Another Throne Speech has come and gone, business groups have had their say and now we wait for the Reply to the Throne Speech where the Loyal Opposition has its say and can set out alternative vision for the country. It should be easy.

The Throne Speech was generally a regurgitation of previously announced ideas and promises, which is to be expected over halfway through the Government’s current term of office. With that said, it is also indicative of how little progress has been made since 2017 on a number of very important areas, including comprehensive immigration reform, homelessness and the diversification of Bermuda’s economy.

There remains a disconnect between what is actually required to assist in turning around our economic fortunes and what the Government is prepared to do. The Government has said that it will “consider amendment to the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956 to enact those measures recommended in the Economic Development Strategy”.

That presumably means the Government will, per that said strategy:

• Lower eligibility requirements for individuals to obtain permanent resident certificates

• Make amendments to the Jobs Makers Act by developing a point system for job makers’ company concession applications

• Attract new residents by making policy amendments to income criteria for spouses of work-permit holders to reside and seek employment in Bermuda

• Review and revise restricted occupational categories

• Automate work-permit applications

• Create expedited work-permit processing pathway for high-demand, globally competitive occupations and renewals

None of these proposals represents true comprehensive immigration reform, and some can be done with a simple change to work-permit policies by the minister. However, what would amount to comprehensive immigration reform is full Caricom membership.

Is this the hidden key?

In the Throne Speech, there is a one-liner where the Government said it “will initiate a consultation process leading to full membership in Caricom”.

According to the Treaty of Chaguaramas of the Caribbean Community, membership of the Caribbean Community shall be open to any other state or territory of the Caribbean region that is, in the opinion of the conference, able and willing to exercise the rights and assume the obligations of membership. Let me be clear as to what that means should Bermuda fall within the requirement of membership.

Article 45 of the revised Caricom Single Market and Economy Treaty declares that member states commit themselves to the goal of free movement of their national within the community. The Caricom secretariat in fact declares “... the CSME is not only about goods and capital” and that “it is mainly about people and that none of the CSME provisions are more important in a genuine single market and economy than the provisions relating to the free movement of persons”.

By way of information, the agreements in the CSME can be divided into two main parts, namely the free movement for the purposes of engagement in gainful economic activity and hassle-free travel/facilitation of travel.

Article 45 of the revised treaty declares that member states commit themselves to the goal of free movement of their nationals within the community. Free movement for gainful economic activity within the CSME is available to wage earners, self-employed persons and to persons establishing companies and other types of business organisations. This involves “the abolition of the work permit, the introduction of the Caricom Certificate of Recognition of Skills Qualification [Caricom Skills Certificate], definite entry for six months, indefinite stay in a member state and the right to transfer one’s social security benefits from one Caricom state to another”.

Hassle-free travel is a necessary condition for persons to fully enjoy the rights connected to movement for the purposes of engagement in gainful economic activity. The Common Embarkation-Disembarkation Card, the Caricom line at immigration points, abolition of the need for a visa and the Caricom Passport accommodate it.

The CSME goes further and says that the persons who are eligible for free movement of skills/labour must be engaged in some kind of legitimate economic activity in the Caricom Single Market and Economy as either a wage earner or non-wage earner. Wage earners include:

• Caricom nationals who are graduates of all recognised universities in the world

• Artistes

• Musicians (Bermuda Entertainment Union take note)

• Sportsmen and women

• Media workers

• Nurses

• Teachers

• Artisans with a Caribbean vocational qualification and holders of associate degrees or comparable qualification

Visa-free travel to Bermuda would automatically extend to those persons who are citizens of CSME member states through their respective citizenship by investment programmes.

However, this regime is likely to be liberalised. In July 2023, Caricom Heads of Government decided on free movement for all Caricom nationals by March 2024, going beyond the present CSME regime of free movement of agreed categories of skilled nationals. The decision came at the historic 45th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government, which coincided with the golden jubilee anniversary of Caricom.

The chair, Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica, made the announcement: “We have taken the decision to seek to have the free movement of all categories of people to live and work. Obviously, there are some legal issues that we have to examine, and we have given the legal people some months to examine those legal issues and to ensure that they could come to us by March 30 to take a definitive position on this. We understand that there are some challenges for some, but we are committed to this.”

Membership of any organisation that impedes on sovereignty — in as far as that exists at present — needs to be carefully considered, including our constitutional ties to Britain. Obviously, a full consultation process — not pseudo-consultation — promised by the Government is absolutely essential. No matter the Government’s preference, a matter of such importance should be decided by way of referendum. If freedom of movement brings economic benefit to Bermuda, and that can be adequately demonstrated, then great. But doing what is right and granting status to long-term residents needs to be executed as well. No amount of false narrative around this matter will sway my view about what is the right thing to do.

The debate on full membership will be an interesting one. There are many benefits and pitfalls. I attended a Caricom conference on behalf of the Bermuda Government in 2014, which was very interesting indeed, and I interacted with many of the Caricom heads of state, tales of which I will share in another piece. I look forward to the consultation, and open and meaningful discussions on this extremely important matter.

• Michael Fahy was the Government Senate Leader and Cabinet minister in the One Bermuda Alliance government from 2012 to 2017. Thoughts or comments to opedfahy@gmail.com