(Screenshot: LABOUR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM)

Work-permit processing has finally gone online after years of false starts, and the government announced last week that the new digital system must be used for all renewals from the beginning of November.

Though employers were warned that no physical renewal applications will be accepted after Oct. 31, government did not say if the same rule applies for new permits.

In the meantime, all employers have been asked to register for the new Labour Management System by the Oct. 31 cut-off date after a roll-out of the initiative over recent months.

To that end, they must attend one of the weekly two-and-a-half-hour training sessions organised by the Ministry of Financial Services, Labour and Trade.

The new deadline comes after Deputy Premier Lorna Smith — who is also the minister of financial services, labour and trade — said in June that the online system would be fully operational in the summer despite initial “teething issues.”

Ms. Smith had said previously that she wanted the new system to turn around work permit renewals in two weeks and issue new ones within four weeks.

Efforts to get more information from Ms. Smith and other government officials were not successful as of press time yesterday afternoon. Previous attempts to bring the work-permit system fully online have failed despite more than 15 years of promises from successive governments.

The most recent effort collapsed in February 2022, barely six months after it went live. It was launched in July 2021 but stopped taking renewals that December and was abandoned completely about two months later.

Since that failure, businesses have repeatedly complained about extensive delays in processing permits.

Some have also called for the territory to follow the example of fellow overseas territories like the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, where new work permits are processed prior to workers’ arrival