Far from protecting Bahamian jobs and providing training opportunities for Bahamians, one Grand Bahama business is charging that recent changes in the Department of Immigration’s policies are in fact putting Bahamian jobs at risk.
Representatives of Underwater Explorers Society Ltd. (Unexso) have accused the Department of Immigration of abuse and mistreatment, claiming that recent changes in immigration policies have crippled the companyﾒs operations and brought it to its knees.
Immigration Minister Shane Gibson is on vacation, and not due back in the country for a week, but officials at the Department denied any knowledge of the matter.
Unexso, a 40-year-old Grand Bahama business owned by Ali Bscher, a permanent resident of The Bahamas, owns and operates Freeportﾒs Dolphin Experience.
The company said that if pending work permits for foreigners to work at Dolphin Experience are not granted, “a staff reduction of as many as 10 Bahamian employees will also have to occur due to cancelled programmes and lost revenues.”
“We cannot expect investors to stay in business in the Bahamas under these circumstances,” Unexsoﾒs lawyer, Fred Smith said in a press release.
“They will leave. Freeport will be the worse. Bahamian jobs will be lost. Opportunities for Bahamians to learn will disappear. There will be less entertainment for tourists. Unexso will simply go elsewhere in the Caribbean. Why do we make it so difficult for business in The Bahamas, and in particular Freeport?”
He claimed, “Unexso is one of many businesses in Freeport being abused and mistreated by the immigration department in an economy which is already severely depressed.”
In his press statement, Mr. Smith disclosed the supposed refusal of the Immigration department to approve work permits for two marine mammal trainers.
“We were told less than a year ago by the immigration department that they understood the need for non-Bahamians in these two positions in order to do business, so these denials come as a complete shock,” he said.
He added that no Bahamian had applied for these two posts.
“Without them, we would have to go through the lengthy, and expensive, process of recruiting two other marine mammal trainers from overseas,” Mr. Smith said.
The department also appears to have denied a permit for a scuba diving instructor/boat captain. Mr. Smith and Unexso Manager Steven Riely said the young lady has multiple certifications and qualifications that no Bahamian possesses ﾖ she is multilingual, certified by no less than four dive instruction bodies in dive instruction, as well as cave diving, Nitrox and shark feeding instruction.
Should the company not get a permit for the lady in question to continue working, Mr. Riely said a number of programmes at Dolphin Experience and Unexso will have to be scrapped.
“Without these programmes, we will also reduce the need for several Bahamian positions ﾖ boat captains, deck hands and underwater photographers directly, as well as sales, reservations, front desk and even retail and food and beverage revenues will be reduced, causing more lay-offs,” Mr. Riely said.
He said guests who want to take advantage of the scuppered programmes would simply pick another dive destination.
Mr. Smith added that the company has a problem with what he called “the appalling delay to get an answer to pending applications.”
“In a recent case, it was almost two months to get the approval. The letter was dated three weeks before it was signed and delivered to Unexso,” he said.
Mr. Riely suggested that persons qualified for the positions in question would not wait for months.
“In the past year,” he said, “there were two specific candidates that were lost to other opportunities due to these delays. In Nassau, two marine mammal trainers were applied for and approved in less than two weeks.”
By: Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal
