What matters?
The Government of Bermuda experienced a cyber incident (hacked) on Wednesday 20 September 2023 which disabled service. You and your business matters to us and we, like you, must navigate through this uncertainty. These notes will make the situation clearer for you. We have also provided the link to an Immigration update providing contact information for urgent enquiries.
Want to query the status of your work permit application?
- You will be unable to contact immigration as neither phones nor emails are currently operational. Sending emails now may result in the email bouncing back as undeliverable.
- You will be unable to follow up in-person as you will be advised that they do not have access to their computers where application status and decisions are captured.
- If your application was approved and the work permit document was generated (printed) BEFORE the shutdown, it will be signed and issued. A representative will call you (from an unidentified number) to collect your work permit when ready. Unfortunately, you may not be aware that your application is in this category.
- If you were contacted to provide additional information for your application and that information was delivered to Immigration BEFORE the shutdown, this may not guarantee that it reached the file in time to be processed and permit generated. We recommend addressing the envelope to the attention of the person requesting the additional information…in fact, copying out the email request and attaching it to the additional information would be advisable.
- If your application was submitted AFTER the shutdown, it will be batched in date order of all work submitted for the day and processed in the order received. Please make certain that your applications are submitted complete to avoid additional delays once the systems are up and running.
- Be reminded that all complete applications and additional information must be delivered to the Immigration drop box.
What does this mean to your business?
For work permit applications now over the 10 working days (short term and periodic applications) and over 20 working days (standard applications) the following guidance applies:
- If point #3 above applies, you will receive a call.
- If point #4 above applies, the application will remain “in progress” unless immigration is able to establish an alternate process.
Work permit applications not yet submitted to Immigration?
Both the Department of Workforce Development and the Job Board have been impacted.
What does no access to the Job Board mean to your business?
This means that advertisements currently posted on the job board are not being promoted to attract potential candidates and you will therefore not be able to complete your application process until Immigration publishes next-steps procedures.
We suspect (not fact) that once operational, we may be required to:
- run the Job Board advertisement for the balance period that was lost as of Wednesday; or
- re-start/re-run the Job Board advertisement from day one.
Following are our suggestions if your advertising situation meets these criteria.
If post advertised and the run deadline was dated 19 September (before the 20 Sept incident as the Job Board close off is midnight of the deadline date):
- It’s business as usual; complete your application and deliver to Immigration drop box in the usual manner.
- Your application will be batched in date order that the application was received; processing time date subject to Immigration coming online.
If advertised in the RG and the Job Board deadline dated 20 September or after:
- Record and interview all responses to the RG advertisement.
- Organize your paperwork.
- Wait for guidance from the Bermuda Government.
If not yet advertised:
- Advertise in the RG in the usual manner.
- Prepare your JB advertisement in preparation for JB coming online and post in accordance with instructions from Workforce Development.
Does your post or advertisement qualify for a waiver or extension:
Do not advertise but provide justification in writing; include waiver or extension fees then submit application in usual manner.
No, this is NOT an ideal situation for you, or for Bermuda right now…but we can help you to work through it.
Be respectful. Be patient. We are all in this together!
Executemps Ltd. is an immigration consultancy and administrative and temporary service company. We are the only like company in Bermuda that is managed and owned by a former Immigration Corporate Manager.
In addition to offering work permit processing and consultancy services, we broker services between employers and executive secretarial and administrative support staff on a temporary, or temporary to permanent basis.
Interested employers are invited to register as a Member to discover all of our offerings and to hear about new and upcoming services. Register today: https://www.executempsltdbda.com/client-information-form/
Bermuda Government Update: https://www.gov.bm/articles/update-services-department-immigration
All inquiries related to the Department of Immigration can be made to:
Dr. Danette Ming, Chief Immigration Officer, at 704-1444
Ms. Marita Grimes, Assistant Chief Immigration Officer, at 705-1393