Immigration offices to open on Saturdays for Christmas Rush

Immigration offices will open on Saturdays in the run-up to Christmas in a bid to ensure major travel changes for US-bound Bermudians go smoothly.
New US passport regulations – drawn up in the wake of the 9/11 terror strikes – swing into operation from January 8 next year.
Bermuda citizens have previously enjoyed the rare privilege of being able to enter the US without a passport.
But this security overhaul means Bermudian travellers will soon have to present one if they want to enter America.
To benefit from the visa waiver allowed under US law for Bermudians, passports should have a stamp stating the holder is either a registered Bermudian, possesses Bermudian status or is deemed to posses Bermudian status.
Craig Tyrrell, of the Department of Immigration, said opening hours at the Government Administration Building would be extended to deal with a possible influx of travellers who needed travel documents stamping.
Staff will be on hand to help during normal weekday business hours. And there will be Saturday opening between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. from this Saturday (NOV 25) to December 16, and also on Saturday January 6, 2007, to deal only with confirmation of Bermudian status and stamping of valid passports. No other business will be conducted, officials warned.
Mr. Tyrrell said: "We want to assure Bermudians that the Department will ensure that any Bermudians who may be travelling over the coming months are in compliance with the new regulations."
A press conference was held yesterday to clarify what documentation Bermudian travellers needed to get into America under the shake-up.
US Consul officials stressed proof of Bermudian status was required by jet-setters wanting to enter the US without a visa. For this officials said passports would have to meet the following criteria from January 8:
* The cover should say British Passport and Government of Bermuda
* The data page should list the bearers' nationality as either 'British Dependent Territories Citizen' or 'British Overseas Territories Citizen'
* The passport should have a stamp – usually found on the observations page – stating the relevant information.
Explaining what people should do without such stamps in their passports, Mr. Tyrrell said any Bermudian whose name appears on the Bermudian Status Register only had to bring their passports to the Department of Immigration to get their document stamped. That register is available in all post offices, at the Department, or by calling 297-7952 or 297-7941.
Mr. Tyrrell urged people not to panic if they thought they should be on the list but were not on it.
"There are a number of Bermudians, many of whom are children, who do not appear on the register," he told reporters.
"There is a general misconception that persons are automatically added to the register when they are born. There are many children born every year to non-Bermudian parents who are not eligible to be registered as Bermudian."
Residents wanting to be added to the register must prove they were born to a Bermudian. That evidence includes completion of sections one and six of the Bermuda status application form and a birth certificate, showing the name of a parent who appears on the register.
Anyone with further queries about adding their name to the register should contact the Department, Mr. Tyrrell added.
Mr. Tyrrell said he did not know how many people might need passports stamping, because the process was never mandatory. Some residents will have asked for them to be stamped, while others did not.
He also said he did not know how incomplete the register might be. It is based on a late 80s voting register, and has been updated when people ask to appear on it.
No new staff would be brought in to deal with the weekend work, he stated.
The US Consul said a stamp on a foreign passport regarding Bermudian status was not enough to enjoy visa-free travel status.
And they stressed that being a British citizen was not the same as being a Bermudian citizen.
"British citizens are not entitled to the visa exemption that applies to Bermudians, unless they provide proof that they also hold Bermudian status."
Stephen Greenburg, port director for US Customs in Bermuda, said the passport changes come as a result of new anti-terror laws in the States aiming to crackdown on the use of fraud travel documents.
He said that a recent informal survey at Bermuda Airport showed that nearly all Bermudian and US travellers carried passports when they travelled.
The Consul has already said that all travellers flying from Bermuda to the US - US citizens, Bermudians, Canadians and others - must present a passport from January 8.
Bermudians and others who did not previously require US visas, for example Canadians and UK citizens, will not be required to get visas.
And British citizens travelling on British passports will not require a visa for most short trips – but must have a machine-readable passport.
Anyone in doubt as to whether a visa is required, should consult the US Consul website.
Travellers who need visas, and wish to apply at the US Consulate in Hamilton, have to complete an application on-line.

Courtesy of the Royal Gazette - reporter Dan Jones