PR applicant takes CIG to court over delay
(CNS): Three years after government stopped hearing permanent residency claims because of a legal hurdle that officials seem unable to tackle, an applicant has finally turned to the courts for judicial review. Mark Edmunds, who works in the offshore sector and made his application to become a permanent resident two and a half years ago, is the first of some 800 people who are in limbo regarding their status on the islands to mount the inevitable court challenge.
Edmunds’ statement of claim outlines his legal challenge based on the Bill of Rights in the Cayman Islands Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights (RCHR) but also pointed to the uncertainty of his life in Cayman and the “unwarranted stress” the situation has caused after such a long wait for a decision. While the offshore expert and his family have waited two and a half years, there are some applicants who have waited more than three, as no PR applications submitted after October 2013, when the law was changed, have been considered.
In his legal action Edmunds’ attorneys describe an unlawful but de facto moratorium on PR decisions that breaches a number of human rights and seek an order from the courts forcing the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board or the chief immigration officer to hear his application and grant it and cover his costs and damages. He also points out that letters, including ones from his lawyers sent two months ago, have not been answered by government.
Edmunds, who is British-Bermudian, became a legal resident in Cayman in 2006 while working for Rawlinson & Hunter as a trust manager. He and his wife own two properties, and when he applied for PR he paid a fee of over $26,000. Describing the failure of the board and the chief officer to take over the responsibility for considering the applications as “wholly unreasonable”, the claim points to breaches of significant parts of the Constitution.
But the detailed statement by Edmunds (posted below) sums up the situation for hundreds of people who are awaiting a decision from the immigration department, while government wrestles with the challenges that its amended law presents after a finding by the chief justice that the points system for applicants’ jobs was arbitrary and unlawful.
CNS has attempted to contact Premier Alden McLaughlin, who has responsibility for immigration policy, but has been unsuccessful. Other government have told us that work is being done on this issue, though it appears there is no solution yet to the problem.
McLaughlin contracted local attorney and former immigration board leader, David Ritch, to undertake a review of the PR situation and is currently fighting tooth and nail to keep Ritch’s final report under wraps, claiming in a response to a freedom of information request that it is privileged legal advice. The Information Commissioner’s Office ordered the premier to release the document to them so they could carry out its work on the appeal to that FOI refusal, but that order has been ignored.
Speaking to Cayman 27 yesterday, Acting Information Commissioner Cory Martinson said Premier McLaughlin had issued a certificate of exemption blocking the ICO from viewing the report. The premier has taken the position that the review by Ritch is not in the public interest, despite the massive attention being paid to the ongoing and mounting serious problem impacting the lives of over 800 long-term residents on the islands.
He said that McLaughlin sent a “ministerial certificate” under Section 25 of the Freedom of Information Law blocking the handing over of the report.
This is the first use of that provision under the law and the ICO is not convinced that just because the premier has used this political privilege to define the record as exempt does not mean that they cannot view the document.
See JR application by Edmunds in the CNS Library
Category: Local News, Policy, Politics
How can we expect transparency in Government from a Premier who is part of an organisation (Freemasonry) whose entire existence is based around secrecy and excluding outsiders?
Funny, very funny.
Caymanians elect politicians based on who screams the loudest in the mic during campaign season.
Hate to tell you this but Cayman was founded entirely on Freemasonry.
I don’t doubt you, nothing surprises me anymore
A priest once told me that Jesus was a Freemason.
http://www.ugle.org.uk/what-is-freemasonry/frequently-asked-questions
http://www.freemasonrybahamas.net/secret_society.htm
The above should enlighten you with evidence to the contrary
First of all the entire Cayman Immigration system needs an overhaul – from passport processing to work permits.
Employers should not have to pay work permit fees until AFTER the approval of the permit – the same with the PR fees; only the admin fee should be payable upon application.
Reason being, if Government had a policy that the applicant/employer pays the relevant fees AFTER approval (such as when the applicant comes in for the WP stamp or PR stamp) that would reduce administrative time and costs if the application is unsuccessful.
With every disapproval the applicant/employer must be provided with a Government cheque for refund; that means someone in-house has to receive the disapproval letter, process the payment, send it on to the financial office and have a cheque written up and posted/collected – lengthy and costly process when you have to do this thousands of time per year.
Cheque/refund processing costs money and takes time; the CI$75 administrative fee that Government charges is not going to cover the real administrative costs involved in the entire process and including refunds. Is there any wonder our Gov budget is so high and still lacking?
This situation where persons have been allowed to apply for PR when Government should have known full well that the Board would not be meeting to consider the applications has left people thousands and tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket with no reasonable excuse and no ROI; this money would have been better sitting in the bank accruing interest until the applications are finally heard.
If I was in the same situation I would be very, very upset as it is a psychological and financial strain on the applicants regardless of how we Caymanians may feel about the overall PR situation in general.
What this shows is that we as a country have elected all-mouth politicians with no plan; if these PR applicants could vote I would bet my life-savings they would have all been approved by now, it is a shame, disgrace and embarrassment.
If the Chief Justice pointed out something was wrong with the system (which he did in August 2015 so there is still no excuse as to why PR has not been reviewed since 2013), the first step should have been to fix it by thorough review of the system and implementation of a new process based on other proven processes utilized in countries worldwide – considering how they all love to travel I do not understand why they did not seek to meet with Immigration officials elsewhere for some tips.
The Chief Justice DID NOT state that the present system was illegal or with legal default; he pointed out that the PROCESS of arriving at approvals or disapproval was flawed – a systematic issue NOT a legal issue and therefore the decision of our Government to venture off for $300,000+ worth of confidential “legal advice” to gain insight on a systematic shortcoming is another example of incompetence.
Delaying currently processing applications and people’s livelihoods when the legal framework and systematic structure was already in place to handle those particular applications under the present law, whether it was an agreeable system or not, is unethical and bad governance.
If we had an elected body who could think for themselves and who understood this country from the bottom up and from all angles this country could have avoided this ridiculous backlog and impending financial detriment if these legal challenges prove fruitful.
If all 800 applications decided to go to Court at a total expense to Government of only $1000 per person that would still be almost a million dollars in avoidable expense.
Now that’s progressive!
If you don’t like how we do ‘your business’ then go home.
I think we should give him back his money and a extra $50.00 for taxi to airport and as many Caymanians as possible should stand in the waving gallery and bid him farewell
Just marry a Caymanian!
I am not that brave or stupid 10.11
Caymanians need to unite and fight this thing. PPM,UDP,Independent,everyone. If not we all are going to end up on reservations while the expat with status is running things and living in South Sound and Seven Mile Beach.Folks we have to take steps to reduce the number of guest workers that we allow in as these eventually end up wanting to stay and Cayman just cannot accommodate all of them. The sad thingis most of them hate us but want what we have. Even when they get status and are legally Caymanian they prefer to be identified as expats. Status is just the ticket they need to sail on this ship Cayman.Wake up Caymanians and unite; it is the one thing that expats don’t want to see happen.
@Sea Egg – it’s people like you with your mentality that make me ashame to be a Caymanian. Stop blaming the ex-pats for your failure to succeed and start taking responsibility for yourselves and get rid of the victim mentality and your attitude of entitlement.
Caymanians used to be a hard-working proud people, but the recent generations have turned into a bunch of whiny, pathetic, sniveling, ungrateful and ignorant brats.
Caymanian
spoken like a true expat…don’t give us the Caymanian BS you’re not fooling anyone…every country has immigration laws to protect their citizens…go back to yours
@9:26am – Sorry, but I am in fact a 4th generation Caymanian, albeit one that attended university abroad, has lived in different countries and is not xenophobic. So I am here to stay.
There is a lot of basis to your concerns, and I share some of them, but you see, it is the Government and the Civil Service that are doing this to us, not the expats. The PR system is designed to choose the “good: from the “bad.” Because the Government is not operating it, we are going to get the good (if they are patient enough to wait) AND the bad.
Ok, anyone who isn’t able to claim a direct and unbroken lineage to the founding British fathers or any freed slave pre-1835 must now leave.
Otherwise you are an unworthy immigrant who should go back to where you came from and leave us Caymanians to go bust and extinct.
Does anyone else see what a retarded argument this clown has put forward?
If you, or the government, don’t want to treat your fellow working, law abiding citizens, humanely then don’t allow expat workers in the country. If you allow someone to come here, work and contribute to the community then please treat them humanely. I think it’s a shame that a law is needed to even do that….
Spoken like a TRUE sea egg. EGGHEAD!
You are so stupid you should not be allowed to breed
The entire PPM should just resign now. They have done nothing for Caymanians absolutely nothing and not one of those so called Lawyers in the Party could give me legal advice for free! especially Alden and Wayne!
Can someone please move a motion of no confidence in all of them ?
P.S. If anyone sees Joey Hew please give him directions to GT, he off on another trip showing off his money again
Resign are you joking this probably sealed their reelection. Don’t you get it non of these 800 or their friends can vote.
Being tough on immigration wins elections if you don’t believe me ask Hillary.
The PPM is doing the right thing. Proceeding with caution and getting the fix right.
Stop blaming the Government for wanting to protects it’s people. You are here because your country didn’t.
I am here? I am here because I was born here!!! And they didn’t proceed with caution, they did nothing until the problem hit them in the face and now they are scrambling. The Ritch report is going to shock you when it is eventually released, they are going to have to grant PR to every single one of the applicants with no regard for their qualification.
Blaming the PPM is short-sighted. The problem is that the pubic reaction to Mac’s massive status grants was such that everyone in ‘Government’ (including civil servants who are the real government) are fundamentally opposed to granting any Permanent Residences as these will inevitably lead to Status grants in a couple of years. The only difference is that this time there will be substantial revenue for Government and the people ‘getting in’ will be in the higher income bracket.
Hope they have to give back every ill gotten dime.
How come Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, Jamaica, Turks & Caicos and Aruba don’t have these immigration issues? What is it that Cayman Politicians cannot fix?
The civil service.
You’re kidding, right?
If you can afford to pay 26k, you can afford to wait. With that kind of money available you dont understand what thr wird uncertainty means.
The Ritch Report which Alden refuses to share with the public who paid for its creation is fairly obvious. The report says if permanent residence is granted then indigenous Caymanians will become a minority within the country in 25 years.
This is my opinion.
Too late already.
you are already a minority….who cares when you live in an island with 150 nationalities…..nobody is in the majority……
caymainians cliam to have a great christain culture…..so what would jesus do?
So far two dislikes but it is still true.
All 800 applicants have a choice …but everyone wants to live in paradise.
This action will fail and when the law is review is over a few persons will be granted PR like what’s being happening for years.
And for those hoping the PPM won’t get elected again…keep dreaming.
Trump brexit etc was all based on the lack of tough immigration laws. So watch out.
If you think the PPM is tough think about what the independents are planning.
Make sure the Brits get in or we will petition to have your rights to a UK passport taken away.. and do the same for those Caymanians with US passports. Like you say, need to be tough on immigration…
Thank you Mark!, well done Mate!
Not only the other 800 applicants should be grateful of your courage but every single person living in these islands.
I would be utterly stunned if we didn’t see another 100 ( minimum) P.R. applicants go Mr Edmunds route and file against C.I.G & immigration dept’ on this issue. You can be sure that legal counsel would not entertain engaging in such filing against the government , if there were not absolute violations of the respective rights & privileges of the applicant in question and that a ruling in their favour was not a likely outcome. The door is obviously open now , with or without the ‘ Ritch Report’, as this and other media reporting illustrates. What is a concern is the deafening silence from the offices of Helen and her U.K. department that oversees the B.O.T.C interests. It is equally shameful the governor over the past 3 years has sat gagged & blindfolded ,allowing this issue to get where it is today, without intervention.
The Governor should never have assented to the 2013 Law which was clearly rushed through in an attempt to abuse applicants’ human rights. The manner in which that law was passed was an utter disgrace.
Not in the public interest= in the interest of the Premier not looking an idiot or getting re elected
I think either way his chance of getting re-elected are pretty low, or should I say I hope.
Where this isn’t a PR query, Immigration has “implemented another great idea” ensuring future employees coming in on a TWP has health insurance in place? First of all, applications have to be filed and filled out by the employee, secondly, once approved you will have to pay their insurance premium, where you can have an effective date, if the employees changes his/her mind in coming, work permit isn’t granted, you are out of your money, plus who is going to may the employee’s portion. NO instructions as usual given by the Immigration Department on how we are to carry this out. Any suggestions CNS? For Immigration when called doesn’t seem to know either..
The Health insurance law requires all residents of the Cay,man Islands to have health insurance and it is every employer’s obligation to ensure compliance.
Everyone on a work permit is a resident.
Deal with it.
5:36pm, I am well aware EVERYONE working living in the Cayman Islands have to have health insurance, if you can read the question was Immigration is putting into effect proof BEFORE an employee even has a work permit. But than again, maybe you can’t read correctly
Fill in the health insurance forms and submit them. Attach proof you have done so to the immigration authorities when you submit the work permit application.
Perhaps if you could explain yourself clearly it would help?
Yes, he railed against Mac with promises of transparency. Guess the power went to his head. Oh, I guess we little people could not comprehend the Ritch report…well, just FYI we can.
This is CIG in a nutshell. Make a mess of the law and disrupt hundreds of lives then, instead of spending a day or so working out a solution, they keep taking people’s money and sitting on their hands while the problem grows bigger and bigger and becomes insurmountable. Then when an almost comical amount of time has passed and it’s clear CIG is acting illegally, they leap into action to prevent anyone accessing any information about their ineptitude. I don’t care about seeing the report because we can all guess what it says. I’d like to know what ANYONE in CIG has actually done to resolve the situation. I’d like evidence of one single serious attempt to find a solution instead of bulls****ing us with carefully crafted statements about it being “worked on”.
The truth is that they’ve done nothing because they don’t want to alienate the xenophobics among their voting base before the election by giving PR to any “driftwood”. So they’re acting illegally and taking people’s money (up to $20m) and doing nothing just to try to get another term in office.
They should be locked up.
Hey CIG da wha ya get! Multiple standards have come back to bite you in the a$$. Certain expats working for big corporations who are “friends” of CIG and or have CIG in their pocket get preference and a very smooth route to PR status. The lone “no connections” applicant working for a peon company usually gets raked over the ironshore going through the process.
Can’t say this is a good thing but they certainly had it coming.
The fact is that this is the stuff of corruption reports, not good governance. Governor?
Well Mr Premier – You left the stable door open, and now the horse is off down the street. Turn your back on a problem, and it will eventually jump up and bite you on the arse.
So just to be clear, after the horse bolted “off down the street”, it then had second thoughts and came back to bite the butt of the guy who freed it? Dat horse messed up.
Horse had to go down the street, since the Premier is going to build a highway through its stable at the Equestrian Centre.
This is an example of major govt incompetence. How can they not evaluate any application?
There must be many applicats which have much more than the required points (which I believe to be 110) without the culture test and without the key profession points (which I believe is the main issue for the stall) – these applicants can be approved ASAP.
There are many who won’t meet the required points even if they score perfect on test and key profession points. Deny them ASAP.
How many do we have left? If someone is willing to pay 1k for application and deposit as much as 26k for the one time fee, they must be confident that they meet the points requirements. Who would spend this kind of dollars on a lottery?
Look at the friggin applications and see if we can approve/deny any of them based on info submitted to date. But no, the put them on the shelf instead because some section of the point system is not determined yet.
Politicians, get that questionable points section sorted out already or remove it altogether and reduce the number of point required.
Wow! So much incompetence.
This is exactly what the current Premier was warned was likely to happen when he pushed through rollover ten years ago. It is the opening of the flood gates and will cost us $millions in the end.
Nothing wrong with rollover. It is the failure to operate it fairly and lawfully that has created this mess. A lot of people should be fired, but since there is no accountability…
Government must be the only entity that has access to a client funds, can spend said funds on all the reports and studies they can dream up; then tell the client (the people of the Cayman islands) it’s not in their best interest to read it. Prove that government view the public as ignorant sheep whose only worth is to vote every 4 years. Who knew the premier could issue a ‘ministerial certificate’ to block an FOI? Guess freedom of information is really ‘freedom of information we want to give you’.
The PPM has a bit of a problem with transparency…instead of changing immigration laws, Alden just makes it policy to ignore the laws for sake of work permit revenues….and now he refuses to release the report which likely indicates he’s going to have to grant 600+ people PR due to unreasonable delays in processing…the PPM have really scr…d the pooch when it comes to opportunities for Caymanians in their own land.
The PPM are a disaster! Just look at the lawyers law they want to pass- just going on their way giving away the future of Cayman.
The PPM claim to stand for Transparency Accountability and Good Governance. This is a complete joke! They are a punch of hypocrites spouting nothing but political rhetoric. Can you imagine if the UDP pulled this sort of stuff what their reaction would be?
Gross mismanagement due to gross incompetency…his damage will live for years regardless of his loss next election
This is Alden’s answer to a prayer. He doesn’t have the votes in LA to sort his mess and what was a molehill has now grown into a mountain.
This way the courts will decide and Alden can blame them, whilst claiming innocence !!!
Hope HRM can require production of the Ritch report as part of document disclosure too !
The treatment of applicants is despicable. We should know who is responsible for creating this mess and why they have not fixed it years after they became aware of the problems.
Cats out the bag now Alden, you might as well release the Ritch Report which I would guess specifically states that you have waited to long to deal with these applications and that they must now be granted unless you want said applicants to sue your Govt. out the ying yang for breach of human rights. Way to go. Another glaring example of the Cayman Islands Govt. “don’t do anything about it and the problem will go away approach.
I say give the 900 or so people their permanent residence. If McKeeva can give 3,000 Cayman Status in 2003, many of whom only lived here for 3 – 6 months, why not give permanent residence to those who have lived here among us for the past 9 plus years with no criminal convictions and have invested money (houses, apt’s etc) in our country ??
If you can find 25,000 CI to pay for permanent residence, it shows that you are not likely to be a burden on the social infastructure of our country.
Compare that to McKeeva status give aways, which is now bursting our Needs Assesment Unit (social services) at the seams, Health Service Authority with millions of unpaid bills and having to spend millions on building schools to accommodate the dependent children from the status give aways.
Get my point !!
The 900 applicants totals more than Mac’s 3000. Most of them are married and have multiple children!
Completely wrong. McKeeva’s disaterous status grants have completely ruined the country. Just open your eyes and look around. Crime. Unemployment. Gangs. Deadbeats living off government.
At least with the PR system there is a vetting process and those coming in actually contribute to society, aren’t criminals and have been here long enough to be deserving of residency. And by the way it wasn’t just McKeeva. All the politicians had their “lists” and handed out Status back in 2003.
I do not disagree with you. The problem is that no-one has stepped in to prevent the incredible damage caused by the status grants from multiplying. The PPM are now complicit.
But the existing PRs are not even paying their fees. So, what’s the point?
I bet you dollars to donuts that most of those “missing” fees represent persons who have left the island, or are in some way not due to pay fees, either through marriage or status grants. Govt. Bookkeeping is tragic at best.
Every politician and politically connected person on island submitted a list for Mac’s give away…some sold the spots and some just submitted friends regardless of time on island…they were all complicit which is why none have challenged or even spoken of the give away. If you remember there was a second tranche in an attempt to legitimize the process with actual long term worthy recipients.
Not only McKeeva gave away status. Both parties had people on the list and that is a fact. We have to call it like it was and be honest.
Many were short term visitors yes, but many were also teachers who worked their butts off for years educating many now prominent Caymanians.
Some didn’t deserve it and others did that shouldn’t have had to go that route in the first place. Why… because some were Caymanians who happen to be born outside of Cayman to full Caymanian mothers, parents who couldn’t give their children their rightful nationality due to the then archaic law where women had no rights.
My niece and nephew got theirs through this medium as they were born in the US. absolutely ridiculous…my sister was full Caymanian. So many of that 3000 were deserving albeit the way Mac and the others who rode on his back and slipped their people in went about it was wrong.
Maybe but at least the 900 are trying to obtain their residency using the “correct” system in place. The fact that that system is totally flawed is not their fault. Status grants were given on a totally ad hoc basis, friends, colleagues, etc. The PR applicants waiting now are obviously law-abiding, contributing citizens (otherwise their 6-monthly RTCW applications would be rejeccted). As one who has been waiting since February 2014 for an answer – and yes it DOES affect your life, financially, physically and mentally, all I can say is, kudos to Mr. Edmunds. Once his case is ruled in his favour hopefully this mess can all be put to an end. Whether applications are approved or not, surely everyone is entitled to an answer??
The Iceberg Cometh and we are the Titanic
Alden, dead ahead!
It was only a month ago that Brad Carpenter and his wife were magically granted PR after their 3 year wait and legal challenge. Same will almost assuredly happen here, since an inevitable legal victory would open the flood gates to class action by everyone that has applied for PR since 2003. I’d join the action having been made to wait well over a year for decisions on each of PR, Naturalisation, and Status. There are hundreds of people that know this story all too well.
pr should be automatic after 9/10 years…..
being here for that long demonstrates your commitment to the island and the fact that you have been issued a work permit evey year by CIG, proves that there is no caymanian that can do your job.
No it doesn’t especially if you contribute nothing of substance and make no effort to intergrate into Caymanian society. Length of tenure is not enough.
It is already too easy to get PR in the Cayman Islands.
You almost had me until you suggested work permits were proof no Caymanian was being displaced.
but it is proof….why was the work permit approved by your government then?
At best, incompetence.
It is not necessarily true that the renewal of a permit is proof that no Caymanian can be found. I can tell you, and this is the truth that a lot of manipulation goes on for an employer to paint that picture. From changing the job description and the requirements and stating an incorrect salary on the application to immigration because if the salary is low enough it might have discourage a Caymanian who in the past found it difficult to live on the salary being offered. Having said that, I have always felt that if a work permit was being renewed over and over and the person had everything in his/ her favour to qualify for pernament resident then it should be granted. The rollover should have been for at least three years and by doing so the work permit holder would have had a more realistic break in employment, probably would have moved on to other jurisdiction and some one else would have gotten a work permit or a Caymanian could be found . If it was done in that way there would not be such a huge number of people in this uncertain mode. I also think before the rollover became due the government should have looked at each person and determine whether or not that person would be a good candidate for PR and grant a few each year with the understanding that they would then move on to Status in due course. I think that is how it worked in the good old days!!
This is not about whether a Caymanian should get a particular job or not. That is so majorly off topic as to be laughable. But a guess that our present Govt. will try and distract you with that, like any good illusionist.
It is about our government acting responsibly, legally and ethically.
I believed in these guys, I believed that they would be honest and forthcoming, and I have been let down. They have short changed each and every man woman and child on this rock. And they think we are too stupid, or unqualified to even allow us see the report.
Well your dollars paid for that report, and your children’s future is at risk. So you decide if you are indeed too stupid.
One thing is undeniably clear from this pathetic fiasco. The current government ministers are utterly incompetent and need to be sacked. In the real world the wouldn’t last 30 seconds. They aren’t worth even a buck an hour, never mind the massive amount of public dollars they swill out of the trough every day.
Time to drain the Cayman swamp.
I think it is all to do with chemtrails or aspartame. Trump is right. We should build a wall/ceiling/fence/bubble/camp.
What does the PPM have to hide? They cannot expect to keep kicking the can down the road on every issue
Well done Alden and PPM. SMH