Several industry groups have joined the chorus for “radical” immigration reform in the wake of the Association of Bermuda’s Insurers and Reinsurers’ (ABIR) economic impact survey — some calling for the elimination of term limits, a hassle-free immigration process, PRC for job creators and their families, and the right to own property.ABIR’s survey showed a correlation between the number of senior staff leaving the Island and declining job opportunities for Bermudians.Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Patrice Minors, has weighed in, assuring international business that her Ministry is undergoing an internal work permit review and she is seeking to strike “the right balance” to ensure companies get the resources they need while ensuring qualified Bermudians obtain jobs.The Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, Association of Bermuda International Companies (ABIC), reinsurance law firm Attride-Stirling & Wolonieki, employment agency Expertise and the OBA have all publicly voiced their concern over ABIR’s survey and are urging Government to act immediately to attract and retain international business.Yesterday, ABIR also announced their proposals for immigration reform (see accompanying story).The Chamber, which called on Government in early April for “major” immigration reform, including a moratorium on term limits, permanent residency certificates for job makers and their families and PRC holders having the right to buy property, also voiced their concern about ABIR’s survey.“The fact that employment in the international business sector has been in decline since 2007 is borne out by the Chamber’s own research, and by job statistics kept by Government,” said Chamber president Ronnie Viera. “There is no question that the growth of the local economy, and the number of jobs available to Bermudians, is directly correlated to the success of international business.”Joanne MacPhee, the executive director of the Chamber added that while Government “dabbles” in immigration reform, Bermuda is “losing more and more key job creators”.“What those who do not currently support immigration reform need to understand, is that even major changes in immigration will not change the situation immediately, it will take time to rebuild the confidence lost in the Bermuda product,” she said.Similarly, she added, people “need to understand that we are not talking about giving the Island away. At best there are probably only a few dozen who would immediate benefit from radical immigration reform and these are families that are already here. They currently rent, drive a car and have children in the private school system; giving them long-term residency and the opportunity to settle in Bermuda would have little to no impact on our infrastructure, but it could most certainly have a very positive impact on our economy.”George Hutchings, chairman of ABIC called for changes to be implemented “immediately” and that data from their group shows that more than 60 percent of the jobs in international business are held by Bermudians. He added that those were the jobs being lost as senior staff, roles and functions in the sector leave Bermuda. The group has submitted a letter to Minister Minors laying out their immigration suggestions. He said that ABIC supports all of ABIR’s recommendations.“To begin to stem the tide of job losses these changes must be implemented immediately,” said Mr Hutchings. “Our ABIC member surveys confirm that immigration reform and a business friendly environment are key to retain and attract business. “Senior partner Rod Attride-Stirling at law firm Attride-Stirling & Wolonieki, which specialises in corporate and commercial law, commented that many Bermuda-based companies have seen their workforce grow, but the workforce growth is overseas where they don’t have “so many bureaucratic hurdles”.“We need to do more to get these jobs to stay in Bermuda, and to ensure that the both the people working in the industry and the contributions they make are appreciated,” he said. “The Bermuda Government’s Job Creators Act is a great start and an example of the type of creative thinking that is needed. We need to look actively at what else we can all do.”In a Letter to the Editor to this newspaper, Doug Soares, the founder of HR and employment consultancy Expertise, said he has a “front row” seat as jobs leave Bermuda, describing the resulting hardship for Bermudians “heartbreaking”.“In the short term, all Government will have to do is grant exceptions and exemptions to work permit and term limit policies for international business executives,” he said. “The policies are set up to allow this but, in recent times, Government has made it more difficult for international businesses. So they simply relocate jobs overseas.”He added that the mindset that Government’s ability to protect Bermudians in a global economy is “limited and diminishing” has to change.“Government needs to explain that the world has changed,” he said. “When the current policy was designed, the economy was almost entirely local and we did not have the internet. This meant that our Government could easily protect us from foreigners trying to take our jobs. All we had to do is stop them at the border.“But now the majority of jobs in Bermuda are part of the global economy and technology has enabled foreigners to do ‘our’ jobs from their own country. So if our current work permit policy says that the foreign CFO of an international company will not be issued a work permit for any reason, the company simply moves the job overseas.“Not only do we lose the potential for that job to be done by a Bermudian in the future, we lose the income of that CFO’s family in terms of payroll tax and local company services.”Ms Minors, whose ministry is responsible for work permit matters, said in a statement yesterday: “I want to assure both the local and international business sectors that we are seeking to strike the right balance in these tough times between ensuring that companies are afforded the resources that they need, and ensuring that Bermudians that are available for employment obtain a job for which they are suitably qualified.“I announced some weeks back that we are sensitive to the needs of our business organisations and in that respect, I did confirm that an internal work permit policy review is underway this would include the reorganisation of our work permit section.“As a result of the review, there are number of initiatives that we are considering that we will share directly with relevant stakeholders. The recommendations, once approved by Cabinet will be included in the existing work permit policies.”Shadow Minister of Finance Bob Richards said that the OBA was “not surprised” at ABIR’s survey results, saying their position was that the current term limit policy was the “most destructive” to international business. He added that his party has publicly stated that they are in favour of suspending term limits for two years, revamping the immigration process, crack down on abuse in the immigration system (tailoring job descriptions to one specific candidate), retraining immigration and airport officials to be more welcoming and cut down on the caveats associated with incentives for job creators.“It [immigration process] just takes up too much time and there is too much uncertainty — we need to eliminate the hassle factor,” he said, adding that term limits have caused “entire teams” of people to move out of Bermuda.The public, however, seems divided as online comments made regarding Monday’s ABIR story show readers sitting on both sides of the fence.On having more relaxed immigration laws, blogger ‘Al Eastmond’ said: “In other words I see it as putting up a sign BERMUDA FOR SALE. If Bermuda had vast land resources this would not be an issue but the Island is only 21 square miles. And to these companies that are joining the chant I would say that this is akin to walking into somebody’s house and declaring that you will stay as long as you like and eventually will be considered part of the family.”In response to what some believe is a arduous immigration process, blogger ‘navin johnson’ said: “The CEOs are exempt but everyone else sweats out the renewal process and are made to go through hoops in a very drawn out and frustrating process ... and the balance is not so delicate.......do not bother coming to me and asking what I need to run my business time and time and time again and then fail to listen to anything I suggest.....just give me the permits I need and allow me to run my business as I have nothing to prove to you as shown by the statistics that I WANT and do employ Bermudians.”