The real reason for the delays is that it takes a long time to meet with every company applying for a permit, ask for a bribe, then wait for that bribe to be paid.

Make no mistake. no bribe - no permit

Since the resorts have to pay to be part of the Out Islands Promotion board, this will only help the larger resorts, that can afford to pay the fees.

Well of course there are no big acts here. There are laws about having to hire Bahamian entertainers. Resorts are not allowed to bring in foreign talent.

There are dozens upon dozens of businesses that have expansion plans on hold while they are waiting for key employees to get their work permits processed. In some cases these permit delays have pushed plans back an entire year. Once again government lazyness keeps people unemployed.

I think that the real story here is that there are dozens and dozens of businesses that have been waiting for their employees to arrive. These businesses have been waiting to expand, renovate, etc. So why does this matter? Well, it has been estimated by the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, that for every skilled foreign worker that comes in to the country, between 4 and 7 new jobs for Bahamians are created.

So because of this there are anywhere between 1800 and 3000 Bahamians who are sitting at home, when they could be working.That is the real story.

If crimes like these aren't stopped soon, the Bahamas will turn in to a ghost town, because the tourists will stop coming.

This is what happens when you decide to take food (corn) and use it as fuel (ethanol) instead of FOOD.

When is the government going to learn that these foreign investors have no loyalty to the Bahamas. If it becomes too difficult to do business in the Bahamas, whether that's difficulties in obtaining work permits for their people, or a result of unfavorable labor laws, those companies will just pack up and move to another country where there is a more friendly attitude. And once those companies and investors pull out, they are NEVER coming back.

It's very simple, make it easier to do business in the Bahamas, and more people WILL do business in the Bahamas. Local businesses will grow and the unemployment rate will shrink. You don't have to be a genius to figure this out.

I think that the bottom line is that it is NEVER a good idea to bring in an outsider to do a job that a local person is properly qualified for.
But that's not what is going on here. The outsiders that are coming in, legally, have skills and experience that just aren't available in the local population. Making it harder to hire these skilled people hurts business. We all know that healthy growing business hire more people, local people.

They hire those people and pay all that extra money, because those people are needed and worth it. There is just no way that a country of 343,000 people can provide enough highly skilled, experienced workers for all jobs. We all know what happens to Bahamians who go to the USA to be educated and gain job skills --- They stay there.