‘Narrow-minded approach’ to work permits warning

• Attorney says Bahamas ‘must be more sophisticated’

• Expatriate labour liberalisation key to Freeport revival

• Adds that work permit fees must be competitive

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A prominent attorney yesterday warned against a “narrow-minded approach” to issuing work permits, arguing that The Bahamas must be “a little more sophisticated” if it is to revive the economy post-COVID-19.

Robert Adams, who headed the Revitalisation and Economic Expansion of Freeport (REEF) committee that has just submitted proposals to liberalise that city’s work permit regime, told Tribune Business that The Bahamas in general needs to be “more refined” in its policies towards skilled expatriate labour and training its citizens to ultimately take over these posts.

Calling on the government to resist the temptation to crack down on work permits during times of high unemployment, such as the present, he added that fees associated with importing expatriate labour also needed to be assessed for cost competitiveness against regional rivals.

While Bahamian businesses are paying annual work permit fees of up to $15,000 for high-end executives, the REEF committee’s report to the government noted that the cost associated for expatriates in the Cayman Islands’ Enterprise City, for example, was $1,500.

The report, unveiled yesterday, called for “reframing transient expatriate workers as valued revenue sources, as opposed to threats to Bahamian jobs”, along with the introduction of “new immigration regulations and policies that are at least as attractive as those of other options available to investors” if Freeport’s economy is to be revived post-COVID and Hurricane Dorian.

It warned that “rival destinations, whose tourism industries have also been decimated, are looking to enhance their efforts to attract expatriates, so Freeport’s offering needs to consider planned new rival inducements, too”.

The REEF committee’s proposals is call for businesses in the port area to be permitted to hire expatriate workers “as they deem necessary where Bahamian expertise is not readily available”, with approval decisions taken within five days of completed applications being received.

Its proposals call for work permits lasting up to five years to be issued, and made renewable, with fees “competitive” against rival free trade zones in the Caribbean and elsewhere. The work permit holder’s benefits would be extended to spouses, dependent children up to 25 years old and dependent parents aged 62 years-old and over, giving them “full rights to live, work and study”.

The REEF committee also recommended that foreign workers and personnel be allowed to enter Freeport for short-term visits, of a maximum seven days, to work on board foreign-flagged vessels without the need for work permits.

Emphasising that the committee was not calling for The Bahamas to completely throw open its borders, Mr Adams said the Government was correct to crack down on work permits “in certain sectors” where sufficient Bahamians with the necessary skills were available and willing to do the work, although he did not name them.

“I think we perhaps need to take the more refined approach to government policy as it relates to work permits,” he told Tribune Business in light of REEF’s report. “There are certain sectors where I think a more flexible approach is required to the granting of work permits - not on a permanent basis, but a temporary basis until such time as the local talent pool is trained up.

“In order to revitalise the economy, we need to be targeted in our work permit policy. I don’t think the across-the-board and narrow-minded approach to Immigration and work permits is the way to go. A little more sophistication is needed.”

While the necessary skills and talents were available in some parts of the Bahamian economy, “others don’t have it yet. We ought to be more flexible and, at the same time, more consistent in the way we monitor training programmes so we build the capacity and expertise so that Bahamians can take advantage of all opportunities in the country,” Mr Adams added.

Tribune Business understands that the Government has presently been doing the reverse of what is being proposed by REEF, and has tightened up on the issuance and renewal of work permits due to the high unemployment created by COVID-19.

“Sometimes the temptation is because unemployment is high to say no work permits for anybody,” Mr Adams told this newspaper, “but if the objective is to grow the economy we need to be more flexible if we want new businesses and growth. We need to be a lot more rational in the way we approach work permit issuance.”

As for work permit fees, he added: “That’s another reality we must face. We are in competition. Freeport is certainly in competition with special economic zones in the region, and as a country we are in competition with other countries all competing to attract investment to our shores.

“Our geographical location as a country greatly assists us with tourism and other industries, but that in and of itself is not enough to give us a winning presentation with investors. We have to look at other factors that are in the equation, if you will, that determine where capital will be invested and included in that is how much it costs to get workers in. We have to be competitive.”

Mr Adams said the issue raised uncomfortable questions, but it was a discussion that The Bahamas needed to have even though it may be difficult. “These are the kinds of issues that are emotive, and rightly so because people have been disadvantaged in our country and it creates a sore feeling, but at the same time we have to step back and look at what we are trying to do,” he added.

“We’re trying to create a tide that lifts all boats, and we’re trying to attract as much foreign direct investment as possible. As much as we might not want to admit it, we need a lot of foreign direct investment to grow the economy; a lot of it. We have to examine how competitive we are with countries in our region, and need to benchmark if not surpass what we offer in many areas.”

Comments

WETHEPEOPLE says...

May was well give the foreigners the key to the kingdom. Its funny to me when entities try and sell this position of not having the local talent, and foreigners coming to train Bahamians. Truth is the talent is there, most times they prefer not to pay the local talent the same wage as the foreign talent. And even when the foreigner comes to train Bahamians, they never seem to leave to free up the position. This man is talking about a five year work permit. If the foreigner is so talented as to train bahamians, why in the heck would they need five years to do so

Posted 8 June 2021, 5:57 p.m. Suggest removal

Chucky says...

Are you really suggesting that a position held by a foreigner, with a university degree and years of experience with sophisticated state of the are companies can simply come to the Bahamas and train one of our under educated people to do the same job in a year or two?
Take engineering for example, do suppose that a Bahamian that goes abroad to study, becomes an engineer, and then comes home and works for a local company has the same qualifications as an engineer working for a large usa corporation?
The american engineer might have been involved in 20 large bridge design projects, and the Bahamian none.
See the difference.
Sadly the same goes for all professions. Do you think a doctor a a local clinic will ever have the experience of a top doctor at the high end private hospitals in usa. And do you think that top usa doctor can come here and in a couple of years pass off that knowledge to a Bahamian doctor. Trust me, even if the hypothetical top doctor came here and held the bahamian doctors hand 24 hrs a day for a couple of years, the knowledge transfer cannot pass that quickly. And being logical, any expat hired is busy running the show, and taxed by managing an underskilled laborforce; most certainly doesn't have all that much time to train a under educated bad ass attitude bahamian.
Every advancement we've had in the last 50 years has been because of, not in spite of foreign labour and investment.
IF you want to maintain the status quo as generated by our fellow bahamians than you had better like the rotten milk and mouldy bread that our gazillionaire bahamian friends who own the food stores are selling you.

You see the problem is, our wealthy only want the pie, the whole pie, they don't care how good it is, they just want it all. Theyre not motivated to improve, because they get it all.

Posted 8 June 2021, 6:18 p.m. Suggest removal

Bobsyeruncle says...

AMEN !!

Posted 8 June 2021, 7:10 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

YES. It can happen. The belief that Bahamians are somehow incapable of learning is killing us. Will it take effort and intention? yes. will it be hard? yes. is it worth it? yes.

Posted 8 June 2021, 10:15 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

"*expatriates in the Cayman Islands’ Enterprise City, for example, was $1,500.*"

comparisons to Cayman expatriate labour force are oversimplified and dubious at best. Cayman is made up of expatriats. the entire population is 60000. They NEED foreign labour. Can we for once examine our circumstances and what we need? We need our people to be skilled, so we get the high wages, the money stays here and we feel the economic impact of all these millions in FdI that Emmanuel cant pronounce.

Posted 8 June 2021, 10:12 p.m. Suggest removal

Dawes says...

The belief that a company will willingly pay thousands for a work permit because they don't want a Bahamian is silly and makes no sense. The biggest issue we have is most of our talented people use that talent to get the hell out of here. In the finance industry there are many more Bahamians working over seas (mainly USA, Canada and UK) then there are foreigners over here.

Posted 9 June 2021, 9:17 a.m. Suggest removal

Log in to comment