Close to 2,000 Bermudian employers have begun receiving decisions from the Department of Immigration regarding the fate of their expatriate workers.

The mailing includes a slew of never-before-seen classifications laid out in a three-page letter along with the decision notices.

The letter fully advises employers whether or not a waiver has been approved and under what conditions the approval was granted. has seen a copy of the letter from Assistant Chief Immigration Officer Rozy Azhar.

The decisions and the list of new classifications have been much anticipated following the implementation of term limits which generally require all foreign workers leave after six years, unless they've been granted a waiver.

The Department of Immigration originally promised the information would be delivered in December 2006, but had to revise that commitment for delivery by April 1, 2007.

There are as many as seven new classifications and some are complete U-turns for Bermuda's policies on Immigration and Labour (see panel).

For example, it's now understood that two work permit holders married to each other are eligible for a waiver as long as one of them arrived before August 1, 1989. Another new classification will allow spouses to stay as long as they are married to a key employee who has been granted a waiver or extension to the six-year term limit. In other words, even if a spouse is not a key employee, he or she can stay if he or she is the spouse of a key employee.

Similarly, work permit holders married to someone with a Permanent Resident Certificate are eligible for waivers. This is another reversal from previous regulations.

However, the waiver will only last as long as the marriage does. If the union ends, so does the waiver.

The letter states that the new categories are the result of a close consultation process with business leaders. The process also helped outline a list of key employee categories unveiled earlier in the year.

Key employees cover a wide range of professions including: actuaries, butchers, chartered accountants, registered nurses, senior catastrophe and finite insurance/reinsurance modelling analysts and top executive officers of companies. Within large, internationally owned hotels the positions of managing director, general manager, director of operations, chefs de partie and a number of other posts.

Beyond the new classifications the Department of Immigration mailing gives people a detailed explanation of the three broadest classifications: "Waiver Approved", "Extension Approved" and "6-year Term Limits".

Workers with an approved waiver are completely exempt from the six-year term limit based on their status as a key employee. However, even if the extension is granted, it is not indefinite. Should a qualified Bermudian materialise for the job the waiver is revoked, which is inline with Bermuda's immigration policy historically.

Workers with an approved extension are described as permit holders given a specific extension period between one and three years. Again, should a qualified Bermudian materialise during that time, the wavier is revoked.

The term limit rule was passed in April 2001 and the first batch of six-year permits will technically expire on April 1, 2007. The letter addresses those persons as well.

People not in the key employee category are subjected to term limits. That means some workers are finding out now they have to give up their jobs and leave Bermuda as early as next month.

However, Ms Azhar points out: "Because there has been a delay in notifying employers of the responses, the Minister is prepared to provide an extension to those employers whose work permit holders' term limit expires between April 1 and September 30 while the employer recruits a replacement for that position. "However, an extension will only be considered for those employees for whom the employer had applied to the Minister for an extension to or a waiver from the term limits."

This process began more than a year ago in February 2006 when the Department of Immigration advised employers to either request waivers to term limits or identify staff who have been in Bermuda continuously since August 1, 1989.

According to Minister of Labour and Immigration Derrick Burgess applications are still coming ? 13 months after the original notification. He said so far about 50 percent of employers have fully responded to the Department's request.

When contacted last night at home, Mr. Burgess did not have specific numbers in front of him, so he couldn't say how many waiver applications had been processed or approved thus far.

However in the House of Assembly last month he reported that 28 percent of work permit holders were being given waivers and 19 percent had been granted extensions.

David Ezekiel, chairman of the Association of International Companies, was unavailable for comment last night.