Immigration officials have been slammed for tying small businesses up in bureaucratic red tape.

And some company bosses say they are being deliberately discriminated against by civil servants responsible for issuing work permits.

The accusations were made after one restaurant manager was unable to find a Bermudian to wash dishes in his kitchen. When the manager eventually hired a non-Bermudian from a commercial cleaning contractor, Immigration officials banned the move, stating that the overseas worker was not eligible to carry out kitchen work.

Johnny Troja, who runs the Speciality Inn on Collectors Hill, in Smith's Parish, said: "The Immigration Board just seems to be ignoring local businesses. They can get their way and the result is just complete turmoil in a business like ours -- you get so frustrated.

"We tried to hire a local cleaning company to do the dish washing job for us and we've been told that they can't do it because they're just cleaners.

"Before we went out and hired this company we looked for someone local and out of all the applicants we took on this one person and gave them a job and this gentleman never had the decency to show up for work.

"We kept on calling him but in the end we called up this local company. We had to do something because we didn't have a potwasher and in the end we called up this cleaning company who sent along a Portuguese gentleman.

"But then Immigration came around and said that we couldn't hire the Portuguese gentleman. Although he has a work permit he doesn't have one for washing dishes.

"I have been talking to everyone at Immigration but they just completely ignore you.

"They are prejudiced because of my accent and because of the work we do.

"They don't understand what they are doing -- it's all principles with them.

There's no flexibility and all the time we're dying. I'm not asking for them to open the floodgates but they could easily give us a temporary work permit for say 15 days so that we can get someone to fill in.'' Andrew Defontes, owner of Doo All Cleaning, the contract company that provided Mr. Troja with his pot washer, also argued that the process was hindering business.

"Although I don't have any proof I think there are some very corrupt people in Bermuda,'' he said.

"We had two non-Bermudians working for us and the application took eight months to get approval. I know other companies that can get them done in 14 days.

"It's up to us to hire Bermudians. But if we can't, then the Immigration Department should be there to help the business community.

"Mr. Troja has tried to hire a Bermudian but they just don't want to do the work.

"I'm not saying I want to bring in 500 non-Bermudians to the Island. If a lawyer telephones up saying they need some specialist lawyer in, they get approval right away. But if the restaurants phone up, they're told that they have to get a Bermudian in.

"Why can't they just issue an emergency work permit for 30 days or something? "Foreign companies bring a lot of revenue to the Island and I'm not knocking them but everyone should be on an equal playing field.

"That's where I think there's a discrepancy. Some companies can get people here immediately but for others it's like pulling teeth.'' Immigration, Labour and Home Affairs acting Permanent Secretary Martin Law denied that there was a conspiracy within the department to scupper small businesses.

And he also claimed civil servants were prepared to listen to concerns if small businesses could get together as a group.

"There's some perception issues here,'' Mr. Law said.

"Small businesses do see themselves being put upon but often they are asking for workers who are a lot more difficult to process than say a lawyer working for ACE.

"It's comparing apples with oranges. It's far easier to see if there's a qualified lawyer on the Island than to see if there's a shortage of pot washers.

"But if there is a problem here, then the best way to address it is for the industry to get together as a whole and make a case to the Government.

"It may be that there's a valid point. But if there are delays, it's not because the application is from a small operation or one individual -- it's often because of the nature of the application.''