Status proof presents challenge for local job-seekers

| 19/03/2018 | 75 Comments

Cayman News Service(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin has said that his ministry is considering the challenge that many local people face in proving that they are Caymanian by right when applying for work, which is seen by some as yet another barrier to employment for locals. Answering a parliamentary question from the member for East End during the Legislative Assembly last week McLaughlin, in his capacity as the minister responsible for immigration, acknowledged that it was difficult for some locals to prove that they are Caymanian, especially when they are asked for the first time later in life. 

He said that it is easier for people who have been granted status to prove that they are Caymanian because they get a certificate. Caymanians by right, on the other hand, need to get a letter from the chief immigration officer, and to get that they need to produce a number of documents, including the birth certificates of their parents — and that process can take a considerable amount of time.

Cayman does not confer status on people just because they are born here and some people who are not yet Caymanian have a Cayman British Overseas Territories passport in order to avoid falling foul of the immigration law, but employers need to see proof that a local employee is Caymanian and does not need a permit.

McLaughlin said the issue of how locals prove their status is forming part of the overhaul of the immigration law as the human resource agency is developed, but he was unable to tell the Legislative Assembly when a solution would be adopted.

“This one is very difficult,” he said, adding that he has been in wide discussions about this because locals cannot rely on their birth certificate or passport as proof.

“We have to try to devise a means of easily and simply being able to determine the status of a person,” he said, pointing to the current burdensome process to access the certificate from the chief immigration officer.

He suggested that a longer term solution for the generation to come was for newborns to have their status confirmed at the time of birth, so it could be noted on their birth certificate that they are not just born here but that they are actually born to a Caymanian parent and have status by right. However, finding a simple solution for the shorter term was not so easy, he said.

The premier warned that without some way of proving someone is Caymanian, there was a danger that people who do not have the right to work without a permit could easily end up working without one. But, he said, the current process is challenging and takes too long, hence the effort to improve the process.

“We can’t do away with the requirement, otherwise we are opening the door for people who are not entitled to work in Cayman without a permit doing so,” he warned.

McLaughlin said that in the end the objective was to ensure those working outside of the immigration regime are truly Caymanians, as he warned of the problem of locals being disadvantaged in the job market, with workers without status securing jobs without a permit.

“There is no simple answer to this, otherwise it would have been sorted a long time ago,” he said, as he explained that there are no records at immigration about local people who are Caymanian by right, which is why it presents such a problem if locals cannot produce not only their own birth certificates but also their parents’.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Tags: , ,

Category: Local News

Comments (75)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Anonymous says:

    The Cayman Islands forever operates from a level of obstruction first, resolution “soon come”, as we all who climb these walls, are so well versed. Brace yourselves for more, this continued uselessness is only the beginning.

  2. To be or not to be? says:

    I remember this being brought up a couple of years ago by someone to Austin Harris on his talk show and he dismissed the person and said that they had misinterpreted the law.

    Seems like Mr. Harris didn’t even know the law himself and gave the public wrong information.

    So dang it, I born here but have nothing to prove it. Ain’t that a mess!

  3. Tania says:

    I am beyond confused. What about children born through surrogacy? Or does Cayman not have laws for that yet??

  4. Anonymous says:

    How can a certificate caymanian by right be still given from the chief immigration officer when the cayman islands did not have a chief immigration for over two years now just an acting chief immigration officer that being acting like a actor in Hollywood. It is time to give the actor the chief immigration job or this is a situation where caymanians fighting against a caymanian again or the acting chief immigration officer is not a friend with the big guys at the top or a yes man or because the acting chief immigration officer tries too enforce discipline and do the right things in the workplace or because majority or a certain group of the acting chief immigration officer worker’s want too have their way is that the reason the acting chief officer cannot get or be given the position to be the chief immigration officer or because the acting chief immigration officer is studying for his law degree and other qualifications if that is what is happening the public needs too know. Please hurry up in fill the post because i need my certificate caymanian by right to be signed by a chief immigration officer i want to do it the right way for it to be done the right way and be legal and have my rights in the cayman islands and i want to let the whole of the cayman islands to know that my mama mama and my mama is born bread caymanians. I would like to please ask who were signing the certificates caymanian by rights during all of the time the cayman islands did not have and continue not to have up until today a chief immigration officer and if this were happening and continue to happen were it legal to do so and is it still legal to do so. Because far as i know such document suppose to be signed by the chief immigration officer the public needs to know that too.

    • Cor Blimey! says:

      6.34pm You really need to come to a full stop!. Fortunately for you, education is not a qualification for your certificate.

      10
      4
      • Anonymous says:

        Read Hegels Metaphysics with paragraphs that go on for pages…then tell me who and who is not educated…

        • Jotnar says:

          The lack of punctuation is not exactly the main issue with the original post, though I did enjoy “born bread caymanians”.

    • Anonymous says:

      Oh dear! Full stops are essential for ease of reading as is the ability to proof read.

  5. Rp says:

    Well if you are naturalized you should be Caymanian. Naturalized people are citizens of the land (the territory) but not citizens of Cayman Islands which is a territory? It makes no sense unless someone can explain the logic to me.

    When I didn’t have status no foreigner understood how I could have a Caymanian passport but not be Caymanian.

    19
    6
    • Anonymous says:

      Citizenship and status are two different things. BOT Citizenship in most cases does not even give aright to live in Cayman.

    • Anonymous says:

      Being Naturalised as a British Overseas Territories Citizen doesn’t confer Caymanian Status and never has. It gives those, so conferred, the right to apply for a Cayman Islands version of the British Passport. The stamp in that travel document and the record on Immigration books is what matters. If you were Naturalised, they would have explained this to all assembled at your allegiance and certification ceremony with Deputy Governor, who is a UK Representative.

  6. Bertie :B says:

    Cut the ties with England and move on with your own country , which by the way is ran more by America than England ! They tell England what to do , end of conversation !

    7
    50
  7. Anonymous says:

    whoopie.. mass status grants coming again????!!!

    15
    7
  8. Anonymous says:

    Everyone’s situation is different. I was not informed of this law and now I’m paying the price for it. I feel sorry for those who are in a worse situation than I am.

    6
    2
  9. Anonymous says:

    My great great great grandmother was one that moved from Cayman to Cuba or Honduras, cant remember which, so I am a full-blooded caymanian although I am living off welfare in the US until that runs out. I should be able to move back to cayman with full rights.

    2
    30
  10. Anonymous says:

    the govt soon get rid of all the native caymanians …you wait and see….and yes i am a native who has to file a continuance, as my kids were born to a honduran??

    7
    7
  11. Cor Blimey! says:

    Employ them for 3 months and see how they perform, an easy way to identify “born Caymanians”.

    15
    29
    • Anonymous says:

      U r disgrace in insulting caymanian people, Caymanian are hard working people, this land belongs to them. Why you don’t go back from where you came if you have no respect for the native of this island.

      14
    • Anonymous says:

      LOL

      5
      4
  12. Anonymous says:

    Oh please yet another obstacle. You want me dig up my great granny to come show you? I was one of those who had to apply for acknowledgement as being Caymanian as of right. Apply pay the lil money, get your certificate and keep it moving.

    30
    2
  13. West bay Premier says:

    Who would have ever thought that today that Cayman Islands Government would be telling it’s true born Natives that they have to prove that they are Caymanians .
    Dear Lord help us Caymanians before we have to kick them Politicians of the Islands . I would say to the Premier take all of your thoughts and flush them down the backhouse , and don’t discriminate against ME .

    Premier what happened to all the Government Records of Caymanians births from 1832 or earlier ? Why shouldn’t I or any other Caymanian be able to go to any Government Department and give the names of your two parents , and from the touch of the key pad be able to know everything about me to know the status of me and my parents . Here in the USA they can do it for me .
    Premier why do you have to ask Caymanians to provide birth certificate of their parents ?
    Is it because you and other Politicians weren’t smart enough and thought that that information wasn’t very important to be preserved for the future .
    I will also tell you I’m not no PR applicant or any other true born Caymanians , so get you s¥₩# straight .

    41
    11
  14. That person says:

    Why don’t they just use the voter card that they pushed so hard for a few years back as proof?

    35
    • Anonymous says:

      Because they have registered non-caymanians to vote. Illegal, but hey, you just cannot make this shit up.

      36
      5
      • West bay Premier says:

        Anonymous 9:37 am , I believe that’s the problem . But they are not going to discriminate against me because of their f€¥£$p .

        4
        5
  15. Anonymous says:

    It may come as a surprise to many, but this is a British Territory and not an independent country. Form R21 – Application for Acknowledgement of the Right to be Caymanian OR Continuation of the Right to be Caymanian must be done at the age of 18. It’s been this way for decades.

    If the CIG wants to expand application eligibility beyond age 18, that’s a discussion they should have with the Governor’s office. It might be a popular idea to provide a one-time exemption up to, say, age 25 to re-integrate many of the ghost Caymanians with no proof of citizenship.

    http://www.immigration.gov.ky/portal/page/portal/immhome/help/forms/AcknowledgementNContinuation

    Otherwise, those idle non-Caymanians that pose a drain to our social well-being, and fill our prisons, should be returned off island to earn their living elsewhere.

    24
    3
  16. Anonymous says:

    Why all the fuss? The Law is clear and always has been. It is easy for someone who is Caymanian as of right to prove they are Caymanian. They just have to ask the Chief Immigration Officer for a stamp which the Chief Immigration Officer must provide within two weeks. There is not even any fee for persons who are Caymanian as of right.

    20(2) A person who believes that he possesses the right to be Caymanian
    under subsection (1) may apply in the prescribed form to the Chief Immigration
    Officer for the formal acknowledgement of that right in his passport, and the
    Chief Immigration Officer shall, within fourteen days, either provide the
    acknowledgement or give written reasons for his refusal to do so.

    Anyway, the law is clear that a register has to be maintained under the direction of cabinet listing all non Caymanians. That register exists, right Alden?, and if it does you should be able to tell who is Caymanian from who is not in a heartbeat.

    79. There shall be provided and maintained by the Chief Immigration Officer,
    under the direction of the Cabinet, a central register of persons who are not
    Caymanian, in which there shall be registered such particulars and in such form as
    may be prescribed.

    Perhaps cabinet could confirm that this register is in fact being maintained, and who is on it:?

    27
    4
  17. Anonymous says:

    I’ve always voted, I have a Cayman passport, I’ve always worked in Cayman yet because I was born overseas some sections of CIG claim that I am not Caymanian ????

    14
    2
    • Anonymous says:

      You might not be.

      14
    • Anonymous says:

      You may not be Caymanian. What year were you born? Where were your parents living on that date? Were they both Caymanian? When did you move to Cayman? Do you have a stamp in your passport that confirms you are Caymanian?

      11
      1
      • Anonymous says:

        Both parents Caymanian, returned to Cayman at 2 weeks old. Born in 1958, only ever had a Cayman passport all of my life. And Yes I am a Caymanian

        10
        3
  18. Anonymous says:

    So a person is born here (hence birth certificate), presumably here for almost two decades to reach the working age, and we are scared because that person may somehow get a job outside of the work permit system and disadvantage a “local”.

    The “local” may have been born in Florida to an American father and Cayman mother, spent most of their lives there, but they are still more local than the person who was born here and grew up here.

    Yeah, we sure know how to guard the homestead against clear and present dangers don’t we?

    For Pete’s frickin sakes guys, is this the biggest issue we currently face? Our healthcare system is crumbling, education is a mess, crime is on the rise and you are worried about distinguishing people born and grown here from those whose parents and grand parents were also born and grown here? Seriously? Are we that scared that these people are that much superior to us that we do not want to risk coming up against them on the employment front without the threat of a work permit hanging over their heads? Is this what its come to? How did we get this low?

    20
    5
    • Anonymous says:

      Our education, healthcare and other systems are collapsinng in part because they are being cluttered up by people who have no entitlement to benefit from them but are being allowed to because everyone has their own made up way of deciding who is Caymanian.

      14
      7
  19. Anonymous says:

    A friend of mine was born in Cayman, has a Cayman passport but is required to have a work permit. Once he was even told he had to leave on roll over.

    21
    4
    • Anonymous says:

      yes, that is because he is not a Caymanian. He can apply for PR and in any event, once he has been in Cayman for 5 years he can apply to become Caymanian. That is the law, and effectively has been for decades.

      13
      7
      • Anonymous says:

        He tried that it didn’t happen. His employer even hired a well known attorney for the him, still nothing.

    • Anonymous says:

      Your point? That is the Law. Your friend could apply to become Caymanian. If they refuse to do so, there must be consequences..

      8
      9
    • Whoufa says:

      Now you understand why Caymanians have always ask “who your mama is?” That is how you know who is a Caymanian by blood line

      2
      1
  20. Anonymous says:

    One of those “Caymanians” and this is just a load of shit..my father his father and his father all born right here I born here…I been here 34 years and with that Human Rights thing no way they could kick me off even if they wanted..they know that…so just a mechanism to deprive me of a job…oh well, no more jury duty Ill simply say good luck your honour and go on and prove I am a Caymanian…not much benefit I can see

    12
    14
  21. Anonymous says:

    Rubbish! Only in Cayman!

    15
    2
  22. Anonymous says:

    My kids are born Caymanians but I have to pay for that stamp (right to be Caymanian) in their passport. Why should Caymanians have to pay for this?

    10
    10
    • Anonymous says:

      They do not. The fee and process is free unless they are applying on the basis they seek to be acknowledged as Caymanian by entitlement. No fee is payable if they are Caymanian by right.

      14
      1
      • Anonymous says:

        There’s a difference between by right and by entitlement? Who the hell would write laws this way? I don’t really care sitting here in my beach house, but it seems like you folks are determined to piss off and screw over each other.

        The way you are doing it now is exactly like the way US Indians were registered as members of a particular tribe in Oklahoma prior to 1907. You had to apply and there were all kinds of rules about whether you got recognized. This can be done better but requires work and record keeping. Since being Caymanian is different than citizenship and not clear from your birth certificate (just as if you were Choctaw or Cherokee), you have to come up with and maintain an actual list of people who are Caymanian. This will be hard work at first, but will be easy in the future. The government should proactively identify and record everyone and then have the police, immigration, election people, and employers rely on the list. New births and grants get recorded as you go along. Anyone skipped over can try to prove their case. Still tribal but that’s how you want it.

        4
        3
        • Anonymous says:

          By right are people born Caymanian. By entitlement are children born expatriates who later become Caymanian not in their own right but because their parents have become Caymanian after their birth. Anyone who becomes Caymanian by entitlement must continue their status at age 18.

          2
          1
    • dazed and confused. says:

      technically, you don’t have to pay as your kids are Caymanian as of right not by entitlement and the regulations say that it is only Caymanian children by entitlement have to pay, but i agree the counter staff don’t seem to understand the distinction.

      10
  23. Anonymous says:

    Just check their entitlometer readings.

    6
    1
  24. Naya BoY says:

    Simple solution bring back the Old Cayman Immigration Protection Law and rid ourselves of this menace that has arrive on our shores! When they threaten to make us eat Mosquitoes laugh because even them are now imported from overseas too! What a friggin mess we in Cayman. As the late great Sir Robert Nesta Marley would say “me nah have no friends in high society me nah need nobody to mark my identity” apparently some our very own sick and demented Caymanians apparently do it would seem!

    12
    7
  25. PPm Distress Signal says:

    Yes Caymanians this is what happens when you allow others to sell off your birth right and follow behind your glorious leaders who preach they are here for us and when you stupidly elect foreign driven and financed political agendas and parties and their stooges. When those same political immigration board stooges give away Caymanian Status/ permanent residence to everybody and his cat without a fight because them are their foreign legal apparatus threatened to take us before their foreign agenda driven officials of the court. Those nearly two hundred and odd amendments to our Immigration Law has simple made them more Caymanian than us. Thank you Mckeeva and Alden for all your contributions to this terrible situation we find ourselves in. F#@% You and the horse you rode in on too and all you ppm who claim say they love this country/territory you idiots!

    11
    2
  26. Anonymous says:

    I don’t care.

  27. GR says:

    The process is pretty simple and the law, as it stands, states that Immigration needs to respond to your s20 (I believe that’s the right section) application within two weeks. Now if Immigration would respond within the timeframe set out in the law we would be good.

    5
    1
  28. Anonymous says:

    You can’t have it both ways folks. It’s your own laws. If you want to be a born and bred Caymanian, you better be able to prove up your parents are too. Otherwise you’re just driftwood.

  29. West bay Premier says:

    When Mr McLaughlin say that it is hard for Caymanian to be verified and have to produce birth certificate of both parents, Mr McLaughlin are talking to me . So then I think that you are trying to treat Caymanians the same way you have treaded PR applicants keeping them in limbo for years .
    Caymanians wake up and see what this is doing to you .
    All Caymanians born on the Islands have thier birth certificate recorded in the government building with both parents names on the child’s birth certificate .
    I think you are creating bigger problems for Caymanian .

    2
    3
  30. Anonymous says:

    We have changed, edited, cut, and re-worded our immigration laws to appease everyone that steps on shore. Now, lie in the past, we find ourselves with a law that does not SERVE any sense or purpose.

    So we will go about changing it again, just wait and see. After a while, the madness will start over again.

  31. Anonymous says:

    The Jackass has to find a solution to prove he is an indigenou/born and bred Caymanian, whose parents were born to two Caymanian parents. Really! When do we have to apply for status? Or, when are we being moved to the reservation? We will soon be like the American Red Indians. No home in your own homeland.

    42
    15
    • Anonymous says:

      I’m sorry to say, there is truth in that.

    • Anonymous says:

      The solution already exists and is in s. 20(2) of the Immigration Law. All you have to do is ask the Chief Immigration Officer for a stamp, and if you are. A born Caymanian, it is free!

    • Anonymous says:

      To your point, sir/madam, “true born” Caymanian are rarer than the number of “full blooded” native Americans on American reservations.

      11
      6
  32. I don’t get it. Why can Caymanians not rely on their birth certificate or Caymanian passport as proof of citizenship? Please enlighten me?

    39
    11
    • Anonymous says:

      Because being born in Cayman and/or being a BOTC have little to do with being a Caymanian.

      5
      1
    • Anonymous says:

      Because it is sometimes dependent upon whether one of the parents were resident/domiciled in the Cayman Islands

      12
      2
      • Anonymous says:

        And because we are not an independent country, being Caymanian and being a BOTC are two separate and independent things.

        4
        2
      • This place must be the only location in the British Commonwealth where such a stupid situation exists. Why a concern about whether one of the parents is resident / domiciled in the Cayman Islands?

        This regulation is a relic of the 19th century when people did not travel, get educated and live in many countries over the period of their lifetime. Time to move into the 21st century CIG.

        4
        4
        • Diogenes says:

          Question, out of curiosity :How do you expect the CIG to move into the present when the voters are of the same mindset?

          The people vote conservative, then enjoy ass-backwards conservative ideals and incrementalism
          The bed has been made and we all have to sleep in it
          The system hasn’t worked for 20+ years, and we keep putting in the same people with the same promises and the same ideas
          I wonder why nothing has changed

          4
          2
          • Anonymous says:

            Immigration doesn’t even know what domicile is….how can they even prove that..this poster at 10;41 is correct..backward ass law hasn’t really been properly amended since it came out in the 1970’s

  33. TrinAl says:

    Doesnt matter still no top paying jobs for locals

    22
    24
    • Anonymous says:

      Is a normal job not good enough for you?

      10
      3
    • Anonymous says:

      What is your definition of a “top paying job”?

    • Anonymous says:

      HA! Give up before you get to the top. If it’s not offered on a platter at the start then you don’t care. Shame, your ancestors worked so hard for you to be here, lazy and entitled.

      7
      1
    • Keen observer says:

      “Top paying job” is relative.
      But I think I get the point you are trying to make.
      Employers do not appreciate Caymanians.

      A Caymanian with the same qualifications and sometimes more years experience is given less pay than the expatriate counterpart. Why?

      Caymanian student comes home with a Master degree and experience from overseas because they were told it would make them more marketable yet they are turned down for a job but a month later an expatriate is hired in the position, no Master degree and their only experience appears to be that they are not from Cayman. Why?

  34. Anonymous says:

    That’s because there is no such thing.

    19
    7

Leave a Reply to Rp Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.