After touting its work permits policy as a balanced approach to safeguarding Bermudian jobs, Government is now giving the public the silent treatment on its work permits moratorium.But reports reaching our newsroom indicate that the Immigration Department is now acting quickly on refiled appeals from employers wishing to keep their foreign employees whose job categories are impacted by the moratorium.A revised deadline to submit appeals expired on Friday. Government was asked through the Department of Communication and Information for an update including information on how many appeals had been received, and a copy of the moratorium guidelines issued to employers.This newspaper also sought information on whether Immigration had granted any appeals under the moratorium, a planned Clean Kitchens Course and the number of people who were registered with the Labour and Training Department willing and able to take on kitchen porter jobs.“The Ministry has no further comment to make on the matter,” said a spokeswoman.Hospitality bosses were alarmed when they were told by Immigration that foreign potwashers had to quit working by last Friday receiving just one week’s notice. But following meetings between the industry and Economy Minister Patrice Minors, the Minister agreed to revisit the deadline and asked restaurateurs to resubmit their appeals for their workers by January 20.Affected employers were not told when they should expect a response to their resubmitted appeals. Nor did Minister Minors say what the new deadline would be.Phillip Barnett, co-chair of the restaurant division of the Chamber of Commerce, when asked for his update yesterday said the Chamber was still awaiting clarification from the Minister.“My understanding is that anybody that employs a foreign kitchen assistant would have been required to send them an appeal to have them continue working.”Yesterday, a handful of employers said that they had already received verbal responses to their appeals, with a few of those being granted by Immigration.Government would not say why they would offer no further comment on their moratorium policy, but the moratorium guidelines, which it refused to provide, were obtained by The Royal Gazette.In August 2010 Government imposed a work permit moratorium for landscape gardeners, cleaners, kitchen porters and bar porters. All work permit applications for such jobs were put on hold. In February 2011 the moratorium was extended until April 2011 and employers were told that initial work permit applications had been denied, but that they could appeal that decision within 14 business days.According to moratorium guidelines issued in February 23 2011, work permits which employers had already applied to renew would terminate within 45 working days from that date.During that period, employers were asked to contact the Labour and Training Department “to determine suitable Bermudians or spouses of Bermudians to fill vacancies within your business,” according to the guideline letter.The letter continues by saying that employers should consult the Labour and Training Department before submitting any new initial or renewal work permit applications. And only in cases where the employer is unable to recruit Bermudians or spouses or Bermudians could they proceed with the application. In such cases they were to submit to Immigration an up-to-date company profile, “the results of your efforts with the Department of Labour and Training” including an accounting of the reasons why applicants interviewed were deemed unsuitable for the positions and any other information previously requested.Hospitality industry bosses complained that they had not received any responses to their renewal applications or appeals when they were suddenly given one week’s notice for their workers to quit working this month.Minister Minors explained that an “internal backlog” had led to processing delays and promised to revisit the “somewhat aggressive” deadline.