McLean calls for end to status grants
East End MLA Arden McLean
(CNS): The member for East End has called on government to end Caymanian status grants for foreigners living and working here with the exception of spouses and those entitled to status due to their heritage. During his contribution to the budget debate Monday, Arden McLean said too many people had already been given Caymanian status and declared, “We have enough now.” The independent MLA said the country needed to develop a new system to give non-Caymanians security of tenure but status must be reserved for those with family connections.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, where he drew clear support from the opposition benches, McLean said he also wanted his people to hear what he was saying.
“There must no longer be Caymanians status issued except by marriage and by descent,” he added. “We need to stop it.”
McLean said that every time Caymanian status is issued to someone they “want to take something” from the local people.
He criticised the PPM government over changes to the immigration legislation that removed the seven-year rollover term and introduced a new points system for permanent residency, which was supposed to make it more difficult for applicants to make the grade.
Despite objecting to the principle of granting of permanent residency, McLean pointed to the failure of that system as not one PR application has been made since the new regime was introduced. Far from making him happy, however, he claimed the failure of the system had made things worse for local people, though he did not detail why he believed that.
“Every time we touch our immigration law, our people suffer more,” he said, repeating that enough status grants had already been given away but maintaining that people who came here in the future would understand.
McLean said he welcomed the premier’s revelation in his budget address that local attorney David Ritch, who has been reviewing the situation, had finished his report and government would be revealing that report soon and acting on the issues in the coming year. He said Ritch was the best person to deal with the problems.
The immigration law was amended to remove the seven-year rollover and change the PR system so everyone could apply qualifying would be more difficult. However, a number of legal difficulties have arisen regarding the point system.
Well over 600 applications made by work permit holders are waiting to be considered but no PR grants have been made since the end of 2013. There are now concerns that government will, in the not too distant future, be forced to automatically grant residency rights under the Bill of Rights because of the time applicants have waited and continued to work and reside here.
See McLean’s presentation on CIGTV below starting at 1:25.
I’m disgusted reading all the negative comments on here. Do you Caymansjans even like visitors to your island. I’ve been an avid visitor for Over 20 years. I’ve dive your waters over 1000 times, I bring my family of 5 to your island twice a year for 6 weeks total. I’ve overly taught my daughters to show respect as a visitor, just as they would in school or church, and to say thank you and please. I’ve never burdened your economy and Lord knows I’ve only helped it. But if you read into some of the comments posted under this thread, you have to wonder, do you even like a family like mine coming to your island? Would you rather I plan my trips and send my money to Cuba once that opens up. That country is going to put all of you Caribe islands into a serious pinch…it’s going to be very cheap! While all of you argue over what’s rightfully yours, who can stay who can go, your tourist economy goes down the toilet. Guests such as us will be waving goodbye as our destination for the future floats to another island. If the thousands of people arriving on your island daily only knew how you all actually felt, they’d see right through your Cayman kindness B****S**T
When I first came to your island the crime rate was 0, murders were unthinkable, robberies no way, but look at you now. You’re more worried about who stays and who goes, status, all this crap…while your children are learning nothing other than to be a thug on your tiny, overpopulated island.
Best of luck to you Caymanians. I have a better lesson to teach my girls.
Ummm, try again please.
This has got to be the most pathetic attempt of a fake post by a feigned perspective I have ever witnessed.
There are so many obvious holes and giveaways it is not worth the time and effort to highlight individually.
Moving swiftly along…
🙂
I’m the poster. Please, Mr or Mrs inspector of true comments, enlighten me and the entire crowd on the holes I have in venting my frustration….or are you referring to your own holes in the sand where so many of you locals choose to stick your head instead of looking in the mirror.
It’s quite obvious that ignorance and arrogance are bliss on your tiny, overpopulated island. And the fact you respond to my feelings by writing what you did (whether you approve of my thoughts or not) solidifies what so many “non-natives” here are saying when they share their opinion and concerns for the island and its people THEY HAVE CARED SO MUCH ABOUT.
I will kindly not return to your island, if that so pleases you, and I’ll pledge the same for my family as they too grow and vacation on their own. By all means, push us all off your island, those visiting and those residing, and I’ll guess you’ll get what you want – Go back to carrying torches through the night and keeping kerosene lanterns lit…you’re going to need the extra light so you can read the time on your Rolex watches.
Here you go, fresh of the press today, BREAKING NEWS:
http://cubajournal.co/breaking-us-approves-commercial-flight-service-to-cuba/?utm_source=Caribbean+Journal&utm_campaign=1b5fed2116-Caribbean+Journal&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ea4e1e4090-1b5fed2116-188742717
The crime rate was 0 because frankly, we had not imported many of the problems we have now, 20 years ago.
Here, here, let’s give Status only to hootchie mamas, but not to anyone who actually benefits this rock. If you are willing to bonk a fugly politician, Bracker, Bayer, or Mr. Kirky you and your kin should get Status (and a free penicillin shot) .
This is all code in Arden’s world for “no more WHITE (i.e. British/US/Canadian/South African/Australian) expats to get status”. In Arden’s world it is WHITE lawyers, bankers and accountants who are the enemy. He can’t come right out and say it, of course, but that is what goes on in Arden’s world.
Oh, my goodness, clearly you do not know the man. Nothing could be further from the truth. (Whatever you are on, desist, as it is doing you no good. No good at all.)
Right. All your problems are imported. Caymanians are all saints. There was no crime before the “imports”.
Whatever.
And helicopter pilots, no status grants must be issued to helicopter pilots.
Our overpopulation and incomparable rates of immigration over the last 30 years have manifested into an undeniable threat to our national security.
We are tiny and cannot accommodate every 3rd, 2nd, and “1st world” Caymanian-wannabe out there – sorry people.
However, judging by the daily disparaging remarks against Cayman and Caymanians on this very website one would expect Arden’s proposal to be welcomed or even ignored by the masses on here.
Looks like some folks are well and truly full of it.
– Whodatis
If you don’t want people to call Cayman their home then don’t ask them to give years of their labour into the Cayman economy. If you think Cayman can’t handle any more “Caymanians” then fair enough! But don’t be taking peoples labour and not be willing to give them security to a home, grow the economy with the people that are already here already.
My friend, we have no issue with those that have sincere intentions to integrate and “grow together” with the local community. In fact, yours truly wouldn’t even be alive without such a reality.
However, not only are we appearing to attract the most prejudiced and asshole-ish of immigrants (yes, immigrants), but we are clearly filled to the brim and bursting at the seams.
Lastly, do me a favour and try your rhetoric in ANY GIVEN WESTERN COUNTRY right now!
They will run you out of town and their recent democratic leanings provide all the evidence required (don’t let me give examples now). Furthermore, many of those countries are erecting hurdles and objections to ACTUAL NATIONALS that were born and raised in the respective countries but happen to be of a different skin colour or background.
Do yourself a favour buddy. Walk away from this one. It is a losing battle.
– Who
P.S. Each person that “gave their labour” was financially rewarded – many quite handsomely. Furthermore, every expat / immigrant in a foreign country knows the deal of the situation. (Problem is some people consider themselves above certain categorisations – yet don’t give a second thought about the rights of the “immigrants” in their home country.
Foh dude.
Como se dice buscador de oro, Arden?
I think it is only fair that all persons should have to qualify for Caymanian status. Caymanian and expats alike. Caymanians are a bigger problem to the health of the Cayman islands then expats are. I also think that all persons should take these words as one mans opinion and nothing else. Just like Mr. McLeans.
This is great one for the gene pool, especially if you are passionate about playing the banjo.
He needs to get a baseball cap with “Make East End great again” written on it.
have you lost your mind man…..so we just all marry each other and have incest?
given the performance of the “caymanian” population to date we should be desperate for a wider gene pool…..
go back to the cave you live in you ignorant man
I think you should read the article
Again, Mr. McLean said status grants to people by marriage and caymanian descent only. Daauuh. Not to individuals that just come on here a few months, stay with their own nationalities, and apply. Cayman is sold out by our own higher ups.
With Immigration and Gov’t’s focus on work permit revenues it doesn’t really matter….you want job security…get on a >$10k work permit!
You mean security of residency
Words of wisdom from the East! Thank you Mr. McLean. Enough is enough.
It will be interesting to see what decision CIG & Immigration decide on for the PR applicants , at Mr. Ritches review. Alden wont want to mirror McKeeva’s grants of status in 2003 by doing a ‘Mass Grant’ of all the 600 odd applicants. But the word on the street is that this may be already on the table. So another possibility is a weeding out process of those that are marginal , with respect to the application process and meeting of minimal requirements , thereby trimming the numbers for the grants. Whatever the decision, one would assume that all of the PR applicants have applied due to the years spent in Cayman and wishing to both have a permanent home, integration into society & culture, with security of tenure AND being able to later apply for status. Many will also apply for B.O.T.C status, which in conjunction with being granted P.R. will make for some interesting debate , should Ardon get his wishes and shelve status grants for many such applicants. Many of the PR applicants also have multiple children , which given all the above would be then able to apply for Cayman status on reaching adult age.
There are now many more than 600 applicants and once you add children and spouses the persons being kept waiting likely approximate 2000. Most are going to get PR in part because the system has so many inherent problems.
People give him a break- he’s a politician, election time soon come. It’s very important ( and very easy ) for local politicians to blame all the country’s woes on the ex-pats. Praising x-pats will not earn you votes – it’s as simple as that – Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians (and cartoonists) seriously and the politicians as a joke.”
Long gone are the days of posting 12 aspiring Caymanian application head shots on the back page of the Compass. If over 10,000 of the 18,000 registered voters are new registrants since 2000, and bulk of those are derived from “ex-pat” emancipations, and younger Caymanians, then our mud-slinging MLAs are not appealing to the modern mindset of the bulk of voters in 2016. We all love Cayman, but these ranting dinosaurs are totally out of touch with today’s electorate and are actually committing political suicide. They should be very careful about blanket generalizations and “expat” bashing – since that is a big component of the political fabric today. Myself and many many others would spoil our ballots before voting for any of these yesteryear-pining jerks.
A true statesman unites people, second hand car salesmen tell you anything they can to get a sale. It’s unfortunate that those people who haven’t been through an election will take some of this mud slinging personally, please don’t, and those slapping his back, please don’t.
Vote for Isaac Rankine in East End!!!! A fresh change from the windward
We want change in East End and I cant wait until May 2017. We are tired of the same old foolishness. We need people who will be willing to work with other members of the house for the betterment/advancement of our district. We need people who won’t pass us on the road and turn their head and pretend they have not seen us.
Who?
You must be kidding. Who Isaac going represent besides himself? Better he throw his support behind Arden before we end up with a Delmira or Johnny! Thats the bigger mess!
Well I do believe that he can do better that the representation we are getting for last 8 years…
Arden is right. These people, such as my receptionist British neighbour, are permanently jobs that should be held by Caymanians, and you can’t do a thing about it.
Yes you can. You can complain to Immigration when their WP comes up for renewal. There is a process – follow it, rather than just bitching about it or assuming that the result is a foregone conclusion.
The process does not work. It is poisoned by nepotism and ineptitude.
Strange isn’t it that you as a Caymanian hold a British Passport and have the right to enter our country, get a job and apply, (without any objection from the British people) to guaranteed citizenship after five years of full time employment and contribution as a member of our society.
However, we are ‘foreigners’ with no rights, in fact we have to watch our backs in case back stabbing, two faced neighbours try to have us thrown out of our jobs, our homes and an island for which we contribute in taxation both here and in the UK.
At the same time these green eyed neighbours spew their vile casual bigotry and racism, fail to educate themselves and their children, rant about their hypocritical religious beliefs and we sit back and accept that this is how it’s done in Cayman.
This island is one of the few places that really can claim to have racial harmony, with mixed relationships and a vibrant social scene encompassing many different races, cultures, religions and nationalities.
The only fly in the ointment, the Caymanians who hate anyone outside of their stereotype of what constitutes a ‘Caymanian’.
You must be so proud to be the guardians of such backwards thinking and behaviour.
Well said…straight on target.
Thank you
You have some nerve saying that hogwash coming from the UK. You damn well know where you came from is a thousand times worse….
Do we have backwards people and thinking here; damn right we do and some of us hate that fact but we are not all alike!
Do you have that in the UK, where you come from? damn straight you do and worse than here!
I find all the politicians to be greedy little liars; there, I said it about my own. What do you have to say about your own from England?
Lastly, please enlighten me as to where in the entire world you can find “racial harmony” today?
In the UK the white people hate each other and are divided by class….the Europeans are the same way…..remember you don’t have to accept anything about Cayman; Owen Roberts is right there and BA flys twice a week to London Heathrow. Do enjoy a nice glass of bubbly on your way back, cheers!
How is your relationship with this neighbour? Just curious.
Read your history. Please do not forget that Cayman was once a parish of Jamaica. Anyway, is not every Bat and Butterfly that lands here should get Status. Also, is not every rapist and gangster that marry a Caymanian should even be allowed to have a Honeymoon night here and then graduate to Cayman Status.
Cayman was never part of Jamaica. It was (and is) part of the British West Indies administered (then) by the British from Jamaica. That is a big difference.
It was a protectorate of Jamaica and would have remained with Jamaica if Cayman had not voted for partition and remain a British territory.
Your point isn’t valid as Jamaica was entirely responsible for Cayman on behalf of the British.
8/6 2:42, Listen to yourself, Cayman voted for partition and remain a British territory. do that sound like we were a parish of Jamaica. Our Passports have always identified as, British Passport. Cayman Islands. What did they protect us with and from, when we exported goods to Jamaica, most of the time we did not even get our full Numeration for the goods, or they got lost. 8/6, 2:58pm, no one hates anyone. are you from where you came here from, or from where your ancestors came from 400 years ago? Jamaica could have been the transshipment hub for the Caribbean, care to tell us why it never came about.
Jamaica wasn’t a sovereign country!
and when Jamaica got their independence cayman decided to stay with the UK. We did have the option to seperate but did not and for good reason.
Sick of hearing about Cayman was a part of Jamaica. Cayman got away from that country for a reason. Why do you keep going back? You want to be part of Jamaica that bad, then go to Jamaica. This is Cayman.
As Jamaica was your protector in the Caribbean prior to partition in 1963, it is fair to assume that any ‘Caymanian’ of Afro-Caribbean heritage who actually can trace their lineage prior to 63, is almost certainly of Jamaican or even Cuban heritage.
So why do you hate your own kith and kin so much?
Add into the mix the huge immigration influx after 63 from other countries in the Caribbean, the US, Canada, UK and almost every Central and South American country on the continent, and your gene pool is one long line of immigration and integration.
So tell me, exactly what constitutes a ‘Caymanian’, as the word itself is descriptive of someone who comes from the Cayman Islands, it isn’t a nationality, race, colour or religion
Again, why do you hate your own kith and kin so much and try to deny your mixed immigrant heritage?
If Caymanians trace their roots to Jamaica they will see connections to African slaves, Europeans including Spanish, Portuguese, British and Irish, so we don’t owe anymore to African Jamaicans than we owe to the white people who came from Jamaica.
So what do you think constitutes a Jamaican before 1959?
Did you read Founded upon the Seas to understand the connection between Ja & CI? there was a “NOMINAL DEPENDENCY’ but Jamaicans black & white have messed up their beautiful island and found that Caymanians are too scared to defend the British when necessary so the Jamaicans are messing up history to seek their own elevated position on entitlement
why does jamaica have such a high murder rate and high level of corruption?
why do jamaicans hate their own and now want to make Caymanians follow their path?
you are wrong… it isn’t half the MLAs who don’t know eaht they are talking about… it is much more than that!!!
Or, in the words of the good “Dr” Frank, “White man go home”.
8:22 pm — your own racial attitude is showing — I read nothing racial in the report above of Mr. McLean’s speech.
Where is dr. Frank these days?
He was in the Court list the other day – defending an action against him by one of the banks, I believe.
Ah thanks. Should have started my search there.
Campaigning hard in Central GT.
The lack of processing of PR applications is ridiculous. How can govt charge for a service that they, by their own admission, never intend to provide?
PR is being denied to those we want to live here. Multi millionaires have bought properties to qualify and can’t get residency despite meeting all criteria.
They will simply sell and move on leaving the dregs of the region to overrun the Island.
Good for Mac, bad for Cayman.
The question is, why would you even
want to live here. Look what you will be calling your country. It’s a big and very beautiful world out here with waaay more to offer. Time to leave these people and their island alone.
Agreed. 3 or 4 years here is more than enough. “Paradise” this ain’t. Unbelievably boring is more like it.
ROFLMAO…..Human Rights violations…..much? Sit down, Arden, you’re going to hurt yourself. SMH
Calling all British nationals.
Let’s get blogging and encourage all those with the name Walter (Watler), Borden (Bodden), Kirkconnell, Scott, Eubanks (Ebanks) and any other ‘Caymanian’ native name to apply for ‘descendants status’. Then go through the Jamaican name tally and find those who came here as slaves between 1700 and 1815, and encourage them to seek the same.
I think it fair to say that these British names are OUR birthright in the UK and have been systematically hijacked by successive waves of immigration over the past 200 years, and certainly over the past 50.
Then, we should inform our fellow citizens of this shameful islands anti gay, anti British, anti UN stance.
6:34 f…k off…people like you dont have the sense to realize this little island can’t accommodate the Globe, or made you do and out to destroy it with over population.
4:32. You idiot, no one is saying that you need to be over populated, the point is that you need to be populated I the first place to cover the services and industry that you already have.
Caymanians are not numerous enough to cover everything they want, it’s very simple, even for you to work out.
If you seriously believe that you can run an economy that will support the standard of living you have now, then please try. Withdraw all work permits and start again, I dare you.
But no, you like your flash cars, your Rolexs, your boats and your booze, you will never give that up because you know that the only people who can maintain that level of income and comfort for you, are us, the hated expats.
So you f..k off you hypocritical, money grabbing ingrate. Just remember next time you open your over sized ego that it is us who ensure that this isn’t Jamaica.
Well said! All the locals seem to moan about these days are expats and the UK. If you don’t like it, then kick us out, and go independent!
Then you can start moaning about having no money, no economy, and no tourists after crime goes through the roof…..
I don’t think you will have to worry. Once people find out that the latest pension law has been snuck in without any notice, you will see people leave these shores quickly. Get ready as it may be time to do stuff for yourselves.
This is a joke, right? According to this I could demand residency in the U.S. which I think I’ll do next time I go through Miami. Wish me luck!
Bloody hell, I got strip searched for delusional-inducing drugs, then packed off to a loony bin for assessment, and the following morning (handcuffed to a garbage bin in the departure lounge) got told never to grace U.S. shores again. (Thanks a lot, sportsfan, that’s the last time I follow anyone’s advice from a post on CNS!)
As a Caymanian of 8 generations of both sides I welcome and wish the British descendants in England and Scotland to seek status here, since African, Syrian, German, Chinese Jamaicans are given preferential treatment when in all fairness why shouldn’t white descendants be able to have the sense of entitlement as African, Syrian or Chinese Jamaicans??
We are STILL a BOT and many descendants in UK would probably contribute in positive ways at very least it would create balance to population now skewed to give positive discrimination to Jamaicans and or unfair discrimination to Caymanians
Kaymankindness is costing the Expat community a lot of money we should get together and take over this rock and send the natives to the BRAC that way our investment is safe and we don’t have to put up with there culture anymore
To 6.27pm It has been suggested before that Caymanians ( the natives) should be put on a reservation and is obviously something you agree with. Caymanains are aware of this and believe that it has a lot of support in the expat community,in particular the non West Indian expats. With this kind of attitude towards Caymanians we can see where the real xenophobia exists.You are a bigoted fool and should return to whatever rock you crawled from under.You are doing more harm to your own expats, (the tolerant ones) than you imagine.I think it is time for these people to publicly condemn your kind,and the quicker it happens the better for all of us.Then perhaps it wont be necessary for people like Arden to make these statements.
You make the presumption the poster is white or non West Indian because he claims to be an expat. You do know the history of the West Indies, you do know that the Europeans colonised the islands long before they brought Africans in as slaves?
Now whose being a bigoted, (and dare I say racist) fool?
Keep up that kind of closet discrimination and even the ‘tolerant’ ones will turn against you. And believe me, you have far more to lose than those who choose to be here rather than those who have no choice.
And btw, it is never necessary to make the kind of disgusting statements that your so called politicians make. They are irrelevant dinosaurs whose time is short, especially when all the former expats, (now voters) decide that these islands need a different direction.
Do we really need 18 of these idiots? I think the gov. can only handle so much stupidity for each 4 year rollover. How about just 9, or maybe 11 MLA’s. Please we can only take so much rocket science.
I can never get that wasted time back :0( I even watched his speech at 1.5 times speed and yet it was still tedious, disjointed and painful. So much blather, double negatives, mixed metaphors, so little substance. I was ‘surprised’ to hear that although inflation was down by 2.3% overall, that costs for poor people had increased because they had to shop at the same grocery store and clothing store as rich people. Does he want special shops opened where only ‘poor’ people are allowed to go to buy lower quality products?
He also mentions Mr Ritch and welcomes his report into Immigration, mentioning that he became Caymanian as a result of the countries immigration system. However if Mr Ritch had not been granted status as Mr McLean demands for the future, then he would not be here now to produce this important report, he would have been forced to leave years ago and his expertise would have been lost to the islands.
Mr. Ritch is a local Caymanian with roots going back many generations. He did not become Caymanian because of Immigration system.
Oh yes he did, as you all did originally.
Note to Arden. Mr. Ritch is the son of two born Caymanians. There is (was) no scenario under which his Caymanian “status” was ever in question.
Unless you take the view that Brackers are not Caymanian!
The man double speaketh…and he certainly knows the term”political expediency” very well.
Fine by me, never been interested anyway.
It’s about time! Now we’re talking!!!!
The perfect Cayman MLA. Do nothing, be invisible and ride the gravy train then go on a anti-expat rant just before the election to get re-elected. Rinse and repeat until you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar. Caymanian voters get what they deserve.
Yup, agree 100%. The politics in this country make me so sad. So much waste, so much wasted time, so much wasted money, and so much intolerance spouted by ignorant people.
To 5.25pm Then spout a little less or not at all please.
You are so right. We are so tired of this constant “do nothing” wind bag – Mr. Anti-Everything. Hope there is better on the horizon for us.
Actually he might be saying that this is a small island that essentially makes nothing and that thre are more people than jobs and while you are living cozy there are locals that are not doing well. So keep with your expat rant but basically what will happen is when they cut into your share of the pie then you will sing th same.
You start with a basic error, that the size of the pie is fixed and therefore any new Caymanian is taking a share of your pie. What if adding new Caymanians made the pie bigger for everyone, upgrading cars and houses adding money to the economy, starting businesses that create employment etc. You can’t grow a country, build etc if there’s no-one to sell it to. Politicians want a common enemy for the people to focus on so that they don’t turn the spotlight on the politician, if a politician says something just ask what’s in it for them before supporting it.
Adding thousands of impoverished and uneducated people with no means of supporting themselves does NOT make the pie any bigger.
From what we are seeing a lot of recent expats when they start business they bring more from overseas that what they hire.
What he’s really saying is that he thinks his constituents are xenophobic and not very clever and will vote for him if he says the moronic things they like to hear.
He actually believes that 3:59pm. What he does not realize is that “…you can fool some people sometime, but you can’t fool all the people all the time…” Better must come because for far too long we have been ignored at the benefit of his busom buddy in NS. Every day driving back to EE and having to drive through EE to get home, it depresses me to see the lack of concern for our people and the district, the very same people – us – who like fools elected him four times.
Democracy is all well and good in principle.
However, as with driving a vehicle or flying an aircraft, those who want to steer the ship of state should have to demonstrate an appropriate level of competence and understanding before they are unleashed on the public.
You mean like those in the UK and US. right?
I quite agree. Why should a person not from that place have access to all benefits, residency and standard of life without making any contribution towards it.
I presume therefore, you will hand back your UK passport to support your stance.
most Caymanians can probably get British passport by descent but you can’t claim the reverse, remember those people who came via Jamaica to settle here? Well, mainly European with African slaves or people of mixed European heritage.
Typical anti-expat rubbish….had it not been for the intellectual and working capital of foreigners these Islands would still be swatting mosquitos while turtling and making rope.
2:51 PM listen. Let’s not get caught up with this diatribe who came and did what. If you are not aware, it was Caymanians who started the process of making Cayman what it is today. Men who sailed on all types of vessels were the foundation not your so called hard working intellect. It seems to me that pe sons like yourself who haven’t contributed nothing in your own land, com here and have given yourselves too much credit for our evolution. Your contributions are acknowledged for sure, but what came first you the chicken or the egg ( oh and leave out the mosquitoes and the blue iguanas outa this) Enjoy our land especially this long week end. Selah.
Nope. It was a guy named Sonny from Texas, counting the suitcases full of cash he brought here to launder.
Actually it was the Bahamas going independent that made Cayman what it is today.
Money trusts the British, money flees third world despots.
To 7.23am Then explain why the money moved to the Cayman Is and not to the British. I guess we had something they trusted or wanted more.
Yup – no direct taxation. Not so much a case of something that Caymanians DID, more a case of what Caymanians never got around to doing.
Um, tax free in Cayman baby!
Modern Cayman is the essence of Babylon. Why should you give credit to anyone involved in the construction of an economy built on modern capitalism?
Exactly, and thanks. My wife’s family’s menfolk all went to sea. Mr.father-in-law (Mr.Dick) was taken ill at sea on his last voyage and never made it back home, leaving a wife and five children, the youngest age six. My brother-in-law went to sea at age sixteen, the same for my sister-in-law’s husband. My neighbour was still shipping out when I arrived over three decades ago. Some of these voyages meant that they were away from the loved ones for (incredibly) up to sixteen months. They sent money hope to buy provisions and take care of the day to day needs of their families, and to finance home construction. My mother-in-law talked constantly of those days, and of voyages on the Goldfield, of life in the old days.
I know this little bit of history to do with my Caymanian family could easily be repeated the length and breadth of these three Cayman Islands. These were (and are) hardy people, whose toughness and ability to endure all kinds of hardships underpin the country we have today.
Please take the time to read up on the Caymanian people’s story. A little knowledge isn’t always necessarily a dangerous thing! Thank you for reading.
Err, hello, it was the British who invented the offshore financial business model. Under advisement those Caymanians who actually were forward thinking, (as apposed to the modern Caymanian) made the facilitation of business possible. And I’d put serious money on most of those forefathers being British immigrants or descendants thereof.
I suppose technically they wouldn’t have been immigrants because this was still British territory in the British Empire, basically is was Britain.
But let’s be clear, the workers came from overseas, obviously because Cayman had a small and inexperienced population.
So you are wrong my friend, facilitating isn’t the same as the application of intellect, especially in the early 1960’s when Cayman had a total population of 10,000 and was little more than a turtle catching outpost.
And let’s not forget that your broken immigration system wasn’t even thought about in those days, certainly anyone with a British Passport, (including Jamaicans) could gain entry and settlement without the bs they go through now, as this place was still fiercely British to the core and loyal to the British crown.
Trust me, the mosquitoes put most off ever coming here prior to outside scientific intervention and skill. Citizens were still using smoke pots in those days, hardly equipped for building a world class financial centre.
How do you think you built the tourist and service sector without mass migration? How do you think your population rose without immigration, intermarriage and the integration of different nationalities?
Not with a few thousand working age Caymanians that’s for sure.
Ya fell down n hit ya head or ya bum when you were small. You criticize or you make pronouncements all of you seemingly dissatisfied fareigne s and yet you live on here you breathe our air, ya drive our roads , yes ya spend your money gained by our authorization of your employment yet you lambaste us and our ways. It’s no wonder that you are here m cause you have the best of all worlds, your country can’t facilitate you it’s too big, or it’s totally crime infested or overly populated and smog filled; and you have the heart to criticize us.
With all the woes we seem to have , in your eyes we are still a better place than many. Why don’t you try and live amicably with your hosts, sharing your thoughts on yes our failings we do have them, but do so in a dignified manner get involved or more involved in our community rather than being so bloody pedantic, and maybe just maybe you will begin to help create a better place. A place of respect one for another, a place where no matter where you come from, you can hail your brother or sister on the street as one. Stop the fighting people live as one in this Land that “He Hath Founded upon the Seas”.
2:51 what are you talking about???
“Caymanians started the process of what it is today”. Put the bottle down and step away.
Please tell me, what are these contributions that are so embedded and exist in today’s society? I’m obviously missing something here. Is it a hard work ethic and the relentless desire to better ones self? Or maybe self-integrity and a take-ownership attitude??
No, wait…that’s your elder generation which is slowly fading and losing a foothold…or already have. Bless them…
It’s great to recognize your past and the islanders who portrayed the utmost character, but I assure you, what Cayman is today had nothing to do with their sailing and intellect. That did not build what Cayman is today (and why it’s not Jamaica).
The people marrying Caymanians and getting status grants are the ones causing the most havoc on our Needs Assessment. They can’t support themselves, bring their children and marry some fool fool schmuck and bam Cayman status.
Thank you. Take away residencies and watch the already substantial fake convenience marriages and “arrangements” rocket. Recipe for disaster right there.
Look, sportsfan. you’d better not be referencing me (3.40) ’cause i sure as heck didn’t come here because i wanted to move here, i was obliged to, and I worked my blinkin’ self to the bone in a non-airconditioned classroom for 30 years, okay? You and I gonna have words if your post was in response to mine, and my wife is gonna have her share as well, understand?
There are a lot of foreigners here who couldn’t care less about obtaining Caymanian status, they just want security in tenure. They are not willing to invest and purchase an apartment or house if they are not sure if their work permit will be renewed.
They would just like to know that as long as they perform on their job, they can stay as long as their employers will have them.
A lot of them only seek Cayman status now because that is the way to secure tenure.
Most foreigners want to work here, contribute to the economy but they will retire somewhere else.
Even the Jamaican blue collar workers that a lot of people seem to think will be a burden on this society, they want to work here and make KYD dollars but they will educate their kids in Jamaica, build mansions back home and retire over there because the cost of living is lower.
I know that a lot of Caymanians believe that everybody wants to live here forever but I can tell you now there are a lot of other places that are cheaper to live than here.
And before someone tells me to leave or go home…..I am home, born ya, bred ya an hopefully will die ya! Just stating the facts.
pssst please let the politicians know that the Jamaicans and majority don’t want status to be Caymanian. Every Jamaican I know have a mortgage free house in Ja and one here through mortgage (which they can leave) or marriage and their kids are going to private school and since they all can get status too they come here for scholarships, jobs, good career then get UK passport and plan to leave or at least keep options. But our short sighted MLAs only want the votes of Jamaicans and thetydon’t care if MLAs acting like idiots bending over backwards to give them all they can while leaving native Caymanians to suffer.
So get rid of status, and make revocation easier so we can deport the criminals regardless of status by Cabinet or marriage
Okay, tell me this. If I get naturalisation and eventually status, I claim my BOTC Cayman Islands passport and become a citizen of the Cayman Islands. Then I hand back my original national passport and renounce my citizenship, exactly where are you going to deport me to?
Unfortunately for your discriminatory view of the world, you cannot render someone stateless under international law, so what are you going to do genius?
everytime i hear comments like this…it reinforces my dislike of the caymankind….
btw arden…its too late, we are alredy in control!
time for a one day strike by all expats…..maybe then arden and his ilk will realise the importance of expats to cayman…..
Here, here these morons need an illustration of the vital work that supports this place. Personally I would want to be a ‘Caymanian’ if by being so, identified me to the world as a backwards thinking, Xenophobic, gay bashing, racist whose very identity shames the flag they stand under.
Trust me, the next stop for Cayman will be the UN and the ECHR. Man that’s gonna cost you dearly.
Please do strike do we can get your jobs!!! Please, please strike.
So dumb! If a doctor strike you can get that job? If a gardener strikes will you go take that job?? Dumb on so many levels…
So sorry I helped him get elected last time Johnny would of been a better choice Shame on me For sitting in his chairs during his babble at the little store I should of been with johnnys crew across the street
not saying much. A stick would have been a better choice.
Is there an election coming?
Unfortunately we have within the ranks of our foreign workers and residents, including some foreign students, some very brash and cheeky characters, who truly don’t give a hoot about Caymanian culture and beliefs. They are very open about it! Their level of disrespect is simply staggering, and I doubt they could behave the way they do in any other country on earth. What a long-suffering people Caymanians are to put up with such damned arrogance.
I am an expat living in Cayman and I wholly concur with your sentiments as I have made the same observations myself and felt shame on each occasion. Even my parents commented on this when they were over on a 3 week trip – they couldn’t believe how disrespectful some expats can be to their Caymanian hosts. These are the exact kind of ex pats who should not be allowed to stay here – regardless of how much money they have. But that’s just it – residency in Cayman is limited to those who have money. The only way in for anyone else is marriage and I am too proud to do that just for residency, but many will gladly marry just to stay here (and not, I hasten to add, for love). McLean’s suggestion of allowing people to stay through marriage will just leave to even more people marrying for residency and not for love, which in turn will lead to more heartache in the long run, when (as is always the case) it all goes pear-shaped and the couple split.
Thanks; appreciate the kind gesture anonymous.
As you can see from the 15 “thumbs down” and 2 “trolls”, that’s at least 15-17 of the same people you are referring to saying F.U, we really don’t give a hoot about Caymanians or their heritage or culture.
At least we still have some genuine folks like you who come here with an open heart and mind and embrace the natives. 🙂
I can’t think why. If you stick around for a while you soon get the real story of a people consumed by discriminatory bile. Why on earth would expats have any respect for people who openly refer to them in derogatory terms and deny them basic working rights, (in most cases) sanitary housing, a living wage or even the dignity of being treated as a citizen under basic human rights and UN mandates.
I hope you get all you wish for because one day it’ll all come crashing down.
Ps: I’m a British citizen, like all Caymanians.
Thousands of Caymanians are not British Citizens, but that is mainly thanks to the cabinet status grants. Many of those people are filled with hatred and disdain for the British based on their upbringing in their native countries.
All they have to do is fill out the correct paperwork and wait the right amount of time
Actually wrong. A number are disqualified including due to prior criminal convictions, or have been outside of Cayman for more than 90 days in a year..
They are going to be given the boot in seven years, so there is no reason why they should care about Cayman.
The disrespect to your expat workers is simply more staggering.
If you are constantly glaring at the expats, pushing them off side walks (because, as I was told in my first week here, the sidewalks belong to Caymanians only! I’m sure they were on the way to church as well)
If you treat people like sh*t, expect it back.
When the roll over came in Caymanians were all for the mercenary expats only here a couple years and now your complaining about that>
All you do is moan and hate, nice culture!
If I were their employer I would heave them off the job.
From what I see its mostly the Caymanians who have no respect for anyone else including Caymanians and the island in general. I would love to see all expats leave and watch the island go back to the stone age but most of the island and most of the infrastructure is own by expats and Caymanians could never raise the money to buy it back. Too late. Cayman belongs to those who have invested in it. Yes you were here first but then you sold out. Keep on with the expat hating and you might find yourself out of an island.
CNS, kindly permit me to add to my post (11.52). I am an expat (a real one according to the legal definition), from the U.K. married to a Caymanian, and what I said about these “cheeky characters” is based on what I have seen and heard, in my experience beginning particularly from about 10 -15 years ago.
When I came here (not to work but purely for marital reasons – we had to live somewhere!) the foreign workers here had a great deal of respect for their Caymanian hosts. It was a wonderful place. Of course there was a bit of “expat bashing/grumbling”, and I myself had to remind more than one Caymanian in no uncertain terms that on the bottom of every work permit was a Caymanian signature, so not to bring that nonsense around me (!), but by and large the foreigners, including myself, appreciated that they were in, basically, a paradise, so just count your lucky stars, kind of thing.
Then I began to be aware of a new breed of foreign worker – the type I lambasted in my post – and I could be wrong, but was this some kind of reflection of the decay in my home country’s society, where rudeness and incivility became something to champion rather than condemn? All I can say is that things began to change attitude-wise, and there began to emerge the type of belligerence, disrespect, and scorn, even, directed in a most overt manner towards my adopted people by those benefiting from living among them. Incredible.
To those kind enough to read this, and of similar sentiment, please do me a favour, next time you encounter an idiotic oaf mouthing off the Caymanian people and their culture as a whole, ask them how it is they can stand to live here, and until such time as they can stand it no longer, put a sock in their cake-hole (U.S. pie-hole) and shut up!Thank you.
+1 thank you.
A little late, but better late than never.
IT IS TOO LATEEEEEEE
Arden, where were you when Mac handed out over 2000 grants to Jamaicans who are now being fed and housed by us.
Status is a privilege to be thoughtfully granted to those who have something to contribute.
And where was he when another 5 or 6 thousand of their expat kin got status through them?
When things are going well it’s easy point the blame, and focusing on peoples security to live if they are contributing to the economy and obeying the law is hardly right.
There are real issues, such as education, the environment etc., fix them and then see how the Caymanian people will prosper. It’s becoming clear that these MLAs don’t know how to fix the real issues and are resorting to attacking expats and LGBTs.
I came here as an expat many years ago. The Caymanian culture was a beautiful thing. It still is, but only just. By inviting ungrateful, agenda-driven foreigners here, they have relinquished the keys to the kingdom.
Guys, this is your birthright, what are you going to do with it?
That is my Uncle. I have not heard from Thomas for a while.
So everyone applying for status now has an agenda and is ungrateful and deserve to be thrown out? Bit of a sweeping generalisation?
They are all gay too. And atheists.
So, 11:34 am, since you found many years ago when you came here that “the Caymanian culture was a beautiful thing”, can you please take a few sentences to explain to us what it is?
To 7.28pm So who is the bigoted one now?> It is that attitude by people like yourself that helped turn some Caymanians against expats.
I have to agree with Arden on this, to a point. Giving status to educated people…should continue. A country with a population of educated people does better.
Time to stop giving status to poor uneducated people. It is costing us too much.
Nazi!
By way of the Points System the poor and uneducated would not qualify for PR and would not receive status. So I am not sure what your point is.
You do not understand the points system. It gives helpers more points than anyone else. An unemployed person with no income by $5.00 in their pocket will get maximum 15 points for being rich. Impregnate someone who just got status and you will get 40 points.
A millionaire buying a 3 million dollar house in cash will only get 30 points.
It is actually quite easy for the poor and uneducated to get PR.
Your just plan wrong. They may get those points but the helper will never reach the threshold to obtain PR. The point system was available online. You could enter your own particular minus Caymanian connects to see if you would qualify for PR.
Really? A helper with a $50,000 apartment and active in church is potentially amongst the strongest of candidates.
True that.
Points for Occupation: 14.3
Points for Priority Occupation: 0
Points for High School Diploma: 5
Points for 50K worth of property investment including mortgage contributions: 30
Points for helping local kids with homework and weekly church participation: 20.
Points for earning CI$12,000/year: 0
Points for having CI$600 cash: 15
History Culture Test (it is multiple choice and the answers are available): 19
Points for being 35 years old: 10
= 113.3 points even without any points for demographics (10 available) or having a Caymanian relative (40 available for a child and 20 available if a sibling is Caymanian – including through grant).
You only need 110 points. The idea that PR is out of reach for poorer persons is plain fallacy.
Because so many helpers that barely make $1000 a month can afford to put down $50k to buy an apartment (never mind to get a mortgage to finance the rest of the apartment because there aren’t exactly thousands of places on this island you can buy for $50k)
Knock off the 30 points for the %)K property, and replace them with 40 points for having fathered/mothered a child with Caymanian, and the same outcome.
You need to have made 50K in deposit, stamp duty and mortgage payments over 9 years. $463.00 a month. If that is too much, you can just get pregnant. Kids you cannot afford are worth more points anyway.
@ 12:08 – it is you who does not understand the point system. It is not in fact easy for the poor and uneducated to get PR.
the poor & uneducated simply go to MLAs from either party for reference etc…. then the party has loyal voters for as long as the new status holder needs them
if you don’t believe the poor & uneducated mostly from JA since based on numbers they make up majority of every application to Immigration for permits PR and status, then your eyes are closed to what’s happening. Instead of going from work to home and entertainment on weekends, start exploring districts
Maybe that could have occurred in the past. However the PR board/residency board is the one who passes or failed applications. Not individual politicians. The points based system does not have a function to add points based on another person reference or recommendation. So you are wrong.
And yet dozens of wealthy who want nothing from the state, but permission to spend tens of thousands just to live here, are being denied PR.
Get a grip CIG.
Hitler tried to create a supreme race too
No danger of that here
10 years late!Elections must be coming soon,we fall for it every time
So lets get this straight. Arden is happy to accept as new Caymanians those who come here and persuade a Caymanian to hitch up, irrespective of whether they can pay their way and won’t be a burden on the estate, but wont accept the highly paid professionals necessary for our economy or those with significant commitment to society, all of whom have demonstrated the financial means to avoid adding to the list of those on CIG support, because they “want to take something” from the local people? So he would rather trust the romantic instincts of young Caymanians that the rigorous PR application policy ? Well, go figure.
Spot on Jotnar.
Of course he does, what nationality is his wife? 🙂
Just goes to show that half these MLAs don’t know what they are talking about or have not even considered the other side to their argument / proposition before they open their mouths. Moronic at best.
@ Jotnar – Well said!!!
~ A not so young and romantic Caymanian.
It’s called being an uneducated imbecile from the era of a brain drain, and it’s about all his tiny mind can muster for political gain.
Its about time. BVI, Bermuda and Bahamas have implanted this a decade ago. There economies have flourished just as well as we have.
Stop giving away the peoples country to people who wish to enforce their beliefs and cultures upon us. Let them enforce them in their native land.
The Truth
Dear The Truth, you may want to do a little research:
http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20160225/COMMENT/160229816
“By now, most Bermudians will be aware of the Government’s proposals to provide new pathways to permanent residency and to status. These proposals are aimed squarely at bringing Bermuda in line with baseline international standards established not just in international law, but also in competing small-island jurisdictions such as Anguilla, the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands.”
http://bvinews.com/new/new-law-benefits-mainly-expats-in-bvi-for-5-years/
How did the culture and beliefs come to Cayman in the first place?
Ah yes it was people immigrating to Cayman in the first place forcing their own beliefs on Cayman
Well by your standard, 11:40am, there are no natives anywhere then?
How was America founded if not by Europeans immigrating there?
What about Australia?
What about the UK?
Get off that BS wagon my friend; word of advise: embrace us, love us and get over your hateful ways because WE, Caymanians born and bred, are here to stay!
2:23, this is such a staggeringly ignorant post that it is hard to know how to respond to it. Have you heard of Native Americans in America long before the white man got there? Aborigines in Australia long before white prisoners were dumped there? In the UK there were Celts before the Angles Saxons and Jutes and later Normans swept in. A whole lot of your culture and heritage came in with people from the UK via Jamaica plus more recently Jamaicans themselves and Americans. Wattle and daub, quadrille, fruit cake, bun and cheese (UK), oxtail, green banana, reggae, loud music in cars (Jamaica) pizza, and other fast food, hip hop (America). There were no Mr and Mrs Ebanks and Boddens sitting around here from 1000 years ago. they all started out much more recently as English, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Jamaican and a mixture thereof.
Quadrille is French but I don’t consider it part of our tradition anyway. The original settlers were from the UK so it’s no surprise that those traditions are here.
It is difficult to quantify the level of your ignorance on Caymanian history. Be honest, have you read a single book detailing how the Caymanian people came about? I seriously doubt it because had you done so you would have found writing what you did impossible.
I would recommend Neville Williams’s “A History of the Cayman Islands” to begin a much needed education.
Their not there… Stop copying Bermuda & Bahamas and try and apply some positive forward thinking developed with the betterment of Cayman in mind rather than try and shoehorn in someone else’s plan that didn’t work anyway…
Oh purlease….change the record. Go on do it and see how well you will get on!
Dinasaur
Actually it’s “dinosaur”!
The Truth indeed – in what magical universe are the Bahamas, Bermuda and even BVI economies doing as well as Cayman? Have you ever been to any of them?
Bermuda has been in recession for the past 8 years, it’s got spiralling debt, an unbalanced budget to the tune of $200mio per year, massive racial issues, crumbling infrastructure, ridiculous cost of living, recent ratings agency downgrade, I could go on, but let’s just leave it at…don’t hold them out to be something to aspire to.
It’s sad for me to have been here 10+ years, lived and worked, supported the community, love the culture and the people (well some!), to be constantly told that my beliefs and ways of living are not welcome here and ‘go home’. I find myself wishing that I was never granted a work permit in the first place. Seriously Cayman why are you treating people this way, just stop granting work permits and stop giving the illusion that foreigners are welcome here. It’s hypocritical to give out work permits and then not give these people the right to a home.
Can we have a referendum on MLAs being able to say dumb things?
How about one on a maximum age limit for MLAs?
Am I being made to understand, according to Alden McLean, that David Ritch is a paper Caymanian? I think that he should be advised that both of David’s parents were Brackers! Or maybe Brackers are not considered to be Caymanians?
There are plenty paper Caymanians in the Brac but I don’t think David Ritch is one.
Or an IQ test? Not to worry, he is probably just out buying more gold watches on his government credit card.
Maximum Terms for MLAs would work too