A petition in support of the Bermuda Government’s Pathways to Status plan had gathered almost 2,900 signatures by late yesterday — and its creator said she was “not afraid” to keep campaigning to get the legislation passed.

Jen Harvey told The Royal Gazette she was happy to be a voice for those who were scared to publicly support the proposed immigration reforms, which would allow those resident in Bermuda for 15 years to apply for permanent residency and permanent residents who have been here for 20 years to apply for Bermudian status.

“I’m not afraid,” said the 29-year-old Bermudian. “It’s the right thing to do for this community. I know lots of people who are in situations where they have lived here for a long time and I feel sorry for them. This is the way I felt I could assist them in having their voice heard. I know a lot of people are afraid to speak out. I actually have had some people private message me to tell me ‘keep on going, you are doing great, let our voices be heard’. That just makes me feel much stronger.”

Ms Harvey said she set up the group We Support Pathways to Status in Bermuda in mid-February, soon after the Government announced its plan for reform and after seeing the protests taking place against the changes.

“The reason I started it was because of all the chaos that’s happening right now,” she said. “There is just so much misinformation out there. I just got to a point where I thought we as Bermudians need to be informed about all the good things that can happen.”

She said the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Act 2016, which was tabled in the House of Assembly on Monday and will soon be debated by MPs, would not directly affect her but she knew people whose lives it would impact.

“I have a few friends that would be affected, their children. I have neighbours. I do know some people that would be affected and I don’t think it’s fair for people to be here for such a long time [and not be given residency rights].

“They have been here for about 20 years and some longer. They have their children here. It’s just not right. This is all that they know and they are embedded in our culture. They go fly kites on Good Friday.

“It’s not [for] new people coming to the island. [It is for people who have] contributed to our economy. I think it’s very beneficial and it’s the right thing to do for those people.”

Ms Harvey said critics of the bill had failed to articulate an alternative. “As a Bermudian, I want to know what they plan to do. With government, I know exactly what they are planning to do because I have the Bill that came out. I sat down and read it.”

Her group has several members, she said, adding that she did not have permission to identify anyone else and was happy to be official spokeswoman.

The petition in support of Pathways was launched on the website change.org on March 4 and had 2,872 supporters by 5pm yesterday.

A petition on change.org against the Pathways plan, launched by the Immigration Reform Action Group last week, had gathered 1,208 supporters by 5pm yesterday.

The group’s spokesman LaVerne Furbert issued a statement yesterday expressing “extreme disappointment” at government MPs for voting down a motion in Parliament on Monday to create a joint select committee on immigration reform.

Shadow home affairs minister Walter Roban said last night that a comprehensive review of immigration policy would “address the issue of Bermuda status grants – how they are to be granted going forward and what criteria needs to be met, and what number of PRCs should be issued on an annual basis”.

He added: “We will create a policy of equal political status for individuals in a family, rather than the current circumstance where one sibling could hold Bermuda status and the other have no rights at all to permanent residence.”