In a bid to crackdown on drug smuggling and immigration offences, Government announced yesterday that Jamaican visitors will now need to apply for visas.

Jamaican tourists will need to apply to the British High Commission in Kingston, which will vet them together with Immigration officials here to weed out potential criminals.

Jamaican groups on the Island expressed concern about the move, and Labour and Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister, who made the announcement, is expected to face hostile questions when he addresses the Jamaican Association later this month.

The National Liberal Party (NLP) welcomed the move, but the United Bermuda Party (UBP) said it would turn ordinary Jamaicans into "second class citizens".

The visa requirement took effect at midnight last night, but it will not apply to Jamaican nationals who are Bermudian, or to bona fide Jamaicanresidents who are on work permits.

Mr. Lister said Government had taken the step because of concerns about Jamaican drug mules swallowing cocaine, and the number of people who arrived as visitors but disappeared rather than return to the high-crime Caribbean island.

A number of recent violent clashes have been attributed to rivalry between Bermudians and Jamaicans and disputes over drugs.

"Government has reluctantly taken this step because of the increasing incidence of criminal and immigration offences being committed by some Jamaican nationals who come to Bermuda as visitors," said Mr. Lister yesterday.

"We've a real concern with ingestion. They come as mules with drugs inside the person, and that will significantly reduce.

"It is clearly in everyone's best interest to eliminate the criminal elements before they get to Bermuda."

He said the "vast majority" of people bringing drugs to Bermuda were from Jamaica.

Mr. Lister said Government was sensitive to accusations the visa rule would be seen as discriminatory, but action had to be taken to stop the importation of drugs.

"We are extremely sensitive to that (accusation of discrimination) and would be concerned about any reaction of that sort.

"We wanted to look at it closely, long and hard, we considered it at length, but at the end of the day we had to come to grips with the issue of crime, of violence, and of drugs.

"A visa regime for Jamaica is not only the best hope of solving the current problems by a particular segment of the Jamaican travelling public, but, as it so does, it will enhance the reputation of the law-abiding Jamaican community in Bermuda.

"I have discussed the matter with the Honorary Jamaican Consul in Bermuda and with representatives of the both the Jamaican Association and the West Indian Association of Bermuda. All the stakeholders understand the need to take this step and support Government in its efforts."

Jamaica will join a list of 56 other countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Libya and Cuba, where travel visas will be required.

Mr. Lister said the number of Jamaicans coming to Bermuda as visitors was normally no more than 1,000 each year.

He said the announcement had nothing to do with an identical move announced last week in Britain in response to rising gun and drug crime linked to Jamaicans.

Jamaican Honorary Winston Laylor, who was at the press conference with Mr. Lister, said: "It is regrettable that this decision has been made, however, the Jamaican Honorary Consul recognises that Bermuda has the right to do what it thinks best to protect its borders and national interests.

"The Honorary Consul also recognises the fact that a visa requirement will mean additional cost and inconvenience to bona fide Jamaican visitors to Bermuda, but in the same vein, that this will help alleviate a problem that may have caused the imposition of a visa regime."

Mr. Laylor said there was a "difference of opinion" about whether Jamaicans were responsible for a lot of the drug problems in Bermuda and were linked to other crime.

"I am cognisant that in Bermuda's prisons there are numbers of other nationalities incarcerated for drugs issues and it worries me that Jamaicans are being singled out, but I understand the position of the Bermuda Government," he said.

When asked if he thought the Jamaican government would retaliate, he said he hoped there would be no "undue damage" caused - noting the Bermuda Regiment uses the Caribbean island for training.

Ralston Wright, the president of the Jamaican Association, said the announcement would create "a degree of concern to the Jamaican community, but I do hope understanding will prevail.

"I hope, as the Minister has promised, that law-abiding Jamaicans coming here can be somewhat sure that 90 percent or more who apply may get a chance to visit Bermuda. I'm not too sure about that but hope there is a degree of flexibility.

"We will continue to express concerns and be there to look out for the interests of our fellow Jamaicans and hope that when this reaches the Jamaican community, there is a degree of understanding."

Mr. Lister has been invited to address the Jamaican Association meeting on January 28.

It is normally held in the Leopards Club in Hamilton, but Mr. Wright said they may need a bigger venue as he hoped "my fellow Jamaicans in the community will come out to express their concerns".

Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin denounced the move as "discriminatory" and said Mr. Lister needed to explain why he wanted the Island to join Caricom, but treat Jamaicans differently.

"If the Minister is admitting he has no other method to control visitors to Bermuda, he needs to admit failure, and the restrictions should not apply only to Jamaicans," she said.

"Decent Jamaicans as a people must not be made to feel like second-class citizens."

But the NLP's vice-chairman Graeme Outerbridge said: "The pattern of problems caused by some Jamaican visitors who have continually broken the Bermuda immigration laws and been involved in illegal work and other criminal activity should convince the Bermuda government to require visas for Jamaican visitors.

"Many Jamaicans are good people, but the level of violent crimes and social problems in their country are forcing some Jamaicans into criminal choices just to escape desperate problems and social conditions."