When is a Bermudian not a Bermudian?

That is the question 27-year-old local Gregon Minors is asking himself after being challenged by Immigration despite living his whole life on the Island, having Bermudian parents from St. David?s and owning a Bermudian passport and birth certificate.

Mr. Minors was challenged by Immigration when applying for a right to work permit for his new Canadian bride recently.

He was shocked to find they had no record of him on their register and he was required to furnish further proof of his status.

?They told me I wasn?t in their system ? but I am serving in the army,? he said. ?I have only got eight months left.?

Eventually he was told he should have been put in a register of Bermudian status between 1989 and 1992.

?I found out I had to apply for status in my own country,? he said. ?It?s a pretty odd situation. What?s up with that??

However, Mr. Minors is not unlikely to be made stateless. He had been told he could bring in a birth certificate and pay $10 to get the form but he questioned why he needed to.

?I don?t know if any one knows about this,? he said. ?I didn?t know about it. It seems so stupid.?

Chief Immigration Officer Martin Brewer said Mr. Minors didn?t have to prove his nationality if he didn?t want to.

He said the register was set up to cut down red tape which involved bringing birth certificates and marriage certificates every time a person needed to prove Bermudian status.

?People said it was a waste of time,? Dr. Brewer said. ?The Register of Bermudians is necessary in order to keep down the cost in time and money of what otherwise would be an exercise in researching and acquiring extensive documentation.

?Other countries have a territorial citizenship so that a passport also defines where a person has the right of abode and the other rights of citizenship.

?The British Overseas Territories citizenship grants no right of abode, or any other rights except the right to hold a passport, in any territory because it is up to each territory to decide, through its own legislation (Bermudian status in our case), who has the rights of citizenship.?

Dr. Brewer said all Mr. Minors needed to do was bring a birth certificate from his mother, fill in the form and pay the fee to get on the register.

?We don?t get many complaints about this,? he said. ?People generally find the register has been a boon.?

Asked why Mr. Minors needed proof of Bermudian status when he already had a passport, Dr. Brewer explained the law governing passports and the law governing Bermudian status have nothing whatsoever to do with each other.

He explained the Department of Immigration issues passports as agents of the UK Government whose laws and rules apply.