By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Immigration reforms tabled by the government in parliament yesterday were hailed as “a way to jumpstart” ambitions for Grand Bahama to become a “technology hub”.

Dr Donovan Moxey, who headed the government-appointed technology hub steering committee, told Tribune Business that the legislation to create the “BH-1B work visa” was “huge” for The Bahamas given the “strong signal” it sends to the industry and its highly-skilled workforce.

Revealing that it would take “15-20 years” to build a technology sector with “critical mass” through organic growth, Dr Moxey said the reform established The Bahamas as a “practical and viable” location just off the US east coast where companies and their workers can relocate.

The steering committee suggested the creation of a “BH-1B” visa to facilitate the smooth entry of highly-skilled technology workers in its February 2018 report to the Government, urging it to exploit the uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration’s willingness - or lack thereof - to renew similar style work permits for the US.

The Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2019, tabled yesterday, indicates that the Government is now moving to translate such advice into reality. The Bill makes clear that the BH-1B work visa is intended to underpin, and complement, the Commercial Enterprises Act and its promise to liberalise the Immigration regime for companies in sectors targeted by that law.

Besides the new work visa, the Bill also aims to further eliminate Immigration bureaucracy and red tape - and occasionally unpleasant experiences at the airport - by eliminating the requirement for business executives to obtain a “short term” or any type of work visa/permit if they are in The Bahamas for 14 days.

The exemption applies to persons attending Bahamas-based conferences and seminars as participants; trade shows and summits; or working as a non-executive director of a business “being carried on in The Bahamas” where they are not involved in daily operations.

Also exempt are senior executives and management professionals who fly in to “attend a business meeting with a local company”. This applies to chairmen, directors, shareholders, all executives from the rank of chief financial officer up, managers, consultants, attorneys, compliance officers and accountants.

Others included under this initiative, and exempt from the short-term work visa requirement, are auditors, actuaries, medical professionals, analysts and controllers.

The private sector has been pushing for such reforms for years, both on the grounds that it will enhance The Bahamas’ ease of doing business and reputation, while avoiding embarrassing incidents that have over the years seen senior corporate executives refused entry and/or detained and given an grilling by Immigration officers.

Meanwhile, Dr Moxey said of the BH-1B work visa: “This is huge for us. Not only does it attract the highly-skilled workers, but the companies. That targets the companies. One of the things we need to recognise and be clear with is the BH-1B visa is not a standalone; it’s tied to a company.

“It allows The Bahamas and Grand Bahama to build critical mass quicker with regards to technology companies. One of the biggest challenges those companies face is what to do with those workers that have US H-1B visas, and who they are trying to keep together as a team.

“The Bahamas now represents a practical and viable alternative to relocate their workforces to, keeping them together in a jurisdiction that is just offshore. With the broadband and bandwidth we provide, we’re able to offer the same kind of technology infrastructure they’re used to. This visa will go a long way to attracting these companies to The Bahamas once they satisfy the requirements of the Commercial Enterprises Act.”

Dr Moxey described the BH-1B work visa’s creation as “the first key step” in developing critical mass for the Government’s GB technology hub ambition, recalling how the idea was first submitted to the Government last February by the steering committee.

Attracting more technology companies to The Bahamas would also provide employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for Bahamians in this sector, Dr Moxey added, as well as spin-off benefits that would impact the entire Grand Bahama economy.

“The last research we did indicated those workers earned an average of $86,000 a year,” he told Tribune Business. “Bringing them to The Bahamas will result in an immediate injection of wealth into the local economy.

“This is a very beneficial first step to growing a technology sector in The Bahamas. We’re pretty excited about that. If we tried to grow organically we’d be here another 15-20 years. This is a way to jumpstart it, get things started and build critical mass.”

The BH-1B visa is viewed as a way to target US technology companies that are heavily reliant on the H-1B visa workers impacted by Donald Trump’s recent Immigration crackdown. This has been making it difficult for persons to apply for, or renew, these visas, which facilitate the hiring of specialist foreign workers by US companies, and entry of persons with advanced degrees.

The Bill, though, restricts the BH-1B visa to businesses covered by the Commercial Enterprises Act is largely focused on industries not present in The Bahamas, but which have the potential to create high-earning jobs and be major foreign currency earners.

Financial services leads the way with reinsurance; captive insurance; investment fund administration; arbitration; wealth management; international trade and international arbitrage included in the ‘fast track’ work permit sectors.

Also covered by the Commercial Enterprises Act are technology-related industries such as computer programming; software design and writing; bioninformatics and analytics; nano technology; and biomedical health facilities.

“Boutique health facilities”; data storage and warehousing; aviation registration and ‘approved’ aviation maintenance operations; ‘call centres’; and manufacturing and assembly/logistics businesses round out the sectors targeted by the Government.

The Act is designed to remove the bureaucracy and “red tape” investors encounter when attempting to obtain work permits from the Immigration Department for key management and skilled workers, signalling the Government’s commitment to improving the “ease of doing business”.

It attempts to introduce certainty and predictability to the work permit regime by requiring the director of immigration to make a decision on their approval within 14 days of the application’s receipt. Applications from businesses covered by the Act must be submitted within 30 days of the worker’s arrival in The Bahamas.

These conditions will all apply to the BH-1B visa, ensuring Immigration dovetails with the Commercial Enterprises Act, with the annual fee for this permit set at $2,000.