immigration law dating from the 1930s.

The Senate heard the old rule barred people coming to Bermuda while awaiting the results of applications for US visas.

But Sen. Yvette Swan said that the rule was introduced before air travel became common, to stop people becoming a liability to Bermuda.

She added that all visitors now had to have return or onward tickets before being allowed to clear immigration.

Sen. Terry Lister agreed that the old rule had been introduced in a different age.

But he said an English woman visitor who arrived on the Island for a holiday with her children before joining her husband in his new job in New York had fallen foul of the old law.