Cayman’s UK rep confirms she has no British passport
(CNS): The Cayman Island representative in the UK, Dr Tasha Ebanks-Garcia, has confirmed that she worked for almost a year heading up the London Office on a Canadian passport as she doesn’t yet have a British one. Following the questions raised recently about her eligibility to work in the United Kingdom, she issued a statement on Tuesday outlining the circumstances. Cabinet Secretary Samuel Rose also told CNS on Monday evening that while a significant mistake was made, lessons have been learned.
Ebanks-Garcia said she entered the UK on her Canadian passport last summer, stating clearly that she was there to work as Cayman’s UK representative and no questions were asked.
“The travel document I used when entering the UK on July 10th, 2021 was my Canadian passport. As a Caymanian who was born in Canada, I possess Caymanian status, like many other Caymanians who are born overseas. On entering the UK, I was open and clear with the border control officer that I was starting a new post as the Cayman Islands Government Representative to the UK. There was no concern raised,” she said.
“As a Caymanian who is entitled to a British passport, and wanting to be able to travel with such a passport in my official capacity as the Cayman Islands Representative in the UK, I commenced the steps necessary for obtaining a British passport in April 2021, starting with being naturalised as a British Overseas Territories Citizen. I was naturalised on 14 September 2021,” Ebanks-Garcia stated.
She returned home at the end of March, she said, explaining that this was a combination of annual leave and work.
“It was during this trip home that it was brought to my attention, by my Chief Officer, that questions had been raised regarding my right to work status in the UK and that I should ensure I have a British passport to continue working in the UK without doubt,” she said. “When this was brought to my attention, I took immediate action to rectify the situation and applied for a British passport while home in Cayman.”
Aside from not having a British passport, despite being eligible for one, no visa application had been made for her by the ministry or Cabinet Office before she left for the UK. Ebanks-Garcia played down the seriousness of this omission and it is not clear if there will be any consequences, given what appears to be an infraction of British law.
In an additional submission to CNS, Ebanks-Garcia added that she took the situation very seriously. “I am sorry for the oversight. As soon as the situation was brought to my attention I took corrective action,” she stated.
Meanwhile, she said she was looking forward to continuing the work representing Cayman in the United Kingdom.
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So Cayman’s UK representative worked illegally in the UK for nearly a year?
And it appears, illegally in Cayman for years before that!
Time to act Governor time to act ! Renew our Banana Republic Status at least ! Remove some of the bananas thrash from around the tree . Tasha Ebanks Garcia now needs to be remove from this post in the London Office because she has lost all credibility and is a huge embarrassment to the Cayman Islands.
I see that we don’t know our history: whether we like it or not “Cayman was [at one time] regarded as a dependency of Jamaica”.
Read all about it here:
https://www.gov.ky/about-us/our-islands/history
Was loosely governed but Jamaica held the reins until that country went independent.
Jamaica wasn’t a country until it went independent. It was run by the British (who were running Cayman from offices in Jamaica for administrative convenience).
As of 2022, Jamaica is still part of the Commonwealth, the Queen’s representative in Jamaica is Sir Patrick Allen, Governor General.
Thank you God that Jamaica released the little care they had for us before they left us suffering then broke up Federation.
I thought Dame Edna Everage had an Australian passport !!!
The Caymanian public is waiting to hear that sensible remedial action has been taken to replace this employee in light of failing/misrepresented documentation. We shouldn’t wait for the British press to seize on this as latest overseas territory breach of trust segway on continuing coverage of BVI Premier arrest. We should get ahead of that predictable negative association. We need to have people in place that can anticipate these kinds of blowbacks and mitigate them before they happen in real life.
Don’t hold your breath this Governor ain’t going to do diddly Squat this situation has been mostly all his responsibility since this falls right under office of the Governor. But his apparent love affair with the previous government and his appointed Knight is very clear and their little minions can do know wrong in his eyes it would appear.They are learning once again from their mistakes is the only plausible excuses they have to offer it would seem . This person needs to be remove now from her post Mr Roper do your friggin Job for once Sir!
The way I see it, being Caymanian isn’t important to her if she doesn’t have papers. She should have gotten those a long time ago. I don’t have a PHD and I know that I need to have British papers to work in the UK. I applied for acknowledgement for my children right away and they were all born here.
Yup. But it seems friends and families of Senior Civil Servants do not need to comply with those requirements. #Leggewasright.
She would have only needed to apply to become British if she didnt hold BOTC staus before 2002. British Overseas Territories Act 2002 made everyone a British citizen.
How did she manage to get naturalised without being here? My child had to come home from university to ‘pledge allegiance’ or some such silliness & the appointment to do so could not be changed to their vacation time!
Ask the Governor. The shitshow is real. He can explain.
she JUST GOT naturlized I BET….. WATCH THAT COME OUT! lies lies! CNS can we FOI that?
Question for CNS, If she is a BOTC- Cayman Islands then under the British Nationality Act is she not a British Citizen? You can be a citizen of a country without having applied for its passport.
CNS: A BOTC is not a British citizen but they can apply to become one. Read more here regarding the rights of a BOTC. Specifically, it says:
“Unless you’re also a British citizen: you’re still subject to immigration controls – you do not have the automatic right to live or work in the UK”
Once you are a BOTC you have to apply to the registered as a full British citizen, once this is done (can take up to 18 months) you can apply for a British passport. You can then travel, live and work just like any other UK citizen. After 25 years here in Cayman I have done it all, WP’s, Key employee, working under operation of Law, PR, Naturalisation, Status, BOTC Passport, UK Citizenship, UK Passport. I did it all myself without fancy lawyers or consultants. There is no excuse for Dr Tashsa to not have understood her obligations.
Last sentence 🙌
Right behind you and you’re right not hard or confusing. Finding the rules for working in the UK is even easier.
Erroneous information. The link literally says “ You automatically became a British citizen on 21 May 2002 if your British overseas territories citizenship was gained by connection with a qualifying territory”. And they then list the qualifying territories. A British or BOTC/Caymanian passport is not needed to be a British citizen.
But if you were not a BOTC on 21 May, 2002 you did not automatically become a British Citizen on that date and anyone who has become a BOTC subsequent to that date does not have any automatic British Citizenship. They must separately apply for Registration (which is discretionary, and takes many months).
Yes and she only applied for botc naturalisation in 2021 some 19 years too late to be automatically granted uk citizenship!
How did she get it without being here. I had to attend Govt building, at their convenience & could not change the appointment. She wasn’t on island!! SMH
CNS – “Aside from not having a British passport, despite being eligible for one, no visa application had been made for her by the ministry or Cabinet Office before she left for the UK.”
How was she eligible for a British passport if she admits she wasn’t even a naturalized BOTC? Being entitled to apply for something doesn’t mean you are; ask anyone entitled to Caymanian Status being made to pay PR fees while they wait to be granted status.
Her British passport or lack thereof is the least of her issues. Is she actually a Caymanian and if so, how?
The Law at the time of her birth (assuming that to be between 1972 and 1984) seems to have required her to be a British Subject in order to be Caymanian. She does not appear to have become a British subject before last year. The plot, sadly, and in the absence of any clear and reliable information, thickens…
“British subject” is a tricky term.
“Until 1949, nearly everyone with a close connection to the United Kingdom was called a ‘British subject’.
All citizens of Commonwealth countries were collectively referred to as ‘British subjects’ until January 1983. However, this was not an official status for most of them.” — from https://www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-subject
Specific to Canada, “Legislation passed in 1977 clarified and added detail to the definition of Canadian citizenship; it also ended the option of a person being both a Canadian citizen and a British subject.” — from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/british-subject-status
Not so tricky in the Cayman Context as the 1971 Caymanian Protection Law defined it for our purposes (and it doesn’t include Canadians).
1:46 pm: this is something that an experienced lawyer would have to research. The law has been amended so many times it is sometimes hard to figure out.
I was born in Jamaica at the time when Cayman was a dependency of that country. My father shipped out of Jamaica.
Both parents and all their forebears going back to the original settlers were Caymans . It was acknowledged thst I had Caymanian status “as of right” but I had to get someone who knew my father and mother to swear that they were domiciled here at the time of my birth. That required that person to judge my parents’ state of mind more than two decades later.
So I got the dratted Cayman status but it has always been a trip.
Anyway it appears Mrs Ebanks-Garcia had one Caymanian parent.so presumably her grand parents on her mother’s side would have been Caymanians, which I think the law provides for.
So it sounds like she would qualify, st least under the principles of natural
Justice.
But I don’t understand why she was not required to produce the nrcesssry documents to be established as a Caymanian civil servant with all the rights and privileges. I had to get my status regularised to be allowed to join the civil service as a Caymanian rather than as a contracted officers.
We keep dropping the ball —lack of due diligence on the part of HR officers and heads of departments. Happens way too often.
Cayman was never a dependency on the country of Jamaica, and determining who is Caymanian from who is not, is actually pretty straightforward in most instances. Powerful people don’t like the answers sometimes. Therein lies the problem. It looks like incompetence, smells like corruption, and walks like maladministration. Perhaps the Governor can tell us what it really is?
8:38 pm: you are wrong. Cayman was administered by Jamaica until Jamaica became Independent and Cayman decided to remain under direct British rule.
I am not wrong. Jamaica did not exist as a country and so was not capable of directly ruling us. We were and remain always ruled by the British, since 1677 (as was Jamaica from 1677 to 1963).
Maybe the ritz should just bring in some Canadians with no permits and say it was an oversight sorry. You think that will go over? Govt tried to press charges for a foreigner hosting a fundraiser without a permit there. Same rules apply don’t they?
She would be subject to the rules that apply in the UK not Cayman – she was illegally working in the UK not Cayman so NO same rules don’t apply.
I think you miss the point.
Seems as though she may well have been working illegally in Cayman as well…
Unfortunately, or is that fortunately(!), Government workers do not need a work permit, they operate under different rules, and how ironic is that given this sorry situation.
Rules? They don’t need no stinkin’ rules! They just do what the hell they want. With impunity.
I have a hunch that about right now the Dept. Governor is frantically vetting someone else to take over the position in the U.K., and Tara will go back to her previous job. Personally if it was me I would be too embarrassed to go back. This is really a royal screwup. Obviously she assumed that her BOTC passport and naturalization was enough but not so. Wouldn’t the U.K. Immigration stamp her passport and give her a specific time to remain.
She didn’t even have a BOTC passport!
…and, it’s so shameful😔 that she has never properly declared herself as a Caymanian after living and working in the Cayman Islands for over 30 years- e.g. CIHS Secondary Education Diploma (at age 16), probably locally sponsored tertiary education, too; as well as, numerous high-level government roles. ALL ATTAINED ON A CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP & CANADIAN PASSPORT.
My Goodness! What a truly embarrassing situation that the Cayman Islands has been faced with.
…..and no news yet? She is still working and proud of it!
How did CIG manage to register her as a new employee for NI and tax purposes without proof of immigration status? How did she get a NI number? You can’t even rent a house without proof of immigration status (it’s one of the basic checks any landlord must make).
That was going to be my question. I’m guessing no taxes have been paid and that will only compound the issue. I’m not sure how anyone who broke several laws in a country can then ask for a passport from said country.
Isnt failing to register an employee for tax and NI an offence?, both for the employee and the employer?
Well you can’t get a NI number without proving your right to work. Maybe foreign government employees have different rules I don’t know.
Tasha Garcia does not need our judgmental attitudes. She is the product of an entitled society that feels the right to profit from half-truths.
Much of the blame should lie at the feet of the Government.
You mean Franz Manderson as head of the civil service which is anything but world class
@6:00pm …and Eric, don’t forget Eric..
Oh dear. She just dug the hole deeper. No Caymanian is “entitled” to a British Passport. Only British Citizens are entitled to a British Passport. To become a British Citizen (if not from birth) you first have to be naturalized or registered as a British Citizen. So perhaps someone can tell us how and when this Canadian became Caymanian, how and when she became a BOTC, and how and when she became a full British Citizen? Then we can discuss entitlement to a British Passport.
This post, 5:18, is classic crabs in the barrel nasty stuff. Leave aside your pompous attempt to sound like an immigration lawyer, the situation is, yes, not reflective of sound work on the part of Tasha’s bosses and herself. Wow! She effed up. So did they! But what “jollies” did you get from your post? I do not know the lady and I dislike her father, but for Christ in heaven’s sake stop trying to make her out to be not eligible for a British passport. Is this just a hard on you have for Eric Bush or what?
What is wrong or inaccurate about that post? Is the rule of law important, or is it OK for powerful civil servants to make it up? People moving investments from BVI need to know. Are we same dog puppy or not?
Well said, 7:05. The criticism is way over the top.
Is she Caymanian and if so how? Answer that and all criticism will disappear. It will then have been a serious but forgivable mistake. Any venom is not directed at her. It is at unequal application of law, especially when decisions are purportedly made based on “who your daddy is”. Of course if she never legally became Caymanian, which seems to be a suggestion by some, then she could never legally live and work here, let alone in the UK. She could never legally become a BOTC, and she could never apply for British Citizenship. These are not unimportant issues. They go to the very core of whether we are fit to govern ourselves.
Even if she is Caymanian, she did not properly hold right of abode in UK as a UK Citizen. She should be fired, and quickly.
But if she is not Caymanian she should not have been able to become a BOTC or live and work in the Cayman Islands. I feel very sorry for her, but am very concerned that this may be just the latest example of officials (potentially intentionally) not fairly applying our laws.
If she is not Caymanian she has no right of abode in the Cayman Islands and her employer should be fired immediately.
Also true.
This is why a Caymanian should have been enshrined in our Constitution and should say”born of at least one Caymanian born parent and one Caymanian born Grandparent”. We are the only ones having to prove nationality. Tasha is more Caynanian than most of you on here.
No need. The Immigration Act confirms that if you are not born a Caymanian BUT have. A parent or grandparent who was, and you are over 18, you can apply to become Caymanian. Until you do, and the application is granted, you are NOT Caymanian.
She is certainly more Canadian. Whether she is more Caymanian or not is a question of law that is yet to be addressed.
Ha ha. The can of worms that would open up would be a joy for all to see.
So what? She’s not British and she was working in Britain.
Well, if she’s not Caymanian and was working in Cayman…
Immigration lawyer? This is basic information anyone can Google especially a “Dr” whose job it is to understand these issues!
She is in a grownup full time ambassadorial role where she is expected to be an expert in business and migration. She is not a high schooler on a gap year.
I am an Immigration lawyer and the person at 5:18pm is correct.
Crabs in the barrel? To suggest that someone may have done something improper is being the jealous crab? How about her demonstrating that she didn’t break any rules? Or in your world does that not matter, and to question legality and ethics is being the jealous crab? Succeed irrespective of breaking rules is a great moral compass to live by.
British passport eligibility – GOV.UK
It’s not quite as simple as you think.
Self-entitled Caymanian, the normal for this rock.
Not sure that British people would appreciate that.
Otherwise I would just demand a Canadian passport.
She maybe working remotely for some time.
Not from Cayman if she’s not Caymanian ! Oh wait. Civil servants don’t have issues with having to get permits for expats..or explain why they didn’t advertise & let a’real’ Caymanian get the job.
It doesn’t matter who your daddy is!
Andre’s ministry should have known when they confirmed her. Heck he should have known because he worked there. Is his ministry really saying that they shoveled this under the carpet for a year?
Andre’s? Not Alden’s?
When she took up the post in May – the overseas office had already been transferred to the Cabinet Office. She NEVER reported to Eric Bush.
CNS: We have asked everyone involved in this for comment, including the premier, Dr Tasha Ebanks-Garcia, Eric Bush and Sam Rose, and no one has made this claim or asked for such a correction. The error that was pointed out by one of them was that the London Office is not now headed by Andre Ebanks’ ministry (as we first said) but was transferred to the Cabinet Office after the elections. So until we hear from someone officially and on the record to support your claims, I’m going to continue to delete your comments to this end.
Eric obviously didn’t catch wind of what he was shovelling.
I’m trying to think of something more boring than this. Nope, can’t do it. BTW all of these comments assume that the lady actually worked in the UK. What are the odds of that? Does lunch count? Cocktails?
Lol
I doubt she breached any laws because she is British (citizenship) and entitled to a British passport (which is only a travel document). The apparent issue is not having the ‘right’ documentation in place for those that have a check-the-box mentality.
She is not British. She first has to apply for and obtain Registration. That is yet to be granted. Right now she is (at best) a BOTC.
If you were born in Cayman before 2002, you automatically became a British citizen and would not need to “apply” for it. Read the British Overseas Territories Act 2002.
Total, unmitigated, bullshit.
If I’m understanding this correctly, she wasn’t born in Cayman and applied for BOTC in 2021. Therefore she would have to apply for British citizenship and then get the passport.
She’s apparently not British though
She is NOT British
If she worked in the UK without a Work Permit and without registering for Income Tax and National Insurance, I think she may be about to discover that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs very much have a “check the box” mentality, coupled with a “zero sense-of-humour” attitude and a “we impose stinging administrative penalties” set of procedures.
If she was paid in Cayman and her presence was effectively concealed by CIG renting accommodation on her behalf then it may also be considered attempted tax evasion, which could lead to criminal charges (and the value of the accommodation would also be considered as a taxable “benefit in kind”).
Even as a non-dom (though more likely she would be treated as a “worker on secondment”), she would have to pay tax on all earnings made as a result of her employment in the UK, as well as all foreign earnings that are transferred to the UK
The article says she doesn’t have a British passport.
Does she have a British overseas territory citizen (cayman) passport?
If she doesn’t that raises a lot of questions?
If she has a BOTC passport why did she her Canadian passport to enter the UK to work for the Cayman Government.
Read the article – she didn’t obtain the BOTC until 3 months after she landed in the UK.
12.11pm It won’t happen because all Civil Servants have a D.O.N. – a Doctorate of Non-Accountability awarded by Franz Manderson.
One word: entitled
One word: incompetent.
One word: Maladministration.
One word: Blumpkin
That’s not a crime. Maladministration is.
Not all, only the sycophants.
This story is a total nothing-burger. Of course it was reasonable for her to believe she was able to work in the UK in the circumstances.
Dr. Tasha is an incredibly hard-working, intelligent, and conscientious civil servant. Anyone can make a mistake.
Please…give me a break.Even after obtaining a U.K passport it does not give you the right to work immediately.Rose says ‘lesson learnt’.Samuel you of all people should have known.
Anyone can make a mistake? As a Brit working here I am not allowed to make such a mistake, if I do I am kicked off the island.
Very true. At least CIG are looking after the Canadians whilst still hanging onto the tailcoats of the Mother country.
Maybe CIG and Her Majesty’s Government should reach an agreement that benefits British subjects equally between Cayman and the UK. I suspect not though as this entire island is essentially run by Canadians and Americans profiting from the umbrella protection of the UK. Even the “Caymanians” are essentially American or Canadian by proxy.
Probably about time Whitehall set the Island free, decolonise us and let us make our way in the world.
And for sure the persons claiming this is nothing and just a paperwork issue would be calling for you to be deported!
Exactly. And you would be deported.
…to Rwanda!
How do you know she was not illegally working in Cayman? When was she granted or otherwise formally confirmed to have status?
She better get this sorted quickly or she’ll be on the next flight to Rwanda.
Or the next sailing of the Windrush.
Ya’ll too funny😁
It would have to be Canada, since it’s her place of birth & the only country in which she had legally established a statehood or allegiance. For sure, the UK knows she’s legit for deportation to Canada- on a one-way ticket – but this time, they had her enroute to Grand Cayman to sort out her royals oaths.
😂 😂 😄 😂
Um..No. People that travel across International borders are highly advised to not make mistakes when doing so. When you fail at this level in the discussion, it just demonstrates you are either un-educated in the necessary protocols, ignorant or just plain dumb.
My firm routinely has people work in foreign countries. Strangely enough, we usually check if there are any immigration issues in them doing so before we dispatch them, and we NEVER suggest the way forward is for the employee to claim they are simply visiting.
Explain why it was reasonable for her to assume that she could work there on a Canadian passport without a visa? Hell, she even said she recognized it was important to have a UK passport and started the process to obtain one – just didn’t complete it.
Caymanian born overseas? So she made a status application and had it granted, right? Please tell me that happened – because if it did not we have much bigger problems.
Why don’t you ask her dad, Capt Bryan, if he’s a Caymanian and if she’s a Caymanian.
Wholly irrelevant. Ask yourself why.
Irrelevant. Having a Caymanian father does not automatically mean that someone born in Canada in the 1970’s and 80’s is necessarily Caymanian. They have to apply for status. Did they?
So are you joyous at the fact that a person born to an obviously Caymanian father has to be humiliated by all these anti Eric Bush/anti Alden posts ( because that’s what it is) on here? Why don’t you get your brain dead stupid Members of Parliament to try to rectify the laws and regulations about important matters like this?
There is nothing wrong with the laws. Just the failure of government to follow them.
Ummm, not in the slightest joyous. It is sickening. And the law on the day she was born is the one that matters. Parliamentarians cannot change that.
Did she have a dna test done as required by the immigration law because her parents were not married?
One rule for you. Another rule for me.
It is the mantra of Cayman’s Civil Service.
Selective and unequal enforcement is too often the way they operate. They have no shame in persisting even when it is drawn to their attention. It is an insidious form of corruption.
Was the Canadian Passport that superior that she never considered owning her (paternal-parental) rights to these Islands?
Ms. Ebanks-Garcia only recently sought Naturalization in September 2021 (i.e. last year)- a move that may have likely been influenced by the UK Government since she’s been employed ‘across the pond’ for a year now. And, after careful legal review & analysis of the protocols to satisfy her right-to-work status in the UK, a Canadian Passport & Naturalization Status still wasn’t enough to keep her employed. So the UK had her exit the jurisdiction to straighten-out her immigration issues before she is able to return to the Mother Land to continue her employment.
By doing this, the UK is compelling her to clearly & decisively decide her statehood after claiming parental lineage and assuming various senior government roles, both locally & abroad.
It is baffling to witness a near 50 year old tout ONLY a Canadian Passport, while continuing to work in public office, without ever having meaningful documentation to proof her legitimacy to these Islands beyond a Canadian Passport.
The use of a Canadian Passport in any capacity of the Cayman Islands Government “high-office” duties, as well as in the UK, is unacceptable and even insulting to say the least. The UK did the right thing, in outing her until her travel & employment documents are properly sorted & in good standing on both fronts- that is, in the Cayman Islands & UK.
CNS: I deleted the first sentence. If you don’t mean to be offensive, don’t use very offensive terms. A fake apology doesn’t absolve you.
Her father is Caymanian so even if she was not born here she wouldn’t need to apply for Caymanian status. The application that should have been made is for what is called an Acknowledgement. Very easy process. It is incredible that a supposedly intelligent person could so unnecessarily land herself in such an unfortunate position.
Wouldn’t she have had to be acknowledged to be living and working in Cayman in the first place?
Yes. Unless we are corrupt.
Exactly. This whole immigration/naturalized caymanian/right to work debacle is some REAL bullish!t.
That is not the law. That is the problem with this all.
Your legal analysis is potentially very wrong. If she claims to be the child of a Caymanian, and was not herself born Caymanian (which would appear unlikely given descriptions of the circumstances of her birth) then it would appear that she is obliged to apply for status by descent under section 28(2) of the Act. If she has not already done so, that may be appropriate. Of course, this assumes she has not previously applied for and been granted the Right to be Caymanian or formally acknowledged as Caymanian.
#worldclassshitshow
My thinking, exactly!👍
Just shows you that even with a phd some people have no common sense!!
Jokers, excuses. A Ph.D. and Chief Officer did not know?! They thought going to work in the UK is like moving from West Bay to go to live and work in Northside?! Up to now, you do not understand that Motherland does not mean that you can just go in and work?
No, they simply thought the rules don’t apply to connected people.
I wonder how long before we have Direct Rule? Surely there has to be a limit to the absolute lunacy on this Island?
A civil servant, being sent to another Country, with no papers, and then she blames it on the other country for not checking or raising it?
lmao. One day I will be in their position, just doing whatever I want, when I want, then let it all slide off my shoulders.
Would be interesting to see , as well as openly available ( to a qualified applicant/inquiry)as to what was actually declared to the immigration officer in Heathrow on arrival by Ms. Ebanks back in July ’21.
By her account , she declared she was working , in gainful employment in the U.K. to that officer , who then said ” That’s fine, you presented a Canadian passport ,but do not possess a work visa , Welcome to Britain ” .
Yep. In the current environment where UK borders officers are turning back EU citizens and focused on the right to work, the idea that a Heathrow borders officer would do that is frankly unbelievable. Now someone saying that they are Canadian, visiting for tourism purposes, that’s believable. Mind you, they would admit you for the maximum 6 months that Canadians are allowed to enter, even without working, which is 2 months shorter than the period she stayed. None of the explanation makes sense.
Complete exaggeration.
It’s an immigration mistake. Admittedly a boneheaded one but the big deal people are making about this is absolutely staggering.
In a place which has a general attitude to immigration ‘mistakes’ along the lines or don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out’, perhaps not all that surprising that it’s a big deal.
If Dr.Ebanks turns out not to be Caymanian, what charges will her employer face?
It’s surprising to anyone with any sense. In the rest of the world,leaving aside weird covid rules, immigration rules are not strictly enforced.
There are plenty of people that move back and forth between countries like the US and UK and Canada all the time without following proper procedures.
Should she have obtained the proper paperwork? Of course. Should she have been smart enough to know this? Yes.
Of all the incompetent things that all governments do, PPM,UDP, PACT, whatever, this is so minor it’s laughable.
To bring up things like direct rule and to turn this into a witch hunt about whether this woman is actually Caymanian is insane to any reasonable person.
Question the competence of Ms. Ebanks Garcia, and the relevant government officials, sure.
Use the opportunity to more closely examine some of the problems with the system by which we detemine who is and isn’t Caymanian, sure.
Call for direct rule?
Insane. If you don’t understand that you’re not very bright. Sorry.
What is ONE of the FIRST questions Immigration asks people when they are landed?
“Are you here for business or pleasure?” Even if that didnt happen, her passport would have been stamped as a visitor and she would have been given a time limit in the UK.
Pull someone else’s legs, mine are long enough.
Did she have to return to Cayman to sort her immigration status or did she return to Cayman because she knew she was visiting and had to leave before her time was up AND she couldnt afford to break her legal and ordinary residence by being outside of Cayman too long.
Is she suggesting the U.K. Border Control Officer screwed up like our own Civil Service? – highly unlikely, more likely they did not get the true facts.
Does anyone get the true facts?
She didn’t need a visa entering as Cdn tourist. Lucky she wasn’t sent to Rwanda
Is that how she entered Cayman? Canadian tourist?
This involves a straightforward breach of UK immigration rules – whether its on entry into the UK to work, overstaying, or both. So whats the Governor’s position on this? That Samuel Rose has done a full investigation and that, other than noting lessons learned, there is nothing more to be done other than castigate the press for bringing public attention to it? How about bringing the matter to the Home Offices attention so they can factor that into Ms Ebanks-Garcia’s passport application?
The civil service is a circus run by clowns like Franz Manderson and his hand picked band of merry men like Eric Bush, Jennifer Ahearn, Tasha Ebanks, Samuel Rose to name a few. No one is held accountable just look at his favored successor Eric bumbling Bush who is at the core of this latest fiasco. The bosses are desperate to keep the spotlight off his incompetence in this and all matters where he has left a mess.
Governor Roper needs to hold his people accountable and stop making excuses.
Story has more holes than Swiss cheese.
1. We are asked to believe that a UK border officer, faced with a Canadian who openly tells them that they are going to work in the UK, allows her in without a visa, even though UK immigration regulations clearly state Canadians can enter the country for up to 6 months but not work? They don’t even mention the prohibition against working?
2. Accepting that really did happen, the maximum period Canadians are allowed to enter (for non working purposes) without a visa is 6 months. By her account she entered in July 2021 and left in March 2022 – so even on that explanation she is an illegal overstayer.
3. She says she wanted to get a British passport because she thought it important for her role. She applies for BOTC with the intention of getting a UK passport 3 months before she is deployed, gets naturalised in September, but then does absolutely nothing about the next step of then applying for the British passport she thought so important until March 2022, and only after the chief officer has told her – somewhat late in the day – that she needed to have one.
Or maybe, just maybe, the need to have a UK passport or visa was recognised upfront, but it was all taking too long so she just went anyway, and having gotten in, couldn’t be bothered to complete the process.
How did she get naturalized in September if she had already moved away from Cayman in July? When did she file her application for Naturalization? I am told it takes more than 6 months? Did she get a Cayman Passport without being here? I am told that is impossible. What evidence did she provide to prove she was Caymanian as part of her Naturalization application? And if you are a British Citizen you do not need a British passport to live and work in the UK. This stinks.
No such thing as a Cayman passport.
Oh, well mine must be fake then.
You don’t have one.
Exactly. It is a BOTC passport with the words Cayman Islands on the front of it. Those words however have no legal meaning. If you renew it at a British Consulate Overseas it will just say BOTC. It however gives you exactly the same rights as the one you were first given in Cayman.
She needed to be Naturalised as a UK citizen, to work and remain in the UK. That she could suggest this requirement was beyond the grasp of all involved, simply doesn’t hold water. Until recently she could barely work and remain legally in Cayman. Ironic that she was helming Travel Cayman to officiate who could come and go, while not Naturalised herself. This doesn’t go away, Sam. You have to fire her and accept responsibility.
Franz is the boss. Sam is the lackey.
If Eric cannot get fired for a legacy of issues do you really think Franz will fire Tasha his female version of Eric? Wake up the CS is an expensive joke
No wonder they call us a Banana Republic. Inmates running the asylum.
The Cayman Islands, the only country in the world where you can hold a passport but not be a citizen of the country. My Daughter, who was born here, received a passport without any issues, but was not ‘legally’ in Cayman because she hasn’t been added to my PR/Status, now she has multiple extension stamps in her Caymanian passport. Can someone make sense out of this.
So there’s your answer- you didn’t add your daughter as your dependent to your PR and Status applications (two separate procedures so you double-whammied yourself). My recommendation to all those aspiring to permanent residency and Caymanian Status- read and understand immigration law and regulations. If you don’t get it, ask someone that does. It is really difficult to unwind something as simple as ensuring all your dependents are ‘on record’ when filing for PR/Status…
Umm, the Cayman Islands are not a country so…
Ask Franz he was in charge of immigration for donkey years
That’s why Immigration is such a mess 4:03, Franz was in charge.
Citizenship and Immigration status are different things. Cayman passports afford no right to enter or remain in the Cayman Islands. You need additional permissions.
Just another glorious day in our world class Civil Service.
It’s laughable that all of. Mac’s mass status grants to Jamaicans , makes them more Caymanian than “Dr” Tasha.
The only reason I cling to life is to see what happens next!
How does Tasha Ebanks look in the mirror, go about lecturing people and keep her job when she deliberately broke immigration laws which speaks to character and had to come back to Cayman or else?
Oh I see – very different rules then for a Caymanian working illegally in the UK, compared to a British person coming here to work illegally in Cayman.
Blame the uk gov for allowing her to go and work there
Uk should have done their due diligence
How did they get to do any due diligence? They didn’t apply for a visa for her. She just turned up at Heathrow with a Canadian passport.
Totally unbelievable! Anybody should know they cant just go work in a country without either being a citizen or obtaining relevant work visas…. This is just terrifying that these are the folks running the country they let this slip through the cracks…..
Wonder if the previous UK reps had UK passports? Having the right to get one and actually having one are two totally different things!
The Private Sector is no difference when they send employees to the U.S. on T1/2 VISAS. Immigration fraud & breaches are more common than you think. Some transient workers are given a “help-up” by professionals versed in U.S. Immigration law (& its loopholes), or simply seizing the opportunity of negligent Immigration staff and even corrupt ones.
Like the U.S., the U.K. is NO DIFFERENT.
Therefore, a Canadian Passport should not have given her limited visiting time in the Mother Country; no more than a tour of the its landscape & a perhaps a shopping trip.
Correction:
*should have ONLY given her…
It took the PR team quite a while to come up with this pretty good smooth over, I must admit. But alas, it appears not everybody is hoodwinked
The cover up is always worse than the lies except in the Caymans
We are meant to believe no one from Dr. Ebanks-Garcia down to a chief officer or PA NO-ONE considered her immigration status before she took up the appointment. Like, not even a checklist of things to do before I/she leaves. And it didnt dawn on her after she would have been admitted into the UK as a VISITOR that perhaps her immigration status needed to be considered. She knew she was there as a visitor but yet was working. SMH
“Dr” Tasha’s doctor prefix clearly does not indicate her ability to read and digest rules.
From the school of “Dr.” Frank (and others).
Who the hell was the HR Manager or chief handling this cock up! They should have indicated a requirement before she took up the post!!! Unbelievable to me that nobody cared to check this beforehand. How embarrassing gif Cayman. This was the lady who decided who could come to Cayman during the Pandemic only to find out she may be illegal herself!!!! You can’t make this up Franz can you but I’m sure you’ll investigate and there will be no breaches!!!
The buck stops with her. She should know what she needs before she applied for the job. My department always tell us we should handle our own travel arrangements. Government is not a babysitting service. She is an adult. Someone in our office wanted to second to another office overseas, they checked the requirements and realized that they couldn’t do it so they didn’t go. This was a long time ago.
The constant refrain from the government mistake after mistake is that “lessions have been learned”. What the public needs is accountability, not excuses. I would proffer that the best course of action to prevent this type of thing from happening again is to remove the incompetent elements from the equation. Unfortunately, it appears that there is no actual accountability within the Civil Service.
The most obvious “lesson learned” is that anything Eric Bush touches turns to mud.
The lady has a PHD and she thought she could work as a Canadian in the United Kingdom without a visa.
That takes some believing.
Not very sophisticated.
Depends on the subject of her PhD and awarding institution.
She does NOT have a PhD!
Really, NO PhD…?… You’ll have to back that up with facts.
Even more smoke and mirrors.
She has a doctorate, not a PhD….there is a difference.
My Concern is did she have a Travel Certificate to enter Cayman on her return, or was this waived by Eric Air Miles Bush?.
World Class…..incompetence. However you try and explain it away, which quite frankly she and Rose don’t, She, Eric and everyone else associated with this should go, now. It won’t happen of course.
A PhD from an institute not on the best in the world lists….& yet we claim we are best in the world
What qualifications does she have for the job? Asking for a Caymanian friend with a PhD from a world class institution. Didn’t see the list advertised…nor Chris Duggans…
Friends and minions of the mastermind Eric B.
Nepotism is how the service works and you only get hired or promoted based on loyalty to the god called Manderson. The system is not based on merit or competence it is politics in the purest sense where one man is the emperor.
Let’s at least hope the CIG is making sure all taxes are being paid to Uncle Sam in relation to any employment in the USA. Any slip-ups in that regard would be unlikely to be dealt with favorably, and would be most embarrassing.
Assuming Andre Ebanks should go as well. This falls under his ministry and has been for a year.
CNS: No it doesn’t. Since the 2021 elections, the London office has been under the Cabinet Office.