Over 3,500 permits processed during lockdown
(CNS): Since the government agency dealing with work permits and labour issues closed down in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and boards stopped meeting, administrators still reviewed 3,577 permits remotely. But Jeremy Scott, the managing director of WORC, said changes to the law have enhanced the tracking of local job applicants, giving them more assurance that their applications will be properly reviewed before permits are issued.
Speaking at the COVID-19 briefing on Friday, Scott said that WORC is doing more to help local people find work through support and training, such as Passport2Sucess and the Ready2Work initiatives.
The new requirement for all jobs to be advertised through WORC (Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman) means that its online system, JobsCayman, has now become the central hub for all vacancies where employers are seeking a permit. Scott said that 1,355 job seekers and 1,097 employers have registered on the site and 1,697 jobs have been posted to date.
Scott said that, given the suspected level of unemployment in Cayman since the COVID-19 lockdown and the downturn in the economy, the numbers were lower than people might expect. But he said there had been a significant number of people signing up in the last few months, especially since the law was changed to require all jobs to go through the portal.
He said there had only been three of four cases so far where employers made use of the exemptions provision in the law to bypass the need to place their vacancies with WORC for two weeks before their permits can be considered. He said these were all for key specialist professionals confined to the financial services sector.
Meanwhile, Scott said that complaints had begun to come into the office from local job seekers who believe their applications had been overlooked and permits had been granted. He did not have an exact figure on Friday, but he said he was aware of applications that have been denied since the complaints department was established around a month ago because of the “visible viability of Caymanians candidates”.
At this point the only way to see the vacancies on offer is to register on the site. Officials confirmed that they are looking into more open access but this is not a service WORC is offering yet.
WORC’s business operations manager, Kyle McLean, also accepted that people had struggled to navigate the WORC site but they were making improvements and anyone who needed help should contact them, as a customer care team was on hand to help.
The creation of work and changes to the immigration law are meant to help enforce the longstanding ‘Caymanians first’ policy, which many people believe employers have become adept at avoiding.
The aim is to ensure all jobs where a permit is being sought by an employer are posted in one place on the government site, allowing all registered job seekers to see most of the vacancies available across the country at any given time.
The system is designed to allow for follow-up if a Caymanian applies for the job. If the position is not given to a qualified local person, employers will need to explain why before a permit is issued, creating greater transparency.
Following the easing of restrictions and the lifting of the curfews imposed in the face of the coronavirus health crisis, WORC is gradually getting back into its office in George Town at the Apollo Building. Scott also confirmed that all relevant boards are now meeting again.
See the full press briefing on CIGTV below, set to start at the CNS question for Jeremy Scott:
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Jobs, Local News
According to the Constitution, Section 19(1), Lawful Administrative Action states that “All decisions and acts of public officials must be lawful, rational, proportionate and procedurally fair.”
There are an excessive amount of work permits being granted to people born in Jamaica (11,025) which is unbalanced compared to every other country represented in the Cayman Islands.
The next country with the second highest number of work permits is the Philippines with only 3,705 work permits granted from that country.
That’s too unequal.
Mr. Scott and the Cayman Islands Government should ensure that they flatten the Jamaican curve by ensuring that all decisions regarding the granting of any further work permits are not disproportionately in favour of persons born in Jamaica.
For years this excessive granting of work permits from persons born in Jamaica has caused social unrest amongst Caymanians due to concern about Caymanians being outnumbered by Jamaicans and others in our own country.
But these figures are too unfair and disproportionately adverse to Caymanians.
According to the latest statistics published on 25th October 2019 by the Economic & Statistics Office, here are the countries ranked with the number of work permits from each country:
Start approving work permits from these countries FIRST!
https://www.eso.ky/employment.html#2
1 Bermuda
2 Macedonia
5 Croatia
7 Panama
8 Guatemala
9 Pakistan
10 Finland
10 Russia
12 Bangladesh
12 Denmark
12 Lebanon
12 Malaysia
13 Chile
13 Sweden
14 Bahamas
14 Switzerland
15 Bulgaria
16 Czech Republic
16 Haiti
18 Poland
19 Ecuador
19 Israel
20 St Vincent & the Grenadines
23 Portugal
25 Turkey
26 Austria
28 Other
31 Argentina
33 Hungary
33 Thailand
35 Serbia
38 Venezuela
40 British Overseas Territories
41 Netherlands
43 St. Lucia
46 Belize
56 Germany
57 France
61 Zimbabwe
64 Spain
65 New Zealand
66 Peru
71 Brazil
76 Romania
85 Costa Rica
91 Barbados
92 Trinidad and Tobago
104 Kenya
121 Sri Lanka
123 Mauritius
133 Mexico
144 Italy
153 Colombia
179 Australia
183 Cuba
214 Indonesia
260 Guyana
276 Nepal
290 Dominican Republic
304 Ireland
338 South Africa
399 Nicaragua
1,076 Canada
1,088 Honduras
1,121 United States of America
1,221 India
1,685 United Kingdom
3,705 Philippines
11,025 Jamaica
Alden’s too smart to pay attention to laws and regulations….permit revenues are all that matters. And that he keep his payday while the reset of Cayman suffers. Oink oink
11.34pm You are so right. Put back in quotas to stop accusations of racism just because we don’t want uncouth persons taking over our beautiful isand. No more than 2,500 permits from any one country.
NO MORE FILIPINOS
So full of bs.jus say it out loud f caymanians.all going to HELL though EMPTY handef. The Lord got our backs always n sometimes Amen
CNS.. please ask for the figure to be broken down as follows:
1. New applications
2. Renewals / extensions
3. Categories of industry
4. Applications refused
5. Applications approved
6. Applications deferred
Please make the cost of a GOL for Real Estate agents the same as for a law/accounting firm partner. Not because of their skills, as they have very little. Simply because to the potential earnings from the rip-off commissions.
Employers will always want the best workers they can get. If you don’t want to be a great worker you will not be chosen over those that are. This is not about Caymanian/expat. Caymanian culture does not want to be a servant to anything or anyone. In this world if you can’t serve, you can’t live like a King. You are ether good servant to the people or a good complainer. Your not a slave if you have a choice.
“This is not about Caymanian/expat”…yes it is. Caymanians should be given some entitlement in their country and they were prior to Aldart the Destroyer. Don’t give me that global economy or supply/demand bull$hit…every country has immigration regulations designed to entitle their citizens.
There is a lady running a small company and retail shop in eastern avenue. She has earned fortune on getting people on work permit in island and she even ask people to look for people overseas interested to pay large amount as charge for permit and extra commissions and most cases she just take money and never apply for permit instead she also blackmail people when they ask for their money back. She seems to be part of human trafficking business
That is pure exploitation. She should be punished.
I’m a employer and I’m happy to hire caymanians for work but due to the nature and volume of my business I cannot offer them high wage rate . Due to this ffactota we have to run the company with both local and work permit holders.
And which does the best work. Mr. Employer? The locals or the work permit holders?
Cotton farmers used the same arguments. The work permit system is not for a few to get rich at expense of other Caymanians
Government needs to crack down on certain positions to ensure Caymanians get a chance to work in these fields.
No more work permits for the following..
Taxi Drivers
Bus Drivers
Real Estate Agents
Charter Fishing Boat operators
Property Managers
This will give a good start but I am sure many more can be added to this list..
OMG!Over 3,500.00 permits granted since lockdown. They were certainly busy getting them done and talking crap about Caymanians getting first preference for jobs. This is just plain ridiculous! Caymanians have no chance in our own country. Shame on you Mr. Premier. Talking the talk but not walking the walk. Saying one thing and doing the very opposite.
Its says 3500 processed not granted, they could also have been denied or deferred,as my wifes was.
Caymanians employee numbers are less working in hospitality n hotel industry at nonadministrative level because of long work and less paid . So expats are needed to fill the non administrative level caymanian left vacant because of work conditions and long hour but less pay.
There is no where on the WORC site to even see available jobs..
I’m sure that anything that can be done to shore up the work permit approvals government will make sure it happens..
3500 new approvals????? you have got to be kidding me. We will never get ahead as Caymanians.
Ah, but he didn’t say approvals. He said dealt with. And then he went on to say that they have a large number of “deferrals”. So large that he has set up a task force to deal with them. Call me a cynic, but I bet a lot of those 3577 were simply “deferred”. Working from home and get a WP application?hell, defer it and go back to Netflix. No need to trouble the Board to consider it – they have their own Netflix backlog to catch up on – just defer it.
Lots of comments claiming approvals, but that is not what the story indicates.
Yes there is I have been using the portal since it launched. But it’s the most backwards, least user friendly and most difficult to navigate site I have ever seen in my entire life.
Lack of education, lack of training, lack of social skills, complete lack of the need for these things means yes….many Caymanians will not get ahead. for those few Caymanians that have had the blessings of caring parents, good education and upbringing the Island and the world is yours for the taking. God gives everyone the same thing to start off with. Opportunity and choice. There are benefits to not being responsible for your life. But it does not come with free money.
Well said, Mr. 7:03 am.
Do these include renewals or multi-year permits?
Way to pump out those permits…to hell with real Caymanians.
I am an employer, can’t look at available people on the worc website just get a 404 error.
PLEASE FIX, so fed up with a new system every 5 mins but the sites not working and its harder and harder just to look for new people.
no no no these WORC representatives said everything is just working perfectly and no problems at all. Stop spreading rumors!
Not important…just send in your application and of course permit money…done
Well I’m not sure how well WORC will work. I’m still seeing jobs advertised overseas on glass fire and indeed for jobs in Cayman not on WORC. Jobs being advertised on local recruitment agencies websites not on WORC. Jobs on websites in the U.K. and USA not on WORC. I’m afraid unless there is legislation brought in with teeth nothing changes.
We have legislation with teeth. We just refuse to enforce it.
You got Caribbean trump spouting off..”heh I like giving management level permits as it makes entry level jobs…heh heh”..dumbest leader you have had
How many civil service jobs are listed. The Jobs Cayman website is ridiculous, there are all sorts of bureaucratic requirements but nowhere do I see a list of jobs.
It’s there for employers to tailor their requirements around caymanians available
Civil service is exempted from the need to list. Because the are special.
As in Olympics
How many permits were processed in 2018, 2019..? Can we get additional stats before the knee-jerk begins?
Twice as many as the ESO says. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess.
It would be a serious breach of protocol if these permits went to people who are no longer here.This is why I have commented several times lately that Caymanians must be given the chance to fill the many places that must be open now that so many have left the island and still more leaving over the next few weeks.Having said that Caymanians MUST step up to the plate and be willing to work hard at what jobs they secure and get as much training as possible.This virus MAY have handed a lifeline to the many without jobs.I ask you to grab the chance NOW.
That partially depends on whether some law firms are allowed to continue to be exempt from the laws of the Cayman Islands, or not. It is not as simple as stepping up (even with the right education and work ethic). Many very capable Caymanians have tried, and struck out.
“..breach of protocol..” shut your pie-hole and pay the fee.