She said businesses had been afraid to speak out for fear of recrimination because of the mutual distrust they felt with Government.

Mr. Saints said the BEC had met with Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister and Immigration officials, including the Chief Immigration Officer. "We have had enough of complacency towards these important issues," said Mr. Saints. We are not seeing change that was promised. We are seeing a lot of things we are extremely concerned about."

Mr. Saints said his own company had been battling to get a permit for a key employee for the past five and a half months. "We are still no better off today than we were." He said a merger he was trying to push through involving employees who were all already on the Island had been delayed while the department dithered on making minor amendments to three permits.

"We can't do anything until this is done but Dr. Brewer said it could take eight weeks. That's typical of what we are seeing, time is of no urgency."

But he said the red-tape was hitting businesses' bottom line. "No business can tolerate a gap in operations for half a year."

Ms. Mowbray said delays were affecting every one of the BEC's 400 members who needed work permits with complaints of waits of 12 weeks and above - even for straightforward applications - being commonplace.

"It can destroy small businesses who don't have a pool of employees to pull from the next department," she said.

She said a lack of skilled temporary labour meant gaps in covering posts were even more difficult to manage. Mr. Saint's said Mr. Lister had acknowledged the contribution of foreign labour to the Island's economy and was not trying to drive them away. Mr. Saints said the issues should be hammered in more frequent meetings of the Labour Advisory Council, a body which comprises Government, business and unions.

Delays have plagued businesses ever since a six-month honeymoon period after the Progressive Labour Party first got elected said Ms Mowbray who said: "It ran unbelievably smoothly then, then it stopped."

Mr. Saints wondered why a department, which could process passports within five or six working days, struggled with work permits.

Information hand delivered to the department on the Wednesday was not logged until the following Monday said Mr. Saints who said documents sometimes lay untouched for weeks. "It goes into a vacuum," he said.

The BEC also said the; fast tracking; of work permits, in place for about a year, had failed with businesses being charged $265 for a slow service which used to be extremely quick and free. Mr. Lister was off the Island last night and could not be reached for comment.

Chief Immigration Officer Dr. Martin Brewer said: "We are reorganising the Department but we haven't got there yet.

"We have five new staff coming but we have only just got final authorisation, the posts will have to be advertised."

Asked about companies being bothered with supplementary requests for information Dr. Brewer said: "I would rather have heard directly from them. That would be preferable rather than discussing this through the newspapers." Asked if he wasn't already aware of their frustrations he said: "We have discussed them but not all the details."

I am hearing this for the first time.

Opposition Home Affairs Spokeswoman Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said the needs of Bermudian workers needed to be balanced against the requirements to get work permit holders but there was still no excuse for such long delays.

She said: "I get many, many complaints from people complaining about work permit delays."I don't know whether the inefficiency is as a result of micromanagement or mistrust."