Government has started sending back around 4,000 incomplete work permit applications to concentrate on paperwork from diligent employers who get it right first time.

Home Affairs Minister Sen. David Burch said the new practice was not being put in place to cause undue hardship.

"But it is designed to ensure the innocent no longer continue to suffer with the guilty. Those applications that are duly submitted with all of the required documentation will be processed in a timely manner."

The move came after an audit of the office to uncover reasons behind long delays in getting permits processed.

Some employers have told the press they have had to wait up to five months for a work permit.

Yesterday in a statement to the Upper House, Sen. Burch said: "I was horrified to learn that there are banks of filing cabinets of incomplete work permit applications – in spite of the fact that a checklist is attached to every application."

He said staff attempted to contact agencies and individual applicants to request the required documentation.

"I have been appalled at the attitude of some of the guilty – in believing it is the responsibility of the department to tell them what is missing. It is not.

"Therefore – effective immediately – any incomplete work permit applications submitted to the department will be returned.

"The approximately 4,000 applications currently on hold in the department will be returned to the applicant or agency."

Sen. Burch had started his statement by conceding that: "Immigration is broken, particularly in the area of work permit processing and we are going to fix it."

He said the system the department used was a 1980s model trying to cope with 2008 demand and had not kept pace with the changing needs of business.

Millions of dollars has been invested in other areas of the Immigration department, said Sen. Burch who added: "Work permits are the the fourth and final phase which we have just embarked upon, with $1.7 million included in the 2008/08 budget."

He said everyone was aware of the problems regarding work permit processing times. "It is not enough to wait until the new IT system is up and running – most likely a year away. Action is required now."

The introduction of fast track and temporary work permits to improve processing times had exacerbated an already chaotic situation, said Sen. Burch, as staff were burdened with even more to deal with.

Sen. Burch told The Royal Gazette that a night shift had been started to clear the backlog, but said it was going slowly as it was important to find the right staff. He expressed a desire to do away with fast-track and temporary permits, but he said delivery times would have to be improved for normal permits first.

Last night the Bermuda Employers Council expressed broad support for the initiative and said it had met with Minister Burch recently and voiced concerns over work permit processing times.

BEC executive director Martin Law said: "The Minister was very receptive to business concerns and does appear genuine in his desire to improve Immigration work permit processing."

Mr. Law said the figure of 4,000 incomplete work permit applications was a surprise and the BEC had constantly stressed to members the need to ensure applications are complete.

"We believe the majority are compliant.

"It may be that a significant number of applicants genuinely do not know that their applications are incomplete due to a level of interpretation that can be applied to applications by Immigration officers. It is here that a level of explanation would help.

"We will look for feedback from our members about returned applications to determine how best we can help fix this broken system.

"We support the Minister's efforts to improve work permit processing and will continue to work with him to this end."