CIG faces dozens of PR law suits
(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin has revealed that government is facing as many as two dozen law suits or judicial reviews in relation to the delays in permanent residency applications. He said he has not seen the legal actions and did not know the details but he understood they ranged from people seeking damages for the delays to those simply complaining about the delays and wanting a decision. But speaking on television Thursday night, McLaughlin repeated his claims that the complexities relating to the law when it emerged in 2004, when he was not in government, have caused the problems.
He admitted that the situation surrounding the hundreds of stalled permanent residency applications was “far from satisfactory” but said government had faced challenges dealing with the law and although there is a short-term solution on its way, the legislation needed a complete overhaul. He also said he did not know if the law suits would dry up and existing ones would fall away once the changes were made.
Appearing on Cayman 27’s show, The Panel, McLaughlin said he was involved in shaping these regulations as he owns the policy surrounding this issue, but he said as he did not “operate as a lone ranger”. He said that the “interim measures” were arrived at in consultation with local attorney David Ritch and the Attorney General’s Chambers.
Ritch was commissioned by the premier to write a report on the challenges with the immigration law. That controversial report has been kept under wraps and the government has fought a freedom of information request all the way to the courts, where the chief justice recently agreed that the report could be withheld from the public on the basis that it constituted privileged legal advice.
The premier said a proposed policy solution, which will see amendments to the regulations that form part of the immigration law, is currently with the attorney general, and once it’s been through the PPM caucus, it is expected to go before Cabinet within two weeks. Soon after that, he said, the system should begin to roll again, as changes to regulations do not require a debate in parliament.
He admitted that the forthcoming amendments to the point system would be just a stop-gap measure to allow the boards to hear applications but that much wider changes were needed to the legislation.
“These are interim measures. In the end, the whole point system on the basis of which we award permanent residency needs to be overhauled and that will take quite some time to occur,” he said. The short-term measures address the points raised by the chief justice in a ruling that identified the problems with the arbitrary and unfair nature of the points system, he added.
It is understood that there are now close to 1,000 people waiting to have their permanent residency applications heard. Many have been waiting for over three years, and as several of them will have been permanently resident in the islands for more than 11 years, there are concerns that the government will be forced to issue formal residency rights to all of those that have passed ten years, regardless of the merits of their application.
Is it true that Board members can be sued for making wrong decisions? If that is correct a lot of people are in trouble. That is why board members should not be made up of political supporters but the more intelligent Caymanians.
They deserve to be sued. They should refund every “processing” fee paid in for the last three years, as they have not processed anything.
Grant fees also had to be paid along with the application fee. Quite a sum they have. Unsuccessful applicants will get their money back but after three years that should be with interest!
If the govt still has the money.
What do you think of having to return home after working in Cayman for 29 yrs and only returning once for medical attention for one year. Having no relatives back home, only good Caymanian friends who became like adopted relatives. Leaving Cayman with a very sad heart but a big false smile assuring friends that “I will be back when the one year is up”. Its hard, but one have to do what you have to do. The truth is why wait until the cow goes through the gate before trying to close the gate ?
CNS there are pending law suits on this issue or not.??!if so why are you allowing comment on your media,
CNS: They are civil suits. The sub judice rule is to protects defendents in criminal trials.
One man dose not make the policy.
What staggering incompetence. This is the sort of cock-up we used to only get when McKeeva was up to his tricks. If the law is completely unworkable they’ve had years to change it. If it’s not unworkable then it’s their fault it’s not working.
Hear hear!
This is not incompetence. The PPM deliberately and in bad faith changed the law in 2013, with no intention of granting anyone PR. Deliberately and in bad faith they have failed to remedy the flaws in the 2013 law – there is simply no excuse for the delay. They have no intention of granting anyone PR at all this side of the election – why? Political expediency & greed.
All we can hear about is ‘challenges’ with no details on what these so called challenges are. It is just a poor excuse for incompetence. All those people will receive their PR now as they should and we will have people we don’t need like low qualified IT people that many younger Caymanians will now have to compete with. PR points like in any other country identify skills gaps to build a balanced community, but here it is just a mess that no one wants to fix.
PLEASE recommend a good attorney to work with. I want to join the group filing lawsuits. Human rights violation for being denied residency after 10 years and undue stress from son being denied PR after returning from college.
I really think that all Caymanian Citizens of the Islands should sue every politicians that was involved in this Legislation that led to the first class action law suit in Cayman Islands history .
Or better vote them all out this coming election .
DISGRACEFUL DISGRACEFUL AND EVER SO DISGRACEFUL
And they call themselves politicians. I call them something else .
Anybody who has been here for ten years and has not gone to jail, we obviously need then, give them residency.
There is no such creature as this mass grant people keep talking about. If you people can’t piece together this short chain of events to understand why we are where we are now:
1) Previous administration makes pig’s breakfast out of the entire immigration regime. Key employee still exists and Term Limit Extension Permits have been granted to many hundreds if not thousands.
2) Progressives must immediately fix the system. The points system is redesigned to remove key employee, allow everyone to apply taking power away from employers and giving it to employees, and to measure applicants objectively so that most PR applications can be processed by administrators within the Immigration Department (as most work permits are) more quickly than before. The administrators are to be delegates of the Chief Immigration Officer and supervised by her.
3) The Chief Immigration Officer (who has worked in professional firms and has an HR background) is put on required leave, leaving the Department leaderless. The plan for implementing the new Points System disappears with her.
4) An Acting CIO is appointed with no relevant experience in this side of the Department. Obviously, he is not up to the job. For that matter, Eric Bush the former Chief Officer in the Ministry obviously has his eye off the ball as well.
5) Chief Justice’s decision comes out in Hutchinson-Green under the old Points System while the Government is getting its act together. He goes out of his way to fire a shot across the bow about the new Points System, saying that he finds certain language suggestive of an arbitrary and unfair process that has to withstand “heightened scrutiny” – in other words, the judiciary will go into the nuts and bolts of the Points System to verify the quality of the decisions made when it is applied.
6) The most prominent local attorney with the most expertise in immigration matters is retained to advise the government whether those nuts and bolts are up to the required standard.
7) A report is produced which takes time to be actioned in the context of many, many priorities the Government has (most of which it doesn’t get to choose – it has to react to events as well, there are many constituencies braying for their law to be passed or their matter to be dealt with or what have you).
8) Action is now underway following the digesting of that report and political decisions being taken about what to do just as election season approaches which distorts all Government business. The Compass doesn’t help matters at all – just makes them worse for a good source of repeat stories.
9) During all of this time, everyone with an application including hundreds with no chance (who are here on borrowed time clogging up the economy) continues being allowed to work. The impacts for applicants are dwarfed only by the potential impacts for the Government – whoever is in power – if the job isn’t done properly.
10) Yesterday.
11) Today.
then you haven’t been paying attention during your time here anyway, including while your application was in. Pick up a paper when it doesn’t have “your livelihood” on the front page – you’ve all been here long enough to know all of the events above if you do. If you don’t, why do you want to stay?
Yeah, it’s always someone else’s fault isn’t it. Forgiving your revisionist history…the undeniable truth is, the PPM made many decisions and choices at various forks in the road, and they were all consistent with stonewalling the lawful path to citizenship. Now the country they thought they were protecting is going to pay (and be assigned unsuitable applicants that have now attained 10 years). Hard to gloss over how badly planned and ill conceived this was. The lesson should be: our politicians do not have authority (even with “popular or presumed consent”) to continue to ignore our Human and Civil Rights obligations. We continue do so at our peril, and with significant costs and penalties. The bulk of the applicants are fantastic contributing people that have been abused and encumbered by this unfairness, and they will have a long memory of how poorly they were treated.
I didn’t say it was always someone else’s fault. This is not a revisionist history – this is the history. Many people are at fault and, yes, the Government as a whole will pay. The Progressives government is an educated group of experienced people more familiar with the professional world and its recruitment needs than any before. I can assure you they regret very much that the system they designed turned out to have both legacy issues and new ones that resulted from the speed with which changes had to be made given the position they inherited. The fact of the matter is Cayman developed and ballooned too quickly for its people and systems to cope and has been playing catch-up in the legal and social sense for many years. As all of the above happened one thing after the next no one expected the whole term to expire without applications being processed. People are making a false correlation here. The Compass and its cronies are just using this issue to try to keep this ethical, well-intentioned and well-educated group with a steady hand on most of the issues and problems out of office. You can either take my word for it or continue to believe there is a vast conspiracy against qualified applicants. Tell me, do you really think most Caymanians are capable of vast conspiracies that don’t end up on Ezzard’s windshield? I am Caymanian and I don’t. Overall, yes, this is managerial incompetence that gets a failing mark. But it isn’t stonewalling. I appreciate to an applicant there may be no practical difference but it does impact the conversation for people to understand this.
Tell us: who, if not our current Cabinet, presided over these four years of “managerial incompetence” as serving Ministers? Who was their duty to, if not to us?
As all of the above happened one thing after the next no one expected the whole term to expire without applications being processed.
Except we are talking about 4 years in which they could have done something. If they had processed claims when the law first came into effect, the problem wouldn’t be nearly as large – confined to those who needed the 15 strategic points. But no claims were ever processed. Then after the court points out the problem, and a report is received on what to do about it, they do – nothing. Four years. All against a background in which admitting large numbers of new PR is known to have political ramifications. Yet you want us to believe its simple managerial incompetence, because they are “ethical, well intentioned and well educated”, rather than deliberate. Right.
Why did not I apply for PR? #1 the dump.its toxic poisons would have slowly destroyed my health #2 is total dependency on import of everything but most importantly food. Just few days interruption in importing food,for whatever reasons, would turn this island in a place you would not want to be and since only criminals have guns, you see the picture. #3 overdevelopment and ever increasing cruise ship crowds significantly affected the quality of life. I would have said healthcare quality as #4, but with Health City presence there is still an option on an excellent care.
So leave.
I generally dislike the usual “leave” and other hateful comments, but you probably deserve them..there are many good people and many good things in Cayman..and yes there are problems but show me a place without them and I will show you the biggest lie on the planet.
Congratulations in advance to all of the soon-to-be mass-PR grant recipients of 2017…now that’s Progressive! #theGreatPRemancipationof2017
If its not Fake news, let them sue…..
Sadly real…and will be very expensive to settle.
They will probably get status since they can now qualify for that.
No lie
I hope that the expats sue the government for every penny they are out and send a message to Caymanians that they need to stop all this racist nonsense.
They only make themselves look bad and I guess now we will find out what price they will have to pay for it.
Maybe a class action suit will send a message loud and clear
I welcome you to jine our cayman community bobo. Or teetee.
What Alden has done by his irresponsible inaction on the PR issue is to dump it on the next government. The next government will have their hands tied by law suits and it will be Alden’s legacy.
If you grant these PR applications you will be losing your country. They should have been rejected years ago and the persons rolled over. They could always come back! Now someone is using legislation to break into your country and not much is being done by the community about this. Its unreal. If the coming 1000+ PR applications are approved the following will happen. The Caymanians will lose control of their country demographically. Sure for the next 10-15 years you will have the Aldens and McKeevas running the place (actually the old WB and GT divide is a good one for outsiders) but then pushy people like our litigating friend here will push their way into the political elites, they wont be caring too much about the locals then. Secondly once PR is approved all managerial and mid level office positions will be frozen. There will be low chances for a Caymanian to be promoted anywhere. The law actually reinforces this by requiring the newly minted PR employee to only apply for positions as listed on their RERC. Therefore they wont move and the labour market will freeze up. You will have no mid level manager jobs available. The other thing this approval will do is freeze wages that with the rate of inflation, will actually become negative. The existing employees will sit in their roles so no need to give them a pay rise. Large companies especially in the finance sector no longer will have to attract people with generous salaries. They have a ready pool of employees who want to get Cayman status. People will come here thinking they can get PR and as such will take lower salaries. If these employees had been rolled over then the large finance companies making millions from their cayman business models will have to provide generous salaries or train locals to get the skill requirements. Lower salaries will affect the quality of life for Caymanians. I cant believe Caymanians dont undertake their own legal actions to ensure their society and futures are not preserved for their next generation.
Well, Caymanians always have the option of electing a government that will protect their interests. That seems a more sensible option than trying to sue the government. The expats are suing the government for not applying the very law that the current administration brought in, or applying the constitution that all Caymanians voted on. What do you suggest the Caymanians sue for, exactly?
FOIs on what the work permit board is doing?! Require legislation that all work permit holders cvs are available for all to see. Press claims with the labour board. Address this nonsense of seeming to appear conforming to the law in terms of Job advertisements. Make it that only one spouse for a couple can work. bring back the caymanian protection board. Loads can be done.
Nobody in Cayman wields the authority to categorically reject, impede, or eliminate the lawful process to attain citizenship. We know it must exist and function! Excusing your discrimination, that’s the lesson that you and Cabinet never learned. Now, myself, and other Caymanians will have to pay. While we are paying, hundreds of applicants -worthy or not – have attained the magic 10 year mark for right of abode. They are here to stay. Blame Alden for dithering on this for four years and suppressing the expensive advice he received from counsel. It will mean expensive payouts and almost certainly the Naturalisation of some of those who ought to have been sent packing years ago (when we still had some legal authority to do so).
I’m another pro-Cayman expat, and this is a very accurate description of what is to come. Truth be told, it has already happened during the course of the PR freeze. These individuals have not moved at all and have been locked in place. I realize Cayman favours higher income individuals even upper middle class “Westerners”, but it comes with a very steep price. Cayman could be an easily self-sustaining community. Instead it has adopted this niche lifestyle, and soon Caymanians will be slaves in their own countries as a result of these decisions, and life style choices.
On principle I agree with you. What was done shouldnever have been done. Clear and decisive laws should have been put in place, and enforced. But, that was not done. Instead we stuck our fing heads in the sand. And guess what? People have rights. And if you consistently ignore them they do not go away. So, by our failure to deal with these issues, we have opened ourselves up to the nuclear option for immigration. Good job PPM.
10.51 you are right on. and thank you. This virus of accepting these foreigners from every part of the world TO WORK AND LIVE AMONGST US HAS GOT TO STOP. IT IS WRONG, IT IS WRONG. As for giving them Status and PR WE DO NOT OWE THESE PEOPLE ANYTHING. They came here on their own accord, made/making a good living- NOW YOU ALL NEED TO GO. Yes! and tell them to go to the other Caribbean Islands and try putting in their demands and see what will happen to them.
I also bet you that these same people that are here clogging up our infrastructure and everything else, are disgruntled about the same thing that is happening back in their homeland.
As for the Ritch Report, my take on it is that he warned us that what we have now is exactly what he predicted. I SEE NOTHING SHORT OF TREASON WHAT IS BEING DONE TO US.
Government needs to refund these people their money and kick then out. Imagine the audacity of these people to come to Cayman and conduct themselves in this manner. PEOPLE WE DO NOT OWE YOU ALL ANYTHING O/K/ we do not want you here,,,,,,,,,,,,,GO NOW!.
And we the Cayman people should bring a law suite against Government for not protecting us indigenous CAYMANIANS.
We cannot ENTER ANOTHER MANS COUNTRY AND START DEMAND WHAT WE WANT. When Caymanians go abroad and things do not work out- guess what, we have to find our way home.!!!! Simple so you all need to go now!!!!!!
To you Mr. Premier -I implore you to take a page from Trumps book. You need to step up and take charge (REMEMBER “you are in CHARGE”). And when you take charge some, will hate you, however silently they will respect you, because they know you will be doing the right thing for these Islands, yes ISLANDS!!!! remember please that we are only three very small ISLANDS, and our people are depending on you.
We are in a serious, desperate, disgusting mess.
This is going to be his Legacy, and no other incoming premier or politicians would be to destroy or repeal it .
This is the kind of things that happens in Governments when they are thinking one way , corrupt and not thinking about the consiquence.
But he said it was not his Government that drafted legislation , but was he part of the Government that did the Legislation ? Then why didn’t he try to make sure that it was done correctly ? Are all the politicians in the LA suppose to make sure when making Laws that these kind of things don’t happen to the people / taxpayers before passing Laws ? Or is it that their brains can’t work unless they are the leader of Government .
Do these politicians have love for the Country and people ? Or what ?
This is the Cayman Islands, it should be for Caymanians and they should have the right to choose who is to get permanent residencey and the right to take as long as needed to make sure that these peolpe is the right ones to get P. R.
This is the world and people have a right to be treated fairly, and if someone’s incompetence or sloth prohibits that, well theh, come what may.
We have a right to choose. We do not have a right to spend years to do it. That is the problem!
Not if it affects other peoples rights you don’t! And you would need a brain to make a qualified decision which may just be a tiny issue in your case.
I fully intend to sue the government. Put the actual cost aside for a moment (they’ve held on to my $30k for almost three years), there is also the fact that nearly 1,000 people have been stagnant in their positions at work and unable to progress because of the incompetence at all levels of the CIG.
Oh you poor baby…why not just abandon and move on if we are so incompetent…we really don’t need your kind … please move on.
idiot…you do need his kind…as proved by the fact he was awarded a work permit for 12-13 years….
You’re a dime a dozen…easily replaceable…just leave
rofl…most ignorant comment of the day award. Congrats. You’d be shouting your complaints from the rooftops if the shoe was on the other foot.
10.26, True colours shining through- as has oft been made clear on here, your attitude is the main reason that the offshore industry may well leave one day, and with it goes your economy. Good luck with that, and you will still be moaning about that when it happens. Especially as there will be no funding available for schools, health, pensions, hand outs…think Jamaica and Bahamas. Da wa ya get. I don’t expect you to understand that.
Ask any employer how easy people are to replace here. Recruitment is a long, expensive and arduous process, especially when forced to look overseas for people.
And before you say companies should be hiring locally; I know every employer would prefer to hire locally as it’s so much easier and cheaper but there just isn’t the people out there.
Really, it has not been that hard for us at all to find expats. It is a highly sought after location, and we can fill vacancies quickly with foreign staff. It is just harder to find qualified people locally. But if you work at it they are there. We currently have 80% Caymanian staff, and they are awesome. Although we had to go through some duds, and BS labour law crap to get here.
Bitter heart and even more bitter tongue. Your words are disgraceful.
i’m permanent…..sorry…..
Are you available. You seem competent. Well….
So shallow, and unfounded.
You do need his kind. Cayman could not support itself with out the hard work, education and money from abroad. Caymanians did not build this country or it’s economy. We need each other to succeed.
Ignorant “Caymanians” like you are who give the rest of us a bad name! What did you mean by “we really don’t need your kind…. please move on”? At this stage it is not about expat vs. local. You have to realize that the incompetence of GIC, costs everyone and does not discriminate weather you are here on work permit, status or born here. If you pay any fees to the government that is the money that will be used to pay for these law suits. Essentially us the public end up paying for CIG’s incompetence. Go educate your self a bit before you come on a public forum and talk foolishness. As lost as can be…
Caymanian
Let’s just look at this for a minute, we have my work permit ($20k p.a.), my business licensing fees ($15k p.a.) that I pay as I set up my own company – which I then had to advertise my own job before I could start gainful employment, don’t start me on that. Add to that the stamp duty on the property I’ve purchased (not that I needed the points for my PR application) ($49k), we’re already up to $84k in government fees over the last 12 months. Now take my business and see that we have helped create nearly 200 jobs locally and then consider what you have done over the last 10 years. You don’t need my kind. You’re right. You don’t. You need some decent teachers to educate the population such that they don’t turn out to be illiterate, incompetent, entitled, bitter individuals always blaming someone else for the fact that, despite having every opportunity handed to them, they still can’t make something of their lives.
What is your damage? Unemployable much?
How many Caymanians were hired, promoted or had to train another for his job? You are only looking at your progress aren’t you?
Ambitious yet Ignored. Frustrated. Stagnant. See. Now you know how we locals feel.
The Government has an obligation to the people of these islands to release the report, they are suppressing it because they will lose votes when people read that the only way out is a mass grant of permanent residence! This all happened under Alden’s Ministry!
We Caymanians just don’t want all these bright people with their well educated bright children to be given PR and inevitably Status because our own children will not be able to compete with them for the best jobs and there will be even more social unrest than there is now. Why can’t we just admit this and do away with PR and Status altogether? We already have more than enough people here in our best jobs.
8.39, you think the best jobs will stay if they cant be filled with the best qualified people? Hell no, employers will move them where the skills are…it is happening a little already
You are not Caymanian, you are an anonymous imposter.
Nice troll job!
It’s called satire and it is quite accurately to the point.
Exactly. You trolled us with sarcasm.
Its hard for me to understand why Caymanians, who control the government, have not insisted the education system in Cayman be improved to provide superior education to its children. Certainly everyone know the government spends (wastes) enough money on it. If education were superior, there would be plenty of people for those coveted “Offshore Industry” jobs. If that were to take place, everyone would be happy. There would be the need for less immigration, our youth would have responsible, well paying jobs (portable anywhere) and employers would have lower costs.
I admit such a plane would be implemented over years, but that is called forward thinking and visionary. Perhaps Caymanians and our government should consider such a philosophy. After all, it seems to work for Ken Dart.
So much for appreciation from these people who are being given a chance for citizenship in this small country. If you’re really that worried about “being in limbo” then abandon your application and move on…don’t sue the country that is giving you this opportunity because it’s taking too long. Adlen you have created this sense of entitlement amongst all but your own people. Please don’t do more damage to Caymanians’ opportunities by awarding a basket of PR’s…instead just continue to ignore the problem for your few remaining days in government. Hopefully next administration will rebalance the rights of Caymanians and guests!
remember your little ‘country’ cannot survive without ‘guests’…..
We don’t mind guests as long as they understand that’s what they are. if those guests aren’t happy they should leave..they’ll always be more willing to take their place.
They priority as with any country needs to be its citizens..not guests. This has not been the case with the PPM.
Mr. Trump I presume.
We need a government like Trump to drain the SWAMP.
Please stop using that idiotic phrase.
If you can abuse a person and get away with it, do it. If you can tell them what to do to get something and they do it, just don’t give it to them. Cos you can. And if they complain, tell them you’ll keep their money and leave. Genius. Thanks for your suggestion. You should get a job with Trump, he loves people like you.
As long as this government keeps the work permits flowing without properly training and teaching Caymanians then you are fooling yourself that they have citizens as a priority except at election time.
Keep voting for the same people and get the same results.
10.29, so you want the money the guests bring in WP dollars and import tax dollars, but not the people. And you don’t want to respect their rights under various recognized international conventions and laws. Don’t want much, do you? When you need to get to the Uk because this place collapses, I will remind you of your comments.
Prime example as to why Expatriates are needed here in Cayman…
I’m assuming you’re an adult! But why can’t you spell? Why are you unable to write a sentence in the correct form? Makes me laugh!
You should feel lucky to have such qualified people in Cayman. Why do you feel so entitled? It’s hilarious really!
I have two Caymanian sons and remind them almost daily how important it is that they don’t end up with your mentality. So that they see and understand that there is a bigger World out there! Not a small minded community such as you are showing/proving in your writing above.
You should feel ashamed! God, help this island!
In defense of the original poster. You tell them “you should feel ashamed”. Who are you to suggest how they ‘should’ feel?
Get over yourself. No greater example of your superiority complex than you telling someone else how they should feel. Stick to ‘I’ statements and save your judgement of others.
I’m a “guest” and I understood exactly what I was: a guest who was given a clear right by your elected leaders to apply to become a “permanent guest” if I jumped through certain hoops. I jumped through ALL those hoops, property, community service, mentoring, local investments, not to mention the very pricey application fee. Now I’m waiting, and waiting, and waiting…
Our failed leadership opened the door and left it open…for four years! Now these lawsuits will be paid by all Caymanians. The lesson will be: “you can’t treat people this way”, NOT your preferred: “don’t let the door hit you on the way out”. Learn or pay.
When Alden finally pulls the trigger with the UK uber-elite globalists firmly holding his finger, we are going to have thousands and thousands of new Caymanians.
This is going to make Bush’s escapade in 2003 look like a VIP party.
Cayman has been effectively dismantled and the shocking thing is that without the duplicity of certain Caymanians in the political, ruling class and their brethren in the judiciary, none of this would have been possible.
A fifth column infiltration has destroyed what made these islands so endearing.
There must be a good reason for the incredible and quick demise of this nation? Some people just don’t like to consider facts, I guess.
Well I suppose a fact is an inconvenient thing when one profits by ignoring it.
8.24, if any PR grants are made, they will be on the basis of proper applications vetted by Cayman authorities of people who have been here for 9-12 years and not caused you any issues. Most of those will have contributed more to Cayman than your whining a$$.
” He also said he did not know if the law suits would dry up and existing ones would fall away once the changes were made.”
Perhaps I can help. The law suits from those granted PR and only seeking a decision will go away since they will be pointless. The ones from those granted PR and seeking damages MAY go away – really rather depends on the level of damages and whether its worth it or not. However, the law suits will be replaced by ones from anyone not granted PR who has been on island for more than 10 years because the government waited more than 12 months to process them. They are going to first off claim the right to reside based on the 10 year principle, and then claim damages too for the delay in giving them the PR!
Sad – all they needed to do was process the applications promptly in the first place.
If anyone is still wondering how many lawsuits are possible, the answer is 900. Nine. Hundred. And that’s just PR…same delays and foot-dragging with Naturalisation and Status apps even without an arbitrary “points system” to blame.
Who wants to be a citizen of a bankrupt little island ? unless your from an even worse place like haiti jamaica or perhaps north korea
Total ignorance. What basis do you have to say these Islands are bankrupt and only think Haiti, Jamaica or NK are worse?
How about UK, US, France, Canada, Japan? In fact why don’t you find one country less indebted and broke than Cayman?
If you are from here I suggest you do some research, if you are not then perhaps you should go home….
*you’re
Dear Mr. Premier
Can you kindly explain why you avoided and refused to speak with police officers?
What are you hiding?
stop asking akward questions!!!….
its the reason why the ppm stopped government press briefings within their first month in power????
It would seem that this government needs to suspend the issuing of PR and Caymanian status. It is clear that the country does not need any more permanent residents so it is important that everyone knows this so that there is clear and realistic expectations from all involved.
caymankind…..
I agree that PR is not in the best interest of the Caymanian people. It was created for a certain class of people and it should cease. Go back the Caymanian Protection Board and limited permit years. The only country that the government doesn’t put their people first. Every law is for foreign interest. It has to stop.
Hey. If anybody that works for immigration is reading this, I have a question. Why, if you are NOT going to call back on a telephone message, do you say “leave a number and I will call you back”? You don’t call back, and that just makes you a rude, lying, un-civil servant. Why not record your message something like “I’m not here, please call me back” or “I’m not available right now, bye bye” or “how did you get this #, leave me alone. I let you pay my wages, isn’t that enough. What do you people want from me?!”
Point is I have foolishly through the years left messages on sweet sounding machines (that I paid for) and have never, never, never, never, never, never recieved a call back.
Don’t answer this comment if you don’t want….I will continue to pay your wages.
Good!
“He admitted” “He admitted”
Did Alden also admit to not returning phone calls to the Police?
the ppm reek of incompetence every time they give one of their ‘updates’…………
although cig deserves to be sued for their incompetence……the sad fact is that it will probably be work permit holders through higher permit fees that will be forced to carry the cost….
Work permit holders are not permitted to pay or contribute to work permit fees.
WP holders don’t directly pay for the fees you are right, but do you really think they don’t effectively pay for them? Don’t you think that any employer effectively looks at total cost of each employee?
indirectly they will
Government of the elite, by the elite, for the elite has always been a problem in small countries where a few run it all. Look at all the other islands. Same problems.
and why have you done nothing on this for 4 years?????
bringing a stop-gap measure at this stage only confirms your poor governence
More accurately, the words “arbitrary and unfair” relate to those who rule on the applications, and this is what the Chief Justice was referring to. Revising the points system will not cure this problem.
Regardless of who authored the points system, Alden and his Cabinet made the choice to do nothing for their four years. Now that negligence is going to be tallied as those that have been abused line up to make their claims. This is Alden’s legacy.
And that’s not even just in his capacity as Premier, but as Minister of Home Affairs. While he can somewhat plausibly deflect the blame on something like education, it’s futile to deflect it on this issue. The buck stops squarely with him.
7:48 pm Can someone tell us why everyone/anybody who sets foot on these Cayman Islands expect to come to stop and stay? What is a work permit? Is it a contract? When an contract expires, do you have the right to stay? How many other countries/ islands are allowing these permit holders to claim or apply for PR?
The government that kept making changes to the laws to accommodate these people, who have come here to conquer and destroy the lives of the Caymanian people, they have dug the deep hole and a crater has formed.
When will the government make laws for CAYMANIANS? Everywhere you go, people are or have been pushed out of jobs because of permit holders. Start picketing, demonstrate, march and take back the positions you have been deprived of.
In the late 1960s up to 1980, our people held jobs and were able go live a decent life. Why are we creating PR, to make the lives of our people worse? Alden you need to tell us, why the job market is solely for expats? Who created this situation and what are you going to do about it? You must have an answer for your people. Or else by the stroke of the pen close the gate come May 24, 2017.
The Progressives, the government that gets things done. Well, not counting PR, the dump, the dock, welfare reform, immigration reform and education reform.
But in their defense all of those things were like that when they took office in 2013 so I guess they… aren’t… responsible… cos… they’re just not, okay! Just because a party is in power doesn’t mean everything that hasn’t been done is their fault. It’s complicated.
The easy way to think of it is that anything good that happened, like minimum wage and the surplus, happened because of them. Anything bad, or anything that didn’t happen at all, was someone else’s fault. Got it?!
For too long others beside Caymanians have been a priority. PR is not a priority. job for Caymanians is a priority, education including increasing scholarships funding is a priority, reducing crime is a priority.
And the government has done so well on jobs, education and reducing crime.
Meanwhile the money for these projects is supposedly in the government coffers, which are protected by checks and balances and laws and regulations from the front, but continue to be comprehensively looted by unscrupulous Caymanians from the rear where there is no oversight, no accountability, no enforcement and no political will to change for fear of annoying the voters.
Ummm, the arbitrary and unlawful nature of the points system was known for years before the Chief Justice issued his ruling. You suddenly surprised to learn there is gambling in Casinos, Mr. Premier?
I’m neither a political analyst nor an expert, but here’s my guess as to why the Ritch Report remains undisclosed: the recommendations contained therein will outrage voters to the point where the Progressives will have almost no chance at re-election.
And, if that is truly the case, then it is merely illustrative of how self-serving the ruling administration is…
6:51pm you hit the nail on the head with your comments, the irresponsibility of this government to deal with this issue or any other difficult issue for that matter in 4 years is an indication that this group of politicians is not up to the task at hand.
Voters please look for more from political candidates than their simply saying that they will stand up for Caymanians.