Miller calls for transparency on relief visa policy

| 29/09/2017 | 100 Comments
Cayman News Service

North Side MLA Ezzard Miller

(CNS): Opposition Leader Ezzard Miller says he is fully behind the need to offer visas and temporary evacuations to the citizens of BVI and other territories as the countries attempt to rebuild their business economy after the devastation from hurricanes Irma and Maria. However, he has called on the government to publish the full details of the policy supporting the temporary visa and permit programme and has questioned the need for work permit holders in the jurisdictions affected to be evacuated here. Miller told CNS that government did not discuss the policy with the opposition and has not made the details public.

“We have a lot of sympathy for the people of the islands that have been hit and we want to do what we can to help,” he said. “But the emphasis must be on helping the people of the relevant jurisdictions, not help financial services companies hang on to work permit holders. I don’t see any benefit to the overseas territories by the offshore firms sending their work permit holders to Cayman.”

Speaking to CNS, the opposition leader explained his concerns about Cayman offering visas and temporary work here to other nationals from offshore and financial services firms who are already permit holders in the places they are leaving. He asked what guarantees will be in place to ensure that they don’t make applications to stay in Cayman for the longer term and compound the local immigration challenges.

CNS asked the immigration ministry a number of questions about the policy, which were not answered, but the immigration department issued a press release Wednesday in which officials outlined more details. They said that temporary work permits granted under this humanitarian response measure will be restricted to offshore work being performed for clients of the pre-hurricane jurisdictions as if the permit holders were still living and employed back in their home jurisdictions. BVI attorneys will be practicing BVI law from Cayman Islands on behalf of BVI clients, officials stated.

Local firms have provided a letter of undertaking for their overseas employees and dependents, the release confirmed, which states that they will be responsible for them and that any work conducted is related to their initial jurisdiction office. The Department of Immigration said it wanted to assure the public that the influx of work permit holders will not impact local staff or affect available positions for Caymanian workers.

“If a work permit or an extension is needed past the maximum allotment of six months, the normal Immigration Law requirements will be followed, such as advertising for the position to help ensure Caymanian workers are given the opportunity to fill long-term positions,” Acting Chief Immigration Officer Bruce Smith said.

But Miller questioned why any ex-pat workers from BVI or TCI would need to come to Cayman when they could return to their own nations, leaving more room for the citizens of the islands that have been decimated by the storms and genuinely need a safe haven from which to rebuild their country’s economies. The opposition leader said he was prepared to support the local citizens but he said he was concerned that in reality the only people Cayman was receiving as evacuees would be permit holders,  which in the end was about helping major law firms not the islands in trouble. 

In the release, immigration said it had agreed to provide a reduction, and in some cases waiver, of fees for temporary work permits (TWPs), after the visitor extension has expired as a means to regularise the immigration status of those who have already arrived in the wake of the storm through their company connections in Cayman. Application fees for attorneys and accountants from the prospective companies will be reduced by 75% for a three-month TWP and 50% for a six-month TWP, officials said, adding that categories of workers will be capped at a maximum of $615 for three months and $1,230 for six months.

The fees will be waived altogether for individuals working from Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. Locally registered financial services companies must make the applications and the department said the usual immigration rules will apply and background checks will be carried out on all applicants.

The Depatment of Immigration said it has also received requests to accommodate people affected in the region who are not affiliated with financial firms, especially people wanting to send children here so they can go to school. Deputy Chief Immigration Officer Samantha Bennett said these requests would be considered on their own merit, along with potential sponsors and financial support for their potential temporary stay.

Commenting on the arrival of various evacuees for different reasons, she said the DoI had a list of everyone who had arrived on island and the department would “continue to monitor it closely to know when their periods of stay become expired”.

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Comments (100)

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  1. anonymous says:

    Small minded, discriminatory, self-serving bloke. Where is your generosity of spirit and where is CAYMANKIND…. not on your doorstep obviously. These people have had their lives ruined whilst you sit in your comfortable home, enjoying family time etc. Get over yourself or pipe down!

  2. Anonymous says:

    Must be sad to be so angry and prejudiced.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    First of all, the people who are here are not looking for hand outs and are not trying to break any laws and do not want to remain here! So that’s one point. During times of disaster, things cannot be done as they normally are so immigration processes will be different. Now what Immigration has as their contingency plan for these types of events is a different thing but it cannot be handled the same way. In some cases, there are evacuees but as we can see, Cayman is taking the ones with the highest qualifications, the more prestigious jobs and so on. That is guaranteed that these people wont be a burden. Unlike the rest of the Caribbean who is taking in people of all walks of life and helping them to rebuild their home countries so they can go back. I agree, proper records of who came and who leaves but to try to treat this the same as someone applying for a job and moving here does not make sense. Caymanians who are being nasty minded – remember Ivan! You were spared twice with Harvey and Maria but hurricane season is not over. Where will you go if you get slammed? UK? Good luck Bobo!

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    • Rick says:

      The Cayman government wants the best people to reside here. What that’s does is to just push the real Caymanian aside. Slowly but surely you will end up with the have and have not’s and in this case the latter is the Caymanian. Its a tricky ball to solve but I believe have the best folk reside here can often lead to more burden. The more wealthy these people are the less they spend and integrate into Caymanian society. Most view Caymans as being lazy and just a native.
      On the other hand as with most Caribbean countries they except a wide range of folk which creates a balance that leads to better integration. lesser wealthy folk tend to spend more money cause they have more expenses. Plus they understand people that are on their level of progress. Having the best on your island can lead to a downfall and making your life less.

    • Anonymous says:

      Anon 3:07pm. Whu do you think that these high level employees cannot do the same work from the Countries they came from? There is such a thing as the internet today that they do not need to come to Cayman to use.
      Let us help the less fortunate from BVI and TCI, the ultra rich lawyers and accountants can look after themselves and work remotely from their original homes.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Of course we should be helping our neighbors, but I don’t think there is any harm in getting some clarity as to what is going on with this process.

    There are a number of high profile firms and banks who have been affected and I sincerely wonder how much they are doing for their employees who have been affected. I am all for our Government helping out, but I also believe that those companies need to dig in their own pockets to provide assistance, even if this means that some law firm partners may not get their usual million dollar bonus this year.

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  5. Ricardo says:

    I think it is best that all Expats leave Cayman. Seems that this country dislike those that take their jobs away and then apply for PR. I have never met at island like this one. They put laws in place for PR and when those that qualify they just keep raising the bar.

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    • East End Resident says:

      I would really love to see all non-Caymanian workers take a week off. All of them. At once. Let the local unemployed try to cover those jobs not being done. Let Caymanians see how their country will run without all these people they keep telling to leave. Let’s see how tourists like checking into dirty rooms, making their own beds, serving their own drinks and meals. Let’s see how you like turning up to the hospital to be told there is not enough staff to treat you, no one to clean the wards, or change your bed. Let’s see how parents like to send their kids to schools with just a handful of local teachers. Let’s see how many tourists will return when there aren’t any more dive boats because all the dive instructors have gone. You will have to cut your own hair, try to eat from almost empty shelves at the store. Let’s see how all the locally owned businesses fare when all the high paid lawyers, bankers and investment managers are no longer here spending their money. Go on, let’s allow all the non-Caymanians a weeks vacation and see how much you all like it here then. Getting sick of it now. We all need each other. Let’s try to get along.

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      • Anonymous says:

        meh..gtfoh with that logic. less people mean less staff needed for services. People were fine here before. Usual scare tactics. Majority of the expats that are here,work for services that cater to non caymanian entities. You’re ignorant to think that people here cant make a living without expats. Guess we were bush animals before you came. smh

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    • Anonymous says:

      Don’t feel too bad about it. Caymanians
      are not picking on you. They pretty much don’t even like each other.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    I guess these are all high income earners from the article. How is this a negative to help them? Surely they will spend money on Island, and I cannot see them being a burden to social services. It is not like they want to put their children in public schools. And if they did it would only help CIG’s stats.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    All these persons are breaching the Trade and Business law or the Monetary Authority law if they are not also licensed under these laws. Mr Miller can you get to the bottom of this in Finance Committee please.

    Immigration dept cannot override other regulatory laws.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Caymanians will forget their unkind words the next time Cayman islands are hit with a cat 5 hurricane but everyone else will not. Expats here will help and get help. Caymanians will be on their own and only for their own as usual.

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    • Anonymous says:

      didnt see any rich expats helping jack. Everyone took a plane and left. It was the caymanians that couldnt afford to leave, or the ones being threaten by employers, along with jamaicans that rebuilt the infrastucture of cayman. The three exapts you might now, doesnt equate to more than the locals that were here doing the work. Maybe you think, walking a dog after Ivan, is rebuilding a country.smh

  9. Anonymous says:

    I’m all for proper immigration and the promotion of locals into business, it Ezzard has to realize that theses are regional firms and rebuilding the Caribbean and helping makes our entire offshore industry stronger. Otherwise these same professionals may move and profit in Singapore, HK, Malta, and Mauritius
    One-Caribbean

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Many people have come for a few weeks and since left what’s the issue Ezzard!

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  11. Anonymous says:

    No rules are bent here. These people arrived as a visitor, they are not employed in Cayman so they technically don’t need work permits. Read the Law!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Are they working?
      Are they Caymanian?
      Is their employer licensed?

      You read the law!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Hello! Forget reading the law, just read the article.

      Rules were bent to allow them to pay up to 75% less than the other people in similar positions on a work permit.

  12. Anonymous says:

    Why would you need a Trade & Business license? the business is not moving here the people are temporarily. Only if needed will work permits be applied for as many have already come and gone! We appreciate the Governments initiative and so do the evacuees, and we thank the Immigration Department for being so responsive. Why do we always have to turn a positive story into a negative one!

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  13. Anonymous says:

    Dear Caymanians, I pray that you get your wish and that all ex-pats leave these islands. Tell me, who is then going to pick up your garbage, mow your lawns, look after your children and scrub your toilets?

    Who is going to serve you at your favorite restaurants? BK, Wendy’s, KFC?

    Who is going to run your financial industry? And think before you answer. It’s not going to be Caymanians, because if you were capable of it….you’d already be doing it.

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    • Anonymous says:

      You are asking them questions to which they have no intelligence to answer. These are the ones who think God is bringing all that money to Cayman and not expats. They want the money but not the job. Best for everyone including themselves if everyone just ignores them like their parents did.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Wow if that is the view that you expats have of Caymanians I would suggest you all leave here quickly before you make the mistake of saying that to some loyal Caymanians face. Caymanians are being provoked and pushed to a breaking point and the backlash is not going to be nice! I see it coming!

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    • Anonymous says:

      So true.

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    • West bay Premier says:

      Anonymous 7:27am , you should have thought about what you were going to say before you wrote that comment . Are you saying that NO CAYMANIAN are capable of doing all the above jobs you mentioned ? What happened to all the CAYMANIANS who are now doing or got the OPPORTUNITY to do them ? Have you ever heard of the word SELLOUT ? Could that be the reasons why there’s not too many Caymanians doing all those jobs ?

      I know that Cayman Islands has some uneducated people , but you don’t need to have education to clean toilets, mow lawns , or serve / work at those fast foods .
      But Government are able to sell a work permit for some uneducated person to do those jobs .

      I know that if CAYMANIANS were given equal opportunity to have and do those jobs they would step up and have those jobs . So what’s wrong with the uneducated Caymanian who can do these jobs ? You and Government should be looking after these Caymanians get these jobs .
      Be part of the solution not part of the problems pushing the Caymanians out of their own Country / Islands.

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      • Jotnar says:

        But they do have more than equal opportunity under the law to do those jobs. In fact, if a Caymanian is capable of doing the job they should get it , irrespective of whether an expat is better qualified for the same position, The OPPORTUNITY is not the issue, willingness to do the job for the pay on offer, and enforcement of the law to ensure those rights are respected, is the issue.

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        • anonymous says:

          garbage, that does not happen. employers choose their countrymen and friends. They ignore the laws and the CIG doesnt enforce them.

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          • Anonymous says:

            agreed. the amount of expats in positions that could help the caymanian workforce is unreal, but they push for their own. When questioned, its the usual bull about caymanians being lazy. See this crap everyday in the country. Idiots holding positions in cayman, because their friend is married to some golf buddy, and cant tie their shoe lace without forgetting their name in the process.

            Usual thing that happens everywhere, They have the mentality, that ‘local’ people must be ruled and kept in check

  14. Anonymous says:

    They are bringing their jobs with them. Then they will go back. Why all the nastiness about a temporary relief effort?

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  15. Anonymous says:

    People might not remember, but in 2004 BVI opened their arms to our refugees from Ivan. No question of work permits then.

    We should do likewise, Miller. End of.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Have we done it lawfully?

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    • West bay Premier says:

      Now unaha. leave Ezzard and dem Politicians alone because dem know best and da smartest and the most humane people in da hole world and Neva Fagets themself .

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    • West bay Premier says:

      I agree with anonymous 4:29pm , even though 5 people have disagreed with the comment .

      Why can’t we all realize that in life all kinds of things can come our way, and we never know WHO or WHAT we would need when disaster/problems hits .
      This is why we should always be prepared to always do onto to others , as you would like others to do onto you , and always LOVE your neighbor as you LOVE yourself , unless.

      Remember that disaster and mother nature don’t care who you are , or how much money you have .

      I’ll give you a true story , sometime ago this man asked one off the richest men in West bay for a dollar, the rich man replied if I had all the money in the world I wouldn’t give you a dollar, the beggar reply and said if i had all the food in the world it take all of your money just to buy one mouth full . Made the rich man think about his selfish attitude and he gave him the dollar .

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    • Anonymous says:

      BS.

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  16. Anonymous says:

    you can tell the ignorant expats rampage on CNS. Please go home. We will start again without your ignorance.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Start again?

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    • Anonymous says:

      You are not ignorant because of what you know. Your ignorant because of what you don’t want to know.

    • Anonymous says:

      You will start again, what with?
      You have no expertise, no money, no credible education system, no experience, no work ethic, no conscience and certainly no common sense.
      Dart is the only person keeping this Islands infrastructure up to international standards, you are clueless and quite frankly ridiculous to suggest that you could in any way take over the huge industry that is competently managed by expats.
      The ignorance emanating from this argument is the total preserve of those who don’t understand how the world actually works outside of the Cayman bubble, and Ezzard is your bigoted cheerleader.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Perfect.

      • Anonymous says:

        No Expertise? HAHAHHAA.. take your head out of your ars mate. Do you think people were here swinging in trees until you came and save them? Keep that colonial attitude to yourself. hahaha what a nutter.

    • Anonymous says:

      3.40 we are all expats here…no natives…Africa for you? Good luck with that.

  17. Anonymous says:

    Dun worry bout it Gizzard. Nobody come fer your job.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Oh but others do: Edward Chisholm, Justin Ebanks and Jay Ebanks. As a matter of fact Jay Ebanks needed only 4 more votes to send Ezzard home in May 2017. Ezzard has a national agenda which his brandishes often but not so much of a local constituency agenda. Members of his constituency, like any one in this modern time, has real issues of unemployment, underemployment, depression, drug, alcohol and domestic abuse. However, as I listen to him in the national media, I very rarely hear him mentioned them or what his plans are for them. I hear him talk about objecting to development plans or immigration issues but not his agenda for his constituency. National agenda items are fine but equally so are his local constituency plans.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Over the next 3+ years Ezzard needs to address his local constituency agenda, he needs to call a meeting and invite people to attend and plan one. Please do not say there is none. Ezzard you need to get your District Council to convene a committee to create one. This is your last round, ole boy. If you don’t do right by us you can begin now to look for a new constituency to run in or you can announce now that this is your last term. Alternately, any group who wants Ezzard’s leadership can court him now because if he does not shape up on the local constituency scene he could “be coming to a district near you.”

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  18. Rafaelle says:

    The problem is not Ezzard’s comprehension skills but those who’s very deceptive claim that their self interest is benefical to all who live here in Cayman. The level of secrecy practice by those now in power would be of concern also for Mr Miller especially since they are always talking about transparency.

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  19. Potato Masher says:

    All the man is asking for is some clarity with what is transpiring with the process and if it is above board as they claim whats the problem? Saying that what has PPM and Mckeeva ever done that has benefitted these islands??? ZERO!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Transparency = good.
      Red herrings about ‘helping expats is not helping the affected islands’ = bad

      This is the problem with MLA Miller, Compass, et al. They mash together a good idea and a bad idea and end up hindering instead of helping.

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  20. JOtnar says:

    What’s the basis for issuing a work permit to a business that doesn’t even have a trade and business licence here? What about health insurance and pension? The permit system is designed around Cayman companies doing Cayman business. Once you start bending the rules to facilitate work in Cayman but not related to Cayman ( honest guv) on a completely different regulatory basis and without any law underpinning it you get into real difficulties.

    What will the government say to a hedge fund that says all its transactions are onshore so they should get a big discount on their fees because hey, its the same issue , people getting a discount because the work they do relates to somewhere else? What if those BVI companies now expand the numbers here and bring in more people saying they should all get the discount and not have a TBL or pay pension or provide health? What if I transfer Cayman employees employment contracts to our BVI sister entity – do we get a discount on their work permits, because there is nothing to say that they had to actual be resident in BVI at the time of the hurricane to qualify- just employees of a BVI firm.

    Slippery slope because government has just jumped in without thinking the implications through or ensuring there is a legal basis for their “policy”. Don’t like Ezzards rationale but he is absolutely right on that point. None of this has any basis in law or regulations – they are making it up as they go along and it’s going to be an absolute mess.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Actually Jotnar, the Work Permit regime is based around anyone engaging in gainful occupation in Cayman, no matter where their clients or customers may be.

  21. Anonymous says:

    Playing the expat hatred card in a crisis. Stay classy Ezzard. How on earth did you get voted back in, apart from mimicking Trump?

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    • Anonymous says:

      you picked expat out of all of that and ran with it like a donkey with a buggy. He said how does that help the PEOPLE who are locals from that country? Expats live somewhere else and all they are doing is relocating here to make money. They could go back to their OWN country and do the same. The idea is to help the local people who need it. FFS.. and you wonder why locals dont like unno and look at you like a lionfish

  22. Anonymous says:

    Trade and Business License?

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  23. Anonymous says:

    Does this guy’s xenophobia have no limits? He thinks Hurricane Irma is a private sector conspiracy to bring more expats to Cayman?

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  24. A Point of View says:

    Hey Ezzard

    The benefit to the economy is that they are here and spending money. They are not taking jobs away from Caymanians as they are doing “BVI” work. In fact you may be surprised to find out that Caymanians may get employed to do BVI work, but let’s not let that get in the way of a great opportunity for you to grandstand.

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  25. Anonymous says:

    I feel that Ezzard would fit in perfectly in Bermuda. He has the perfect mentality for it.

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    • PROUD CAYMANIAN says:

      Why is it always wrong for any Caymanian at any level to seek clarity or to seek transparency and be nationalistic or proud to defend and look out for the interests of Caymanians and the Cayman Islands?

      It happens in every country, leaders protect and defend the interests of their people and do so with laws and policies which are created to aid this process? Caymanians want the same privileges or concessions that are afforded to everybody that comes to these shores. Caymanians want one standard that is applicable to all which will provide certainty and a level playing field for all.

      The rules are supposed to apply to all with related policies and laws that protect the citizens of that country wherever you go. It happens in USA, UK, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, Singapore, BVI, Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, TCI, Jamaica, Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man and all others with a Financial Services industry and tourism industry. Do you think it’s as easy to get a work permit, Citizenship or PR and Belonger status in any of those countries as it is in the Cayman Islands?

      Why is that a problem for people who come to these shores who now embody the entitled attitude that they seem to label most locals of possessing? Why is it acceptable for any Caymanian Leader including Ezzard Miller who has been elected by Caymanian voters to be ridiculed and lambasted for demanding a transparent process…shouldn’t we have that expectation that all of our MLA’s would do the same and protect the Interests of Caymanians?

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      • Anonymous says:

        Because this is an emergency. When someone falls into a pool and is drowning, please don’t require they fill in the appropriate form in triplicate before you can throw them a life ring.

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        • Anonymous says:

          No. We threw them the life ring unhesitatingly. They are ashore, safe, sound, dry, and stable. Now giving 60 days to fill out reasonable paperwork is entirely appropriate.

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        • Anonymous says:

          you mean, like the emergency that is happening where refugees are fleeing bombs and europe is holding these same people in camps? Like that? where Europe and the US is bombing the sh$t out of people and denying them the ability to flee from it.

          Ok.. I be non of you would have even cared about this article if it didnt mention anything about expats.

          Funny how the hyprocrites come out to play

      • Anonymous says:

        Its not wrong, Its just ignorant.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Ezzard employs the same tactics Trump is using on Puerto Rico. They need help badly and all Trump does is slag them off. There is a time and a place for everything. Help these guys, they need it and will be forever grateful. Meanwhile you sit there writing nasty shit which all those visitors can read easily just showing how Godless and wutless you are. Caymankind reputation on open display for all these needy visitors to see.

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  26. Anon says:

    Ezzard needs to try to understand that it is important for the BVI economy to have an offsite location, where their businesses can continue to function, as a BVI company. Stop focusing on whether the employee is a BVI national or foreigner. If their businesses can no longer support their clients needs, the BVI economy will be severely falter and collapse.

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  27. Anonymous says:

    We are talking about a couple hundred finance professionals being absorbed into sibling Cayman-contributing businesses for maybe 3-6 months. Many won’t even have their own desks at those offices. Give them a temp 6 month and let them spend their money while they are here. These are the people with cash that will be part of rebuilding the islands that will rise again – just like Grand Cayman did after Ivan. We have such a short memory! Once the roads are clear, the ugliest messes cleaned up, water and power (air conditioning, refrigeration) back on, these people will want to get back and clean up their own properties on those islands. They aren’t stealing any jobs – they already work for those firms!

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    • MM says:

      I believe the BVI needs their money and their spending right now…

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    • Anonymous says:

      Exactly, we are not talking about importing poverty here! We a giving shelter to high income persons. Ezzard is always beyond daft, let’s hope the rest of us not so slow..

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  28. Anonymous says:

    It’s a shame many of our public servants cannot relate to how it works (above entry level) in the private sector: where aptitudes, congeniality, performance, education, showing up, corporate allegiance, and retention actually matter for something. It’s also ironic (and sad) that the misfits of the Legislative Assembly can only relate to world where the discarded and least proficient can bumble into 6-figure 4 year contracts, many at zero personal output.

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  29. Anonymous says:

    Miller still doesn’t understand the vital role that expat labour plays in the economy and so the re-generation of the country. Without the skills to re-build the financial services industry, those desperate islands will fail and along with them their long suffering people.
    By ignorantly indulging in nationalistic rants, he only diminishes the skills base needed to drive these desperate Islands economic engine from Cayman in the short term. Sending experts back home will prove counter productive and leave them exposed, or is that his intention, to destroy the financial sector in our competitors hour of need?
    Whatever his intentions, he should stop playing politics with peoples lives and show some humanity to those whose only crime is to lose everything to nature. Expat or otherwise, those islands need all the expertise they can hold onto and if that means they set up office here in the meantime, then so be it.

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  30. Bring Back Clamping says:

    Nothing that comes from the mouth of a man who thinks his privileges extend to parking on double yellow lines is of any value to this country.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Or digging up Old Man Bay Dock ramp and moving the sand into the pond opposite illegally. Read the notice, it clearly say the sand should be put on the beach.

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  31. Anonymous says:

    I don’t understand why we have to reduce the fees.. Are these companies reducing their fees to their clients? Can these companies not afford our fees? Are they not collecting insurance for disruption of business? They are actually saving money combining everyone under one roof..

    Come on Alden and you other goof balls, Think!!! The optics and the media attention is good now but we will pay dearly for it.

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    • Jotnar says:

      The optics is good? Charging people work permit fees for work done on non Cayman work that would never have been done here? Is that even allowed? And in the meantime they still have to pay their BVI fees and income tax. You think the optics are good but to me it looks like Cayman taking advantage. By all means give them visitor permits and tell them they cannot do Cayman work but I don’t see the moral or legal basis for taxing them on work done for a foreign jurisdiction.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Have you considered that the businesses and people affected still have financial obligations in the BVI itself, and additional financial obligations while in Cayman?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Dude, this is all about optics. (And being friendly to people hit by a hurricane.) If you look for fees off of it that’s bad. (Think of it like raising the price of corned beef during hurricane season.) If you try to poach their business that’s bad. (Kicking them while they’re down.) If you’re mean and don’t let them come in they either lose business (bad for them) or take the work somewhere else (bad for us for not helping). Doing it this way looks at least decent if not good. And if we get a bit of extra business around the country for a few months, or some of the business moves here permanently in the long term, then at least we don’t look bad for it. Dude, don’t knock the optics.

  32. Anonymous says:

    Does the Department of Immigration have the power to waive fees? I thought only Cabinet could do that.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Nah, read today’s Compass. Making crap up without authority may be a national past-time. Maybe cabinet did approve it, but in case not, it seems quite possible that people are running around doctoring minutes as to who made what decisions, how, and when. Ask for and publish those records EZ.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Perhaps we can get confirmation?

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  33. Anonymous says:

    Hate to say it but many of these people are not going back to BVI. Once they have gotten accustomed to the luxury and good infrastructure of Cayman, they will find jobs here and stay…BVI is devastated and most people won’t want to go back to the chaos..

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    • Anonymous says:

      People don’t leave London, Sydney, or Toronto for the ‘luxury’ and ‘good infrastructure’ of the Caribbean…

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      • PR without employment says:

        Who says? Check any of our banks, bars, restaurants, insurance companies and see how many Canadians, English and Australians are at the top of the hiarchy.

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        • Anonymous says:

          9.06 how is that chip on your shoulder?

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        • Anonymous says:

          That’s why they can easily compete against a ‘stay at home’ Caymanian. They have earnt their position through flexibility, mobility, work ethic, gaining broader experience, learning international commerce and languages, widening their skills base etc…..
          Oh yes, and starting off with a much higher level of education in the first place.

          But don’t let the facts get in the way, we work for money and the betterment of our future lives. Few people leave their families and friends to experience infrastructure built by another expat at his own expense. They come to improve their prospects and support their families, it’s pure economics stupid.

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          • Anonymous says:

            I could live in Canada for one quarter of what it costs me to live in Cayman, but I live here because of quality of life. (Get ready for the hateful trolls). None the less, I do not see how helping others is such a big deal. They will spend here, and grow our economy.

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          • anonymous says:

            More BS. So many times I have seen people come here with no experience and through networking with their compatriots from Ireland and Canada get a nice job and nice income even though in many cases their experience and qualifications do not warrant it. Look them up on Linked in if you want to see.

      • Anonymous says:

        Ummmm………… yes they do

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    • Anonymous says:

      8.59 you don’t hate to say it. You relish saying it. Why else would you make such an assanine comment?It’s up to the Cayman immigration service how long they can stay.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Luxury and good infrastructure? Cayman islands are just one step above third world status and failing for all the right reasons.

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  34. Anonymous says:

    PPM , UDP Austin and Jon Jon (the 2 sellouts ) please officially declare that you are in uncle Darts pocket; that you will do everything in your power to take the population to 100k; that you will continue to screw Caymanian’s opportunity ; that you will give out PR and status till no one wants them anymore; that ypu are creating an angry local populace to help create gated communities….

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