rise in a move to get companies to employ more Bermudians, Government revealed yesterday.

Minister of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety, Paula Cox, outlined draft proposals for sweeping changes in the Immigration Department to members of the Chamber of Commerce International Companies Division.

In a frank talk, Ms Cox unveiled plans to place restrictions on workers coming in from abroad in favour of Bermudians, but did not disclose what the time limits on permits will be.

She also told how the department would be restructured and that each application would have to go through the Immigration Board to be passed.

"The priority is to ensure that the Bermudians who have the required skills come first,'' said Ms Cox.

The move will affect the 8,000 men and women from many different nationalities currently working under permits on the Island who represent 20 percent of the workforce.

Time limits are to be put in place for work permit holders for the first time.

Currently work permits are granted for a year, but there are no restrictions on how often they can be re-submitted.

The draft allows for exceptions to be made for key men and women and also in categories where there is a shortage of labour both in Bermuda and worldwide.

Ms Cox also said the proposals had to take into account people working in almost every job sector on the Island, from taxi drivers to international business, beauty business to teaching, and the Government had to cater to those needs.

"Our small size and the nature of our economy limit available resources -- trained people, jobs, housing. We are not an industrial community,'' she said.

"We offer business and leisure services catering to a broad range of global taste and needs.'' She added: "Our Immigration policy has to meet and serve all these disparate needs. We cannot be everything to everybody. There are sometimes conflicting goals.

"The guiding principle has to be that Bermudians have to come first and yet at the same time we have to be sensitive to the various commercial realities.'' Ms Cox said the way forward for Bermudians was to get skills through good workplace initiatives.

And she added that those businesses who provided training would have financial rewards. Work permit fees will be cancelled out where "realistic training plans'' are put in place.

The cost of getting a work permit for an employee will go up every year, to discourage renewals and encourage the training of Bermudians.

Government gets tough on work permits In a bid to make the Immigration Department more efficient, work permit forms are being reviewed to make them more user-friendly.

For the first time there will be measures to allow for emergency applications, which will be dealt with within 24 hours.

Ms Cox said: "Issues of immigration are never easy ones to reconcile, for any Government. In Bermuda immigration issues are particularly emotive and always subject to contentious public debate. Immigration is a charged issue. It is the department that everybody loves to hate -- either a work permit application was turned down which someone feels should have been approved or a work permit has been granted that someone feels should not have been given, a zero sum game.'' She added that Government had to take into consideration all sides when deciding what to do.

"We have a mandate to serve the best interests of our international company partners,'' Ms Cox pointed out. "At the same time we have a responsibility to address the concerns of Bermudians that the department is not doing enough to promote the career aspirations of Bermudians, but is indiscriminately granting work permits for jobs that Bermudians can do.'' At a Glance Time limits on work permits Renewal costs to go up Financial incentives for training plans Allowance for emergency applications