Two more receive PR from application backlog
(CNS): Two more applicants received permanent residency this week, according to the latest figures released by government, as the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board inches through a backlog of more than 900 applications. Since the board resumed its work on the stalled PR applications in May, it has reviewed just 43 files and granted PR to ten applicants.
Of the ten applications the board reviewed this week, two were approved, three were refused, two were deferred for more information and one was not reviewed because the application was made after the eight year deadline. Two more applications were withdrawn by the applicants.
There has been public concern about the backlog and whether it could ultimately lead to a mass grant of permanent residency rights. There is significant speculation that anyone who has been living consistently in Cayman for ten years or more who is refused residency could challenge the decision in the courts. If they won, and many lawyers seem extremely confident they would, it could set legal precedent and result in another mass status grant.
The premier has stated that there will be no mass grants, and since May the board has refused thirteen applications. Given that officials have said the applications are being considered in the order they were made, with the oldest first, all thirteen must have been resident for more than 10 years.
So far, no one has filed a legal challenge or requested a judicial review of the recent refusals made by the board. While there are around seven legal challenges relating to the delay in the consideration of the applications, the refusals have not yet triggered any court action.
However, it is likely that the applicants who have ben refused PR do not have the means to pay for attorneys, but they may be waiting for the opportunity to join a class action or for someone with the means to win a case.
Current Numbers of Permanent Residency Applications Reviewed by the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency (CSPR) Board
| Thursday,
11 May 2017 |
Thursday,
22 June 2017 |
Thursday,
29 June 2017 |
Thursday,
6 July 2017 |
Thursday,
13 July 2017 |
|
| Number of PR applications considered by the CSPR Board: |
2 |
10 |
10 |
11 |
10 |
| Number of PR applications approved: |
2 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
| Number of PR applications refused: |
0 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
| Number of PR applications deferred: |
0 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
| Number of PR applications withdrawn by applicant: |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| No power (meaning applicant applied after the 9 year deadline): |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
Category: Local News, Policy, Politics
An easier way to send them all home is to enforce the local laws here for the so called ‘petty crimes’ e.g. speeding and drinking and driving.
Tie in a clean police record with the right to residency. Once all of them are caught drinking and driving, they all get sent home. No class action suit necessary.
An individual who commits a crime and received residency through a process should be sent home immediately and this should include driving offenses as that is criminal.
Because it’s only expats that commit traffic offenses right? Jeez, more BS that expats are everything that’s wrong with Cayman. Sad.
They can send Caymanians home to…but that would just be Cayman. You should behave better as a guest.
Speeding and DUI are misdemeanor traffic offenses, and in practical reality, only a small percentage of the thousands of culprits (expat and born) are actually detected and caught. What about failure to indicate and texting and driving? What does your military doctrine prescribe for that? It is terrifying to know that psychopath xenophobes, without any sense of proportion, can actually think this stuff up, type it out, and press submit.
A clean police record is required for PR. Traffic offences are not included nor would they every be because that is just crazy.
I would like to know if the people that applied after 9 years, were there legally living and working here? How is something this simple being missed?
Additionally, what are the reasons for the denials? Is there a common theme? How long do these people have to wrap up their affairs?
If they get a job with government, forever.
If they appeal, even if the appeal is not successful, about 10 years.
If they surrender and do nothing, about 3 months.
So you can get denied PR and then go get a job with the government?
The application can be denied, and the person can appeal, during that time they can work with a work permit. So yes, they could get a government job.
Stop this 10 year residence must be granted PR nonsense.
Those who have lived in paradise for 10 years should be thankful. Then quietly pack return to your miserable home and return to paradise in 12 mths.
Trolltastic.
Paradise? Yes you certainly make it sound like that, Caymankind and all that…..
So when this doctor or lawyer leaves, you will take over his/her job?
It is NOT Paradise…..by a million light years.
Why are they treated u lawfully?
Because the constitution requires all actions of government to be rational, reasonable, proportionate and procedurally fair. If the government operates in a manner inconsistent with these principles it is acting unlawfully. The courts have already determined that being kept waiting too long to have an application dealt with contravenes these requirements.
After 8 years you can apply but after 9 years you cant apply but if you applied in your 8th year and have been living here 10 years and get declined you can appeal and will probably win. Is this for real? So the 9 year guy has no say despite being here 1 year longer than the 8 year guy?
Who wrote these rules?
The issue is not how long they were living here before applying (as long as they applied before the 9 year limit). The 9 year limit was intended to ensure people could be rejected before they hit the magic 10 year qualification mark, which is considered an international human rights based standard, not a local rule. The problem is that the government has taken so long dealing with the applications that both the 9 year guy and the 8 year guy have now been here longer than 10 years, so even if they are rejected under the Cayman rules they have a very good chance of getting given PR u the court based on the international standard. That’s the issue. So the 9 year guy doesn’t have lesser rights than the 8 year guy. What is more the process of clearing the backlog is taking so long that even people who are applying now – just past the 8 year mark – are going to pass the 10 year point before their applications are heard.
whew… Better take the summer off now.
Will a public list be available showing the names of successful applicants?
What really gets me is they are giving PR to people who have the most money. Expensive homes and once they are papered up they will own all their own businesses and you think they will hire caymanians? After what they been through? A few good ones will. The others will be your new employers and after the tests they have had to sit designed to make them fail. The time and worry they have been through. The police clearances medicals and fees they have paid. What can i say. Time longer than rope. Did i get that saying right?
Did they teach English in your school?
Why on Earth would any sane employer take his issues with government out on his employees?
Because the majority have a very strong dislike for the local people and local culture. They mock Caymanians at work for their accent, for their food choices, for anything that is not like ‘back home’ for them.
You are obviously not a Caymanian. It is felt in many organizations across the board.
Wow, that must be a heavy chip on your shoulder.
Anonymous at 5.57 am. I see where you are coming from. I’m a British expat who loves all my Caymanian friends – their accents; their food choices etc. The fact that I’m an expat is never mentioned, they just accept me who I am and vice versa. But I do know what you are talking about – the small but extremely powerful percentage of white men who are in charge of all the businesses here – law firms etc. They are prejudice in the most part. But prejudice against anyone who isn’t a rich white man. So they hate the likes of me too. Get Caymanians running the big businesses!!
You raise a very interesting point about the test. I have seen a lot of the questions and have to say many are very difficult. Whilst I admit the Cayman Status test questions in the 70/80s were really too simple, the powers that be who composed these questions have gone overboard. Having said that I do believe every applicant should know about the Cayman Islands, its history and culture.
Mr Johnson may not be aware but that Status test question sheet in the 70s was produced by expats at the then Cayman Islands High School because the authorities could not find any Caymanians able to actually produce it rather than talk about it. Things haven’t changed much in some ways.
I was not aware of that although I knew that almost all questions came from one book so not much reading was necessary. Some years afterwards I organized a trivia pursuit lunch at the Rotary Club on Cayman history and culture. It was amazing how little both ex pats and Caymanians knew about our islands. The most amusing bit was that the late Harry McCoy was retained as mediator and he explained how that particular book was wrong in several places! So how do lesser mortals succeed?
They are already doing that. “tests they have had to sit designed to make them fail” sounds like job ads that are designed around someone’s existing resume.
Your government, you know the one you voted for, designed the system so that only expats that are rich, landowners, well educated and know Caymanian history/culture get to stay. I agree that it will unfortunately make it more difficult for Caymanians to compete in the job market and more expensive to buy real estate. What are you (generally, Cayman) going to do about it other than moan on cns and keep re-electing the same people who -ed you in the past?
Even if 10 were dealt with every week (and in fact the actual number is closer to 6) then it will take more than 2 years just to catch up. That will mean that every single applicant will have been treated unlawfully, including those yet to apply. Hey Alden, this your circus?
Probably counting on a big drop through withdrawal as the pension cut off date approaches and the ongoing restrictions on promotion and change of title continue to bite. Guess the hope is that once the message gets out that the acceptance rate is < 25% most will think its not worth it or have no choice but to withdraw, leaving him with a politically acceptable number and discouraging others from applying. That way the government can claim it has a system for providing people with a path to permanent residency within the 10 year mark to deal with international criticism, but everyone knows the process in reality is going to take way longer than that and will deter all but the few.
Of course, the risk is that those with the means to sue may look at the rejection rate and speed of progress versus the 100% record so far on litigation and decide the better solution is to sue. Once you have more than a handful, its going to be progressively easier to have a class action and reduce the cost of suing. High risk strategy, but I guess in Alden's shoes a bit easier than simply dealing with the applications in an efficient manner and owning responsibility for the system that he put in place.