The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Immigration is “one of the most persistent concerns” for Freeport businesses, with work permit delays responsible for revenue and production losses.

The Government’s own Hawksbill Creek Agreement Review Committee detailed how the absence of a proactive Immigration policy, and rapid work permit processing, was a key factor deterring new businesses and industries from relocating to Grand Bahama.

It suggested that a “targeted Immigration” approach be employed to attract companies to Freeport, adding that other countries also employed different, more rapid work permit policies for ‘free trade zones’ to give them a competitive advantage.

“Immigration was one of the most persistent concerns brought up by businesses during the Committee’s stakeholder meetings,” its report, presented to the Christie administration last June, stated.

“Businesses raised the fact they need to be able to bring in skilled workers via Immigration to fill gaps in the skillset of the current workforce in Grand Bahama.

“While some of the businesses with whom the Committee have met have been able to bring in non-Bahamian workers in the past, they complain of long delays in processing that are severe enough to cause revenue losses based on stalled production.”

The Committee’s report said Freeport-based companies had warned that “streamlining the work permitting process was a priority”, with some renewals taking months, due to having to deal with two government departments - Immigration and Labour.

“The stakeholders saw more efficient and responsive Immigration policies as a short-term measure to allow their companies to access needed labour on a temporary basis, until the Bahamian workforce were able to be trained to fill the jobs,” the Committee said.

“Allowing efficient Immigration for skilled practitioners is critical to attracting new sectors to Grand Bahama. New industries will need to train the Bahamian workforce in new technical skills, and instructors and knowledgeable experts need to transfer knowledge and apprentice Bahamians.”

Such a flexible Immigration policy, the Committee added, would be essential for sectors such as aircraft maintenance, value-added logistics and medical tourism - all of which it had recommended Freeport and Grand Bahama target.

Its report cited examples in the US, Canada, Australia, the Cayman Islands and Panama of where the authorities had sought to use Immigration as an economic development tool, and to boost their competitive advantage.

Carey Leonard, the former Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) in-house counsel, told Tribune Business that the Government had “to get serious” on Immigration reform when informed of the Committee’s findings by Tribune Business.

He pointed out that the report had been in the Government’s possession for almost a year, yet nothing had been done to change the work permit process.

“We haven’t we done anything with Immigration? We don’t have to wait until the end of the Hawksbill Creek Agreement,” Mr Leonard told Tribune Business.

“Why hasn’t the Prime Minister made a grand announcement on how he’s going to fix Immigration? He’s had a year’s notice.”

He added: “If you’re going to take steps to remedy things, and get things going, why not remedy Immigration if you know what the problem is?

“If you don’t remedy Immigration, the whole thing is dead in the water. They’ve got to get serious.”

Mr Leonard told a Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) seminar last week that the current Immigration policy was protectionist in nature, and encouraged sub-standard performance by Bahamian workers, who knew they were safe from external competition.

“Bahamians can perform as well as anyone in any other country if they have to. Unfortunately, the current policy encourages sub-par performance and protects that sub-par performance,” he said.

“Unless these two factors of Immigration and education are dealt with, there is little hope for our economy as they are already dragging the country down. In each case there is a common theme and that is attitude.”

The Committee’s report said: “While today in Grand Bahama businesses in any sector can go through the current permitting process to bring in skilled workers, no targeted programmes exist for easing the Immigration process based on specific necessary skill-sets or sectors.

“Going forward, the Bahamas should consider ways going forward that Immigration policy could support economic development and enhance the value proposition for businesses to thrive in Grand Bahama.”