A Russian family plan to sail between islands if Immigration forces them to leave Bermuda.

The Bondarenko family sailed into Bermuda on June 15 while awaiting word from Canadian Immigration about whether they can reside in Canada.

"If Bermuda doesn't allow them to stay for the full time, their intention was to travel between islands - go from island to island, as they've been doing for 14 years," the Bondarenko's lawyer Lee Cohen was quoted as saying in the Halifax Herald yesterday.

Mr. Cohen represents Vitaly and Marina Bondarenko and their sons Vasily and Ivan, who sailed the high seas for 14 years and wound up in Nova Scotia in June, 2004.

On June 8, the family left Lunenburg, Canada, where Mr. Bondarenko worked in a foundry.

Mr. Bondarenko's employer Peter Kinley said the family were concerned they would have to leave Bermuda during the worst period of the hurricane season.

"I do hope we can get all this paperwork done as quickly as possible so they can get out of there before hurricane season sets in with a frenzy," Mr. Kinley was quoted as saying. "I know that all four of them are no strangers to tropical conditions, and they'll be able to look after themselves in the near future. Their concern is to be hanging there until the middle of August or September, when you get the worst winds."

Candian government officials handed the Bondarenkos an exclusion order in November when they realised they were still in the country.

The family set sail for Bermuda on December 4, but were forced to return when their yacht began taking on water.

Canadian immigration officials then granted them a work permit allowing them to remain in Canada until June 30. "But they had to leave Canada before hurricane season started," their lawyer said.

And he said they could not wait for Bermuda Immigration to get back to them about their tourist visas.

"There's no real specific reason for not applying for visas except that they had to leave Canada before hurricane season started," Mr. Cohen said.

"So waiting around for the Bermuda Government to respond wasn't an option."

When the family arrived in Bermuda on June 15, Bermuda Customs discovered the family didn't have tourist visas.

That means they can't leave their yacht, other than to buy food, do laundry or attend to medical emergencies.

And they could be asked to leave Bermuda at any time.

Last week Chief Immigration Officer Martin Brewer told The Royal Gazette the family would be given 21 days to stay in Bermuda, and can then apply for an extension under the law. The longest they will be allowed to stay would be five months.

But he said the Bondarenkos had known for a while that they had to be out of Canada by June 30.

"None of us know whether this is going to be a couple of weeks or a couple of months or longer," he said. "It depends on what Immigration Canada decides to do with their application. Once we get that official acceptance, we can then apply to the federal government for the Bondarenkos to immigrate to Canada. In the interim, we can apply for work permits, which, if granted, will allow the Bondarenkos to come back. Their application has to be outside the country, and it will be."