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A substantial number of immigrant Haitian workers live in the worst condition in Nassau and other shantytowns in Bahamas with limited sewage, without a safe water supply or electricity and any other basic human amenities albeit they found it's a better place than their home country. Most of them work in service sectors. An unofficial estimate suggests that, they consist 10 to 25% of the country's population-- the largest and most visible ethnic minority. But, the majority of them are illegal immigrants. Haitians have been migrating since the 1960s, but the numbers increased considerably in the late 1980s and 1990s. The government of the Bahamas is going to implement a new policy on immigration from November 1, 2014 that says the government will no longer accept any application of work visas from illegal immigrant. Persons without legal status will not be permitted to work in the country anymore and those intending to do so will be will be arrested, charged and deported. Only children of legal immigrants may have access to school and right to work and live. Foreigners living in the Bahamas must have a valid passport of own home country. Bertin Louis. A U.S professor of anthropology considers this new rule creating the fears of persecution and repatriation without any opportunity to claim asylum is "clearly xenophobic".

Read more about haitian population, Immigration, Bahamas, Immigration

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