Labour minister denies formal freeze on PR grants
(CNS): The minister responsible for labour has denied allegations by a local law firm that a moratorium on permanent residency grants is in place, even though no applications for residency appear to have been approved by the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board based on points for more than a year. Chris Saunders told CNS there is no formal freeze on PR but increased scrutiny of all applications may be causing delays. He said that officials are taking a closer look at applications due to heightened concerns over sham marriages and questionable land ownership claims.
Saunders said that residency applications in other countries can take years as a result of security concerns, and the authorities here have an obligation to ensure that permanent residency applications are genuine. The minister has previously said there are a number of challenges with the current process and that the entire immigration regime is an emotive issue. However, he confirmed that there is no formal freeze in place.
During a Q&A after his speech at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon event on Wednesday and also speaking directly to CNS, Saunders raised concerns about fraudulent PR applications and noted the heightened scrutiny by the board, which has slowed down the process. He said that sham marriages have become a serious problem and legislative changes are pending to address this issue at the next parliamentary meeting.
He said the delays were caused by “increased vigilance”, adding that people had become “very creative” in how they accumulated points and were “cheating the system”.
But an email widely circulated to clients by Nick Joseph from HSM Chambers, a law firm well-known for its immigration and status work, said that the government appears to have implemented a PR application moratorium, even if there has been no formal announcement. He said the firm had written to the director of WORC and is expecting a response on the issue in a matter of days. But following an FOI request in August, Joseph said the documents received in response all point to a moratorium.
“We have been able to determine that the last PR application made pursuant to the points system and in which they considered the points, was determined by the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency (CSPR) Board on 30 September 2021,” he said.
Research by the firm on documents and minutes of meetings found that the last administrative grant by the WORC director was in April, more than six months ago. Joseph said that most of the hearings for the firm’s clients had been listed on dates where no meetings took place or for 25 December. WORC officials have already admitted that no applications will be processed on Christmas Day.
“Whether the apparent moratorium is deliberate or not, we do not know. Nor do we have any clear understanding of the reason for it being put in place. It may relate to the current review of the system,” Jospeh wrote. “However in our view that is not a sufficient reason for the situation.”
He said the fact that PR applications are taking more than twelve months to be processed raises legal concerns, as the court has already found that taking so long to process such an application could amount to unlawful conduct. “We fundamentally do not understand the basis for most of the ongoing delays. The reality is, a trained administrator could fully assess a properly formulated PR application within an hour,” Joseph said in the email circular.
He said some clients with a lawful pending PR application had faced problems with their status, as well as difficulty securing appropriate stamps in their passports, even being recorded as visitors after living in Cayman for more than eight years. Others had even been accused of “overstaying” or were struggling to get visas. “The delays are accordingly having undesirable and inappropriate, legal and technical effects far beyond mere inconvenience,” Joseph stated.
The current point system is under review and Saunders has said the PACT Government is looking to create a meritocracy around the awarding of PR rather than the criteria of wealth or marriage. He pointed out that Cayman desperately needs teachers and nurses, and even supermarket staff, as shown during the pandemic, but they often struggle to qualify because they cannot afford to buy a home. As a result, the government is considering removing the property requirement.
On the other hand, it is very easy for wealthy people to gain PR. Saunders said that because of this and a serious increase in sham marriages, the local resident population is increasing in a way that is not in the broader public interest. He pointed out that, because of how the system works, the business community has over the years been the sector of society that chooses who gets to be Caymanian when it should be Caymanians who choose who joins them.
Joseph criticised the immigration system for being “unduly complicated” and believes it is in dire need of an overview rather than just tweaking how points are awarded. Saunders appears to agree but he is focused on the rollover period, which he wants to see cut to just six months.
The minister said that not everyone that comes to Cayman plans to stay for the time it takes to get residency or even wants residency. He said there was a fix to the problem of attracting workers without all of them needing to go on to become Caymanian.
“It is a matter of finding the balance where we give… businesses security of tenure to find the employees that they want but at the same time say to the indigenous base that you do not need to feel threatened,” he said. Saunders added that older Caymanians had seen the population double four times in their lifetime. “That’s a little bit too much.”
As the government moves to make changes to what continues to be an imperfect system, Joseph has warned that legally, applicants are entitled to be considered under the legislation and requirements in place on the date of their application, and the mounting backlog is going to present another major problem for the government.
Joseph said his firm will be before the Court of Appeal later this year on the question of the application of human rights considerations and constitutional obligation to points-based systems and residents. He said he expects the outcome of that case to have a significant impact on a myriad of applications.
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I think what’s going on here is that by not processing applications as required by law, the weakest applications who will likely be refused are effectively being granted an extension. The backlog will grow so big and they will come under legal pressure to deal with it that they will then simply accept everyone. All those cheering on what is really maladministration thinking it’s going to reduce PR grants are likely in for a shock.
If they want to change the law then change the law. But don’t penalize pending PR applications put in a year ago. And they also need to accept government tax revenue and services will be impacted as can take a year to find a new work permit applicant from abroad to replace the rejected pr applicant.
Correct. Change the law to include a limit on PR grants per year. Only when we have a growth management policy enshrined in law will growth be properly managed for the long term benefit of Cayman
So if you and I both have good applications and can rightfully expect to get PR, you don’t get it because I was the last in the quota. How does that make sense?
Alternatively you can attach yourself to someone in power and he will arrange it for you.
There will be a cost of course , but it will avoid all that inconvenient waiting.
Just like getting cabinet status grants.
There once was a time where it was published who is applying for PR. I hope we get to that point again. Too many entitled colonizers expecting Cayman to meet their every wish. 1 year should be nothing for waiting to become a citizen of a country. Look how long people wait to become a citizen in America. I also can’t wait until the point system is abolished 🙂 It’s coming soon! No more coming to one’s country and not choosing to assimilate and do as the Romans do.
Something tells me you don’t know what you are talking about.
In the US, it takes 5 years of residence to get citizenship. Here it takes 15 minimum.
When the points system is abolished, it will be replaced by something else, you know that right? It won’t prevent people from coming here to live and stay!
but it will prevent people from coming here so easily 🙂
Cayman is not a country for a start, it’s a British territory, secondly PR does not get you citizenship, it gives you the right to work here permanently. Most of those pr jobs are irreplaceable from an unqualified caymanian workforce, which is the fault of the government education system. Also note that cayman spends more per student on government caymanian education each year than any other western country, but they leave school far less able than those countries.
It’s certainly not a money issue. It’s a culturall thing.
Cultural indeed.
“You’re in my country, now get back in line.”
Those days of “I am a Caymanian and I can have your permit cancelled” …are over.
We now have the rule of law, which most Caymanians welcome.
Now if we can get our Jamaican politicians to go along with that, we’ll all benefit.
PR puts a person on a definitive path to citizenship. Once a person with PR hits their 15th year here, they can apply for citizenship (if they choose) and that application will not be denied unless there are specific reasons like being convicted of a serious crime.
I’m sorry the same education institutions that your expat children attend. It’s still teaching British education.
Lol. 11:03 you’re evidently clueless. If you have any skills at all and work in the US you can get PR aka green card in about 2 years and citizenship 5 years after that. It’s much easier and takes less than half the time it does here.
Exactly 2 years. Why do people come here and expect to be granted that in 6 months? 1 year is nothing.
Wow – what in the world are you talking about?
We actually sell PR and therefore eventually Status legally under the immigration laws.
http://www.immigration.gov.ky/portal/page/portal/immhome/livinghere/independentmeans
That isn’t the point system and I do not believe it has stopped.
So, I am not sure who you think is more likely to “care about the locals” someone who has spent 8+ years in the community or the person who has the means to buy a really expensive property or “invest” in a business to get PR and then maybe spend time here maybe not.
The thing that people don’t realise is that if you’re here for 8 years, it’s inevitable that most people integrate in to society to some degree. While there is truth to the argument that people can move here and stay within their communities and not really integrate, this is certainly not always the case.
Most people who work in a regular job in financial services or tourism work in a workplace with both Caymanians and expats from all over and for the most part everyone makes friends and gets along. There are always exceptions, sure.
Many of the PR for purchase people really never leave the SMB strip, drive their Bentleys around, spend 3 or 4 months here a year and never speak to a Caymanian in their lives. In the meantime their spending power drives up the cost of real estate and goods for the rest of us.
There is a reason why real estate is more expensive now and it’s not because accountants and lawyers are buying everything up. It’s all of these people here on things like the “global citizen program”, Enterprise City and PR by investment swooping up and buying up all of SMB and South Sound – this causes corresponding price rises everywhere else. There are many, many more of these people here than people understand.
At least if you spend 8 years here you must like living here and appreciate the place. People say it’s for the money and of course the money is good for certain segments of the population, but most people don’t stay somewhere for a decade if they don’t like the place or the people. This is especially true of people working middle class jobs, where the cost of living and private education basically complete offsets the tax savings.
I don’t see what political points the government thinks they are scoring by making normal people’s lives miserable while still pandering to the rich.
I don’t think most Caymanians understand what’s happening right under their noses – if Saunders was really trying to help the common man, this is the kind of thing he should looking at.
Maybe it’s true that nobody in the government can agree what kind of immigration they want and so they are hamstrung but this is one of the consequences of a government of political independents with no cohesive agenda.
I just don’t see how stalling the applications helps anything. These applications are in under the old system. They will have to be granted if they are valid. There is no getting away from it.
Not a freeze, just not doing any work this year. Too busy and normal right? In the mean time still pumping out new unemployable Caymanians voters for the Government to feed and care for.
So Saunders is penalizing expats for following a system the government created, which was put in place based on incorrect or unheeded legal advice (compare Bermuda policy), and is having exactly the negative consequences anyone could have predicted. The growth in the population has nothing to do with PR and is a consequence of other failed government policies (or successful, if they want a population of 100,000). Going to be some lawsuits here, maybe UK intervention. But if you keeping blaming everyone else for problems you created for yourself, you will never solve them.
Hit a nerve.
This is a colossal waste of time in the name of pandering to uneducated voters.
Stalling applications accomplishes nothing. They will eventually be granted if the applicants meet the requirements.
The government should be changing the system if they think it’s not working.
This is just doing a disservice to people who have been here for 8 years plus, while a random person can get a temp permit in three days.
Ridiculous policy which does nothing to benefit anyone here, Caymanian or expat.
Pretty obvious why these politicians don’t want any more wealthy, educated persons getting status and the right to vote.
They don’t want to lose their ignorant uneducated voters , knowing that they can’t pull the wool over thinking peoples eyes.
Do you think we haven’t realized that just because you come from UK or wherever doesnt mean you’re educated or smart? Half of you only came here because you couldn’t make it back home. And that accent isn’t fooling anyone anymore!
They need to stop this foolishness of PR. It is abused over and over and serves no useful purpose. They do not care about the locals.
Some do. Some do not. That is why it is critical our systems can distinguish. Say yes to those who love and contribute to Cayman and the Caymanian people, and no to those who do not. But above all do not let those you would properly say no to, to put down roots. If they do, the Caymanian people will lose the right to require them to leave.
PR holders be warned, job change amendments are taking well over 6 months. So amendments are taking a long time. Remember that who did this and do not vote for them when you reach status.
I say ‘yes’ to a halt on PRs. Why? Being one of money and within the rich ‘networks’ that we have here, should not be the sole reason why some of these same people who live here, mingle ONLy with their own kind and promote their own interests and see the future of Cayman only in the eyes of the almighty Caymanian Dollar, is not good for the country.
Racism, class society and rampant discrimination will be the ultimate result in years to come when such people become Caymanian. Why? Some of these same people have no inclination to do good for ALL Caymanians irregardless of their social status in our society.
Irregardless..?
To 2:02 why the question mark for irregardless? It is a word in the dictionary.
It is also not standard English and is not meant to be used when writing.
So yes, it is in the dictionary, but it is being abused above.
I am not original poster but you are a pompous ass.
And you have a certain je ne sais quoi in your erudite turn of phrase.
Pithy
To 10:16 am – It should not be used when writing an article in a newspaper, etc. It is okay to use it when making a comment – comments don’t have to follow the English rule when it comes to writing professionally.
Regardless, it’s redundant. Try to explain the difference in meaning between the word regardless and the non-standard word irregardless.
Irrespective of that, it does sound really cool.
or my fave disirregardless
Or the adverb disirregardlessly
Could not have said it better!!!
No problem. You want to stop PRs? Change the rules. All of these applicants were in under the existing system and accordingly will ultimately gbe approved, even if the government manages to stall it tor a year or so.
Colossal waste of time and disrespecftul to the people who have put in 8 years here and who will ultimately have Caymanian status.
It’s pandering to the lowest common denominator. Look at us, we’re hard on immigration. Except not really.
If you want to stop PR change the system. These games accomplish nothing.
Do we have any grounds for a class action lawsuit? I would be willing to help fund that.
Caymanians should also sue MPs for making it policy to ignore immigration laws and regulations….starting with Sir SelloutAlot and continued by Col Squanders.
Actually, it is the civil servants who should be sued – or even potentially prosecuted – if they followed any policy direction to ignore the law.
WORC was tasked with the mandate to make processing of permit applications more efficient…..NOT with upholding laws and regulations….Aldart and Mini Marco wanted revenues.
Irrationality and disproportionality: s.19(1), Constitution.
As an expat, you come here trying to make a new life here. You come with a skill that is desirable and helps fill a void in the market. Its not easy to up root yourself, work for 8 years and then maybe have an attempt at being accepted. It creates anxiety and bad feelings when it takes a year plus just to hear what may or may not happen. PR holders put in thier time, followed the rules and contributed to society. Whats wrong with letting them have a sense of belonging and value to the community? The Xenophobic mentality has to stop or we will never progress properly.
you come here for large tax free salaries ,.and you will still come if there is no guarantee of tenure.,.it happened for decades.
1) Most expats don’t make large salaries. In fact, most expats are among the lowest earners in the country. (Think of the Jamaicans, Filipinos, Indians, Nepalese, Hondurans, Nicaraguans, etc. who make up by far the largest percentage of expats, and then add the number of Americans, Canadians, Brits, etc. who aren’t professional or at management level – for example, those working in the hotels or in the waterspouts industry). Truth is, only about 10% of expats make a “large” salary.
2) Cayman might not have income tax, but it is anything but “tax free.” Because of import duties and other factors, the cost of living here is very expensive.
3) The biggest advantage for expats is the exchange rate – a dollar saved here is worth a lot more elsewhere. But the people who are here for that reason mostly don’t plan on staying here.
semantics…..they are here for economic reasons such as no tax on savings and sure sometimes favorable exchange rates. Many of those you refer to send money back to their own countries.
Spoken like a true snob. So the difference between multiple expats from a poor country living in a single room to eke out a living so that they can send money home to support their families or create a better future for themselves and coming here just to earn a large tax-free salary is just a matter of “semantics,” – as if we’re really describing the same thing? I wonder how many of these people you are willing to exploit for their low-wage labour?
You also come here knowing there is a term limit, so stop whining.
It is not a matter of xenophobia Iah it is about people vs people, indigenous vs expats growing in large numbers and not just controlling the economy but our Development, our education, our Justice system , our finances, our Parliament etc. Are we supposed to just bend over and take it. That maybe for you but not for the majority of caymanians past, present and future. We will not give up control, we will overcome !
there are no indigenous people here.
With the exception of the judiciary all those functions of government are controlled by multi generational Caymanians. Elected by Caymanians. And increasing the number of PR holders have 0 impact on that.
Nope.
Head of Immigration Policy. Irish.
Head of Legal. Jamaican.
Stop your moaning and be glad you have the opportunity to be here. The system in place now is much more fair and transparent than the one in place when I arrived in the mid 90’s. Back then you had to worry about each WP renewal and there was no ability to change employers without their consent. There were 3 status grants a year and it was such a big deal that they were published on the front page of the Compass on 1 January. The only PR available was without the right to work and even then they were rarely granted.
And that led to 2004….we are building up a backlog so large that when the dam wall finally breaks after a judicial review everyone in the applicant pool will get PR without any examination whatsoever.
Actually, if you knew the right person you could by a condo for $250k and get it. Ask around…
You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o’clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out.
other would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing ‘Hallelujah.’
But you try and tell the young people today that… and they won’t believe ya’.
It is the entitlement. Green card applications take YEARS in the U.S. Why do people think it would be any different in Cayman?
Ummm, because our laws are different and require processing within a year in most instances.
Because Cayman has very weak and greedy politicians.
Aldart made expatriates the entitled in Cayman….he was the worst politician you have had.
Years from start – not years having first had to be here with a clean record for 8 years.
Good Saunders. Don’t need anymore PR grants.
Then change the law 3.34.
If you don’t follow the law, you’ll invite law suits .
All applications are submitted because the law allows it, refusals or civil service indolence is not a solution , if the application meets the requirements of the law.
How about everyone agree that PR should be available only to those that deserve it?
Expats,they all want to live here, for the money and peacefulness of our islands.
Caymanians, remember that when hurricane Ivan devastated our island, the expats all got on a plane and went back to their countries, leaving the Caymanians and the few true expats who cared about the island to clean up.
In reality the government asked people that if they did not have to be in Cayman they should relocated for a couple of months. That included Caymanians and expats. Sorry to burst your fake reality bubble.
True for non-working women with children and the elderly. Not true for significant numbers of physically fit lawyers, accountants and bankers.
Like your Caymanian Chief of Police… whose job had to be done by foreigners when he went awol.
So true, I worked at the airport then and saw it myself.
as one of the expats that went through Ivan, stayed and assisted in the clean up and is still waiting on PR, just shows this lie.
You don’t care for those expats either.
I remember plenty of Caymanians on the first plane, who stayed in the US and returned after the clean up.
That is a laugh. Many Caymanians who were here did not bother to come to work. Many expats from Europe and America simply left. Locals who were Caribbean expats and
Caymanians did all the work, but many Caymanians simply went home and stayed there until the work was done, then turned up to collect rewards from government that they did not earn. At one shift to send out security people for the entire island, apart from the senior people, not one Caymanian was present – all of them were either absent without leave or left with permission of the higher-ups who happened to be Caymanians. The boss said they would be fired if they were absent without permission, but actually gave them medals in the end along with the people who stuck it out and did the hard work. Now we see people trying to re-write history, but we are used to that too.
my girlfriend put in her application to switch from RERC to standard PR over a year ago. Mother to 2 caymanian children with Cayman and BOTC passports, home owner over a decade,6 figure salary, waaaay over the points threshold. She wants to remain in the country her children call home, and is a part of this community.
why is her application so hard?
Because they don’t care about people. They only care about themselves. Always remember that when you vote her in the next election.
girlfriend? interesting as surely, she should be married? if she isn’t married to you then RERC should be kicking her out.
Explain how she is the spouse of a Caymanian or PR / Status holder when she’s your Girlfriend. Sounds like a sham marriage to me. Especially when you’re supposed to let the people that need know within 6 months of seperation.
Maybe the breakdown of the marriage is why she is now a girlfriend attempting to switch to normal PR.
Yes, that’s the spirit! Let’s split up Caymanian families. Maybe if those children grow up in a civilised place, they won’t end up hateful and bigoted like you and many other ignorant nationalists.
Mmmm, English is not my first language, but I think you can use the word “girlfriend” to describe a woman-friend, not just a life-partner. The original writer could easily be a woman who has a friend…..
The end result will be another round of legally required mass status grants.
So, Saunders wants to build 30 story skyscrapers for his imagined 300,000 population, presumably mostly permit holders, but also has imposed a moratorium on processing PR applications to restrict the legitimate legal pathway to permanent settlement. Anyone else confused?
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind or more accurately in 10:32’s comment above.
Believe it or not Saunders is not an idiot. Just think about who benefits from the freeze, a large group of people from the island to our East that may not have qualified under the point system as written.
Worst case for those people now is an extra year or two on island during this freeze and whatever appeal period they will do if they ever hear PR Applications again.
But the best cases for this constituency and Saunders is that by holding the ball on the applications there will be a mass grant to people who reach the magic 10 years on island that starts to get international human rights arguments involved.
Move forward another 5 years and Saunders has created another few hundred voters who likely fall into his target demographics…
This is not about protecting Caymanians. Anyone who thinks it is needs to follow along more closely.
As a bonus when the inevitable court decision comes down the Deputy Premium will be able to blame the court for forcing all these new Caymanians upon us. Never mind that it was all in his plan from the beginning.
So true…..instead of making unpopular decisions Aldart used courts (Smellie) to opine rules were biased, Governor to rule on same sex rights and WORC to ignore immigration regulations. PACT continues the disgusting deceptions.
The last thing PACT wants is more educated voters.
OK so why are they holding up the applications of persons not married to Caymanians then? Those marriages do not entitle anyone to anything so can’t be considered a sham.
Sanders’ defacto Moratorium prevents all of the applications from being considered for merit. It’s unlawful and cruel.
It appears to be being facilitated, as it was in 2017, by the civil service. Saunders has no legal control over them. They are obliged to follow the law without fear or favor. They appear to be failing to do so. Again. Franz? Governor? What say ye?
Saunders stalling, but why? Is there a Jamaican politics game being played?
Elect Jamaicans, and you’ll surely be turned into a lawless corrupt crime ridden cesspit like Jamaica.
Yes, there is, think about who gets to stay if their PR application is not even looked at.
It isn’t a lot of wealthy entrepreneurs… that easily qualify who benefit from the freeze. It is the applications that could be thrown out on first review that benefit.
Spend an afternoon outside NAU and you’ll see plenty of men with women whose body language screams under duress.
They march them into NAU, and make sure they come out and march them back into their Honda.
Because the sham marriage argument is itself a sham. Not about that – about telling the ordinar Caymanian they are protecting them by not creating new Caymanians whilst at the same time trying to avoid the ire of the business community.
The only people Saunders is helping with this are the lawyers.
I only wish Saunders would help Caymanian lawyers. It seems that PACT (like the PPM) only cares about large law firms. PACT will be a one term Government because of this.
Whatever happened to a Cayman First policy.
Alden threw it away.
Now you have “employers should have security of tenure for their work permit holders” and “please give Caymanians equal opportunity”…thanks alot Squanders
Like PPM the PACT just want lawyers to talk to them and like them…makes them feel smart and important.
Well said.
What help do you think Caymanian lawyers need? Serious question.
Not Caymanian lawyers.
Well said.
Maybe non-Caymanian lawyers, but not Caymanian lawyers.
Nick is Caymanian whether you like it or not.
Well said.
This situation could have been alleviated years ago. We need a quota system. USA only allowed 20,000 people to come per year from Cuba. We have over 12,000 work permits from one island? Really?
Yes really. Look around you. Nothing would work here without Jamaican labour most of whom, by the way, are some of the nicest, hardest working people you’ll ever meet.
Not long ago, there was an annual quota in the low teens, and a subjective public vetting of those applicants by publishing their names and headshot photo in Compass. Some were married to Caymanians and mothers of Caymanian children. Violated all kinds of international human rights rules.
Not sure you’re correct.
PPM wanted the money and votes….Sir SelloutAlot destroyed Caymanians futures.
Interesting DP Saunders , yesterdays news was you are suggesting 20 to 30 story buildings, today’s news is that this rate of population growth is unacceptable. So which is it ?
Whichever suits his own personal interests.
How many of these people who begrudge giving status or permanent residence have jumped on the bandwagon and been granted full Brtish passports giving them all the rights of British citizens?.
100% of “Caymanian passports” are British Overseas Territories passports. The travel document remains property of the Crown always, with Cayman Islands as the administrative subordinate territorial sub-header Issuing Authority.
Thank you, Mr. Bean. 🫘
Ah… you can get full British citizenship and a UK passport if you are Caymanian or have been naturalized as a BOTC. I know this for a fact because I have one, as well as many other Caymanians.
The fee for registration is £1200. The UK is actively trying to discourage it by elevating the fee.
People pay smugglers much more than that to get across the channel…
I paid around £800 about seven years ago, so £1,200 isn’t much more now when you do the conversion!
As many as want, because they are legally entitled to it. Save your unfounded arguments for the man in the mirror.
British since 1677, or don’t you know history.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Or they just don’t care.
I wish that Saunders would just shut up or go away. Before he starts a war over PR and Status he and his Pack need to stop meddling in the lives of born Caymanians that they do not like politically or otherwise by trying to prevent them from making a decent living. . PACK is nothing but a hate filled uneducated, unethical bunch of people with too much power. All they have done since being elected is to create hardship and frustrate the populace with their bombastic sound bites to try to fool us into believing that they are doing something for us. Some of their boards appointees are known for their hate speech over the years so they set the chaotic wheels in motion. On one hand he is saying that Cayman needs to increase the population but on the other hand he wants to curb the growth. A quota and the criteria should be set for each country/region so that persons on work permits can decide and plan accordingly.
Older Caymanians?! I’m 34 and the population has quadrupled in *my* lifetime. It may have multipled by five, or even ten, for some still alive.
Your bad anmath aren’t you?
And I see that You’re bad at spelling as well as re-reading before pressing POST COMMENT, aren’t you?
And spelleng.
I am in my 50’s. The population has increased tenfold since my childhood. My math, and that of the original poster, is just fine.
Tenfold from the 50s is a stretch and it’s more like tripled in the last 34 years. Check the census and do the multiplication. Cayman was over 25k by 1989 – we don’t have more than 100k now, but we’re close to 75k.
Less than 10,000 in 1970.
11,000 in 1975
You’re bad at spelling and grammar, aren’t you?
Saunders can probably spell better than you.
But definitely better at di maths!
As if they care about teachers, nurses and supermarket staff getting PR. They simply realized they outsmarted themselves making property ownership a requirement for PR application, something that priced out many, if not most, Caymanians of the property market. Good try though.
So you would rather thousands of homeless new Caymanians? That is what eventually happens if you grant PR ago people who do not own homes.
So you prefer we grant Permanent Residence to people who have no homes of their own? Fast forward that experiment.
Sure, I get your point. Only now you have so many Caymanians who can’t afford to even dream about a tiny home, and tons of properties sold for over a billion dollars I believe last year, to people who can afford those places, who I believe are mostly not from Cayman. Correct me if I am wrong.
All the Teachers and Nurses do get Status and then their children get the Govt Scholarships thereby disenfranchising our kids.
Scholarships are now meant to be means tested, which in theory stops certain life-long politicians from funneling $ at least some of their wealthier supporters…
Scholarship granted to child of millionaire foreigners . It’s not right and no means testing.
They are meant to have attainment criteria also but PACT has seen fit to do away with that.
Points noted:
√Saunders said that officials are taking a closer look at applications due to heightened concerns over sham marriages and questionable land ownership claims.
√He [Saunders] said that sham marriages have become a serious problem and legislative changes are pending to address this issue at the next parliamentary meeting.
✓He [Saunders] pointed out that, because of how the system works, the business community has over the years been the sector of society that chooses who gets to be Caymanian when it should be Caymanians who choose who joins them.
√Saunders is focused on the rollover period, which he wants to see cut to just six months.
✓He said there was a fix to the problem of attracting workers without all of them needing to go on to become Caymanian
√Saunders added that older Caymanians had seen the population double four times in their lifetime. “That’s a little bit too much.”
😊👌…..and lots of prayers🙏🙏
I asked him to let me know if any brethren needed to get married for a small annual fee. supplied with 15 contacts. SMH
The whole purpose of the points system was to level the playing field, so that lower-income applicants filling essential skill and trade gaps, could still qualify for PR without the evidenced financial horsepower of senior finance professionals. Discarding trained and loyal employees with rollover every 8 years is counter productive. Even Bermuda scrapped it.
It is time for a freeze.
Inviting UN sanctions doesn’t help Cayman.
Nonsense.
Cayman is not bad compared to other jurisdictions, Saunders is correct.
He’s Jamaican and wants to keep other Jamaicans out.
Or in?
Seriously this only serves to allow loads of lower income applicants in. A large number of people who don’t qualify under the current point system can just submit a PR application, boom with the illegal freeze that has amounted to a least an extra year on island.
Next even if the issue is sorted out early next year, which is highly unlikely to happen as this is very much a “Soon Come” type issue. Anyone denied can submit and appeal, which probably results in another 6-12 months on island.
So, if someone submitted near their term limit date, they could have been here 11+ years before immigration can legally cause them to move on. The problem with this is likely the well-funded qualifying people will have successfully challenged this at great expense to the public-purse after the CIG inevitably loses. The court decision could then result in a blanket approval of anyone on this rock over 10 years.
Add in a few more years and Saunders and some other Politicians have a larger voting bloc.
This is intended to help unqualified Jamaicans, anyone else that gets swept along can thank Uncle Chris as well.
Our Caymanian 18 year old applied for their continuance of Status and it was initially declined because Worc didn’t believe the Cayman resident school enrollment portion had been continuous (despite the records it was). By law, that application process is supposed to take 3 weeks, and it took months. There are obstructive and resentful forces penalizing everyone arbitrarily, including those who are already Caymanian. Who does this serve?
Imagine your child had never bothered to apply for continuation. Then they would be able to run for political office and get elected, without even being Caymanian…
Ridiculous that people with perfectly good and genuine PR applications have been waiting over a year for them to be granted.
Trouble is that the staff are not educated to the same level as the lawyers who submit the applications.
Because they are befuddled by the laws, and don’t know how to respond , they put the applications on the back burner, hence delays and lack of action.
This is what they do for a living. Nobody can reasonably defend an entire department and board putting the entire contents of their in trays on the back burner for over a year, and still expect to retain their employment, unless they have been specifically instructed to derelict those duties by a superior. Sanctioned misconduct is still misconduct.
So befuddled they haven’t processed a single application in 13 months? Pull the other one, it’s got bells on it. Or maybe, jylust maybe, the staff dealing with these have been told not to table any applications, and Mr McField, we’ll known for his love of foreigners, isn’t exactly exercising himself to have the board meet or do any business when they do.
@2.27 Boy they badmouth us every chance they get but once they get here they dont ever want to go back home. Demand their rights . Talk about entitlement mentality.
Caymanians make the rules. The rest of us jump through all the hoops you want us to year after year after year and then you ignore your own rules and try and pretend they don’t exist. It’s hardly entitled to expect the government to abide by the rules THEY make. This is family’s lives you’re messing with here. If you don’t want any of us here that’s fine (good luck with that) but don’t provide a route to PR or Status. All anyone is asking is that CIG abide by their own laws.
On what legal basis can a qualifying honest applicant, landowner, and civic contributor (under Cayman’s ever-changing rules) be denied consideration on merit? Not every government function has to be so twisted and crooked. There are real life consequences for this type of obstruction in the form of expensive loosing settlements, and FCO/UN warnings/sanctions. Stupid is as stupid does.
How about just following the immigration law, that was after all drafted and approved by Caymanian politicians. Don’t want to grant PR or status, fine. Have the honesty to change the law so everyone knows the situation. But no, let’s just ignore the law when it’s inconvenient.
How is this ridiculous? This is a serious process. How long would it take to get a green card in America?
Wait, you mean an island with staunchly institutionalized xenophobia is willing to stoop to criminality so as to obstruct the lives and livelihoods of productive members of society, only to protect an ever less useful and more misguided sense of national identity?
I am shocked. Shocked I tell you.
Can you tell? Is it coming across sufficiently?
Excellent post 2.26 … but da wa ya get from the poorly schooled and entitled who are in positions of authority way beyond their intellectual capacity.
Cayman does not need people like you. Go back to wherever you came from. Adios.
You’d hate living here if everyone did this.
This island produces neither the quantity nor quality of skilled labour to accommodate it’s current standard of living.
There would be substantially no supply of USD to keep this place afloat without the foreigners doing all manner of corporate services bringing in revenue.
Businesses would hardly care to ship international goods here either, with insufficient population to buy goods and no USD to trade for them, you’d lose access to all but the most basic staples.
But I know full well I am casting pearls at swine, because if you were smart enough to understand these points, you’d have never opened your mouth to spout something so inane in the first place.
Hopefully others will read this and be better educated for it.
It would appear that the Minister does not understand how the points system works or is being disingenuous
Sham marriage are in the main an issue for RERCs as the Spouse of Caymanians or Spouse of PR holders. These are no issues for the point system!!
And just lets “pretend” that heightened scrutiny of marriages is taking place.. why then aren’t they granting PR to people who are not married…
it’s nonsense!
But what is the highlighted scrutiny of marriages? Why is it not in place now? Sounds like a random bunch of opinions about people’s lives which are likely to result in lawsuits.
Section 19(1), Constitution.
S.9(1), BoR.
It’s not nonsense – it’s a plain lie. Saunders and PACT don’t want to grant more PR or issues status because they know it’s politically unpopular. At the same time they don’t want to offend the business community or admit that they are breaking the immigration laws ( established by the Cayman government, not by the expats!). And they know that if they try and change the laws to reintroduce rollover there will be a business uproar, and if theychange the law to prevent a path to citizenship hey are going to have a problem with both the judiciary because of human rights and the UK government. So they are resorting to the usual CIG response of not wanting to deal openly with a difficult issue – ignore it and hope it goes away. Which will end up in court with yet another judicial review loss and having to do a mass grant to avoid liability. Sad. Just sad.
No. Cayman is winding down inviting every non-Caymanian in the world from coming here and intercepting employment opportunities and business opportunities from Caymanians. That’s all it is. Cayman First, not expats first.
How does stalling the hearing of applications do that?
yes too much of them coming here using cayman for everthing that is bad.they have no good intension in them .yes do a good throughout investigation on them dont care who they are or where they are from and let them wait.as caymanian we have to do what the romans did come drink the milk not to count the cows.
But I can guarantee that their spelling and grammar is better than yours.
….are better than yours.
You will be amazed at the numbers of Jamaicans applying for Cayman passports as a gateway to UK..
The prisons there are also full of Jamaicans.
Giving staus to people who can not afford buy a house? Well the government will then have to take care of them later in life, health, housing etc. What is Suanders motivation for this? Make Cayman Jamaica?
At least it would be better than being a mini Jmaica. Ever notice everywhere that population is crime is ridiculously high and the areas look poor?
More Jamaicans in England than in Jamaica still.
How about we all work together to make Caymanian look like Cayman? Make it different. More like it was. By us and for us. Welcoming those that respect and assist us. Shunning those that do us harm?
Or just a large group of voters that a beholden to certain politicians for hand-outs.
So what are they going to do about those sham marriages that is not being done now? They also need to make sure they won’t victimize the legit ones just to show off a point. I can sense human rights issues coming into prospective once again.
They gov’t should outsource PR approvals to HSM. Nick knows way more about this than anyone on the Permanent Residency Board.
The government should outsource the government. UK rule as you would.
I believe he (and others) would do it free of charge as a public service – but would also not hesitate to deny those that do not meet the criteria set by law. Is that the problem?
Except in cases where the Minister says “ Bring the application to my office and I will look after it”.
They really should be more careful making these comments in restaurants
when approached by multi millionaire foreigners who can’t be bothered to go through the system.
Why. Because the Governor, ACC, or Police might do something?
You new around here?
I am not a fan of the way things are going with the government BUT this one I can stand by 1000%. We may have to consider updating the period of time in which people wait for PR grant and also to give persons the necessary interim documents while they wait to avoid issues but do not be pressured by the private sector or any individual to rush this process. We have teachers, nurses, domestic helpers and other people who have given back to this community genuinely and cannot afford property. We are creating a major wealth gap with this current system and for once I agree with PACT on this. It has to happen we can’t continue like this. You cannot go to another person’s country and demand permanent residency or for their system to process you faster. If changes have to be made which are desperately needed, I stand by it.
You agree with PACT that its a good idea to stall applications for a year but eventually grant them anyway because you have no basis to deny them?
What’s the point of that? How does waiting a long time to hear applications do anything to address the issues you raised?
They might not be granted if enough time is taken to analyze them thoroughly.
The “New” Board the PACT put in place under Steve McField has not hear a single application…
Let that sink in. There is no analysis going on, just a breach of Cayman Law that will eventually let a massive group of people that don’t qualify get PR and then status.
Ask yourself who this benefits. It is not the average Caymanian of even Expat.
Ah yes, I forgot Steve was in charge. Steve, the guy Orett Connor said on his radio show a couple of years back would have been a partner in one of the major law firms “if it wasn’t for the fact he was black and from the wrong side of the tracks”.
Why would the Cayman Islands want to import people permanently that cannot afford a property. Most likely they will not be able to afford retirement. Are you going to pay to sustain them? Who is going to pay for that? Should we tax you first?
Non-Caymanians should be taxed on a number of things, such as annual property tax. Let’s get the ball rolling with that.
The constitution will prohibit that.
Oh the entertainment it would be to watch a sham marriage for Residency interviews as the Caymanian Government judge asks questions of the couple trying to determine if legit. So tell me again how you met and fell in love 9 months before your rollover? Looking at the sunset beach poser photos, romantic KFC dinners receipts and whether they can French kiss without cringing. Would be a great late night Cayman tv show where the public can cast their vote like American Idol.
OH NO…Saunders wants to give employers security of tenure so once they hire someone they are effectively guaranteed to stay….renewal is effectively just a money grab. This is NOT consistent with our immigration laws and regulations. What an elfin idiot!!
Wayne you have to get someone else in charge of these ministries….this dude doesn’t understand Caymanian priority in their own country. He begs employers for “equal opportunity” and wants to give employers security of tenure of their permit jores. Caymanians are competing with the world for jobs in their own country. Too bad MPs aren’t. This is illegal!!!!
Caymanians are competing with the world in the Cayman Islands. Not everyone should be here.
i wish all expats here would go in strike for just 1 day.
then caymanians would see there is no cayman islands without expats.
No one is saying get rid of expats however Caymanians should have priority in their own country. You do however sound like someone we can do without….go on strike for longer …from your country.
I agree. There needs to be some caveats – you need qualified people in certain jobs. Most people wouldn’t want to go to an inept doctor just because they are Caymanian. There are enough inept lawyers here as it is.
Go on strike then. “Attempt” to prove your point.
There are more lining up to take your place. Cayman is seen as a meal ticket like no other. Bye. We won’t miss you.
You should have seen Owen Roberts airport, learjets and gulfstreams, even chartered 737’s and 727’s whisking expatriates off island the days before Ivan hit. Caymanians and others had to stay and bear the storm and clean up the aftermath. Then there was 2012 when McKeeva announced a proposed “community enhancement fee” to be paid by some expatriate workers who met certain criteria. Almost overnight the roads were lined with cars for sale, and properties listing abound.
It would appear that the expatriate community has a high propensity to leave the jurisdiction or at least threaten to, at the earliest sign of discomfort or disagreements with policy.
What most expatriates/economic migrants need to realise is that before you arrived on island typically as a W/P holder, there was already someone (in most cases a caymanian) here doing that job before you obtained the privilege to do so. Even if it was another expatriate!
disgraceful treatment for the vast majority of applicants who have dedicated a large portion of their lives to the cayman islands.
to themselves. fixed it for you.
Same issue of status applications. If you have been here for 15 years and have a clean record and can demonstrably support yourself, it should be a simple application. No points system to get into – you either qualify or you don’t. Yet they aren’t granting status applications either. Just ignoring the law because it’s politically inconvenient.
They better not be. I already beat the government once in a judicial review don’t make me do it again.
Please do it again. All of these delays are driving me crazy. I am retired now and still have to pay work permit fees year after year while I wait and wait and wait for my status application to be processed. And then when I get mine there will be another long wait for my wife to get hers, again while years of paying work permit fees go past. We can’t afford all of these fees !
You don’t have to pay your own work permit fees. If you are, it is illegal.
Not true for PR holders. You have to pay the fee whether or not you have an employer. The obligation is yours. It is one of many problems with the system.
you do if you own the business
Tons of Jamaicans are made to pay their work permit fees by their employer.
This is disgraceful. We continue to pay work permit fees that aren’t due any more because we have been here more than 15 years, but the process is so slow (or has stopped) so we can’t get the status grant we qualify for.
Those fees should be refunded for all the years past 15 where they should not have been collected.
How do you know you qualify for status? It takes more than 15 years and a Cayman passport. Don’t you know Mac?
You’re work permit fees are your employer’s legal obligation to pay.
Not true once you have PR. At that stage it becomes a personal obligation.
not true….it’s no longer a work permit fees.
Reducing rollover to 6 months simply cannot work. Unless a person moves to another country for at least a year, no court applying human rights considerations will agree that they have not resides in Cayman for that period. Imagine a person comes to Cayman for 9 years, goes on vacation for 6 months, comes back for 9 years, goes on vacation for 6 months, and then comes back for 9 years. Would a court then agree that the person has only lived in Cayman for 9 years, or are they going to say that Cayman has been their home for 27?
Then add the complication of them having a child born in Cayman at some point. That child will know no other home and be entitled to a Cayman passport on their 10th birthday.
Our systems are sound. Aspects are even good. They would be better if equally and consistently enforced.
It is about damn time and I hope they are doing the same for work permits!!!!
There is a shortage of work permit holders – especially teachers, supermarket workers and nurses. And most professional finance industry expats waiting a year for their perfectly legitimate PR application to be granted could not be replaced by caymanians as there aren’t qualified caymanians to take those jobs.
I disagree with your comment. There are more than capable Caymanians to fill all roles within the public and private sector that don’t need to be filled by an expat worker. Most of the times in these job roles there are Caymanians training the expats but the expats are getting paid a higher salary. There are many university students who are Caymanian who can’t even obtain a job because they are told they are over qualified and are never given a job. I and many citizens find something wrong with that. Cayman needs to look out for its citizens first and then expats last. I’m sure a Caymanian would not be able to go and reside in another country and demand citizenship or anybody thing else.
I urge every Caymanian to push your children, grandchildren, future generations and even yourselves to get a great education because we are fighting for our rights such as jobs and among other things in these islands. Cayman is not what it use to be and will never be the same.
“given a job”. Yeah it doesn’t work like that. Anywhere.
I support you and Caymanians.
“There are more than capable Caymanians to fill all roles within the public and private sector that don’t need to be filled by an expat worker.”
Are you serious? There aren’t even enough Caymanians to fill all the roles expats and Caymanians currently hold. You could press every Caymanian baby, child, adult and retiree and you’re still ten thousand+ short, let alone capable and qualified.
2:30 pm
Their are qualified caymanians who have applied and at times interviewed for jobs and are told the ad/vacancy was only for an permit renewal. That’s a slap in the face. Why should caymanians sit at the end of the trough for the scraps?
There are too many devious ways used by employers to keep caymanians out of a job.
It is time for all of us to make a statement and step forward to claim what’s rightfully ours. No dictation from the high and mighty, who is in pressing for security of tenure for their staff. It cost more to employe from across the pond.
Great comments of substance.
because 90% will be on the job for less than a month before quitting?
Who’s going to clean your toilet, mop the floors of the supemarkets after it closes, deliver your Let’s Eat or deep fry your KFC?
Filipinos willing to do those jobs , without the social problems caused by Jamaicans.
Oh, I see now. I thought that this was a anti-foreigner complaint, but now I understand that is just an anti-Jamaican complaint. Well then … who’s going to build your houses, do your renovations and keep the construction industry going? Who is going to wash your car? And when the Filipino population triples when we get rid of all the Jamaican work permit holders, do you have start hating them, too?
Filipinos don’t import Drugs Guns and ignorant behavior.
Filipinos don’t father dozens of children and walk away for NAU to look after.
Filipinos don’t commit knife and gun crimes filling our Jails.
Filipinos don’t steal from their employers.
Filipinos don’t drive like maniacs without any care for other road users…
Etc etc etc. Jamaicans are hated because they earn it.
Do proper background checks on those employees and many of 5hem would not be here. Check the Causelists and identify the charges listed against work permit holders and use it to reduce crime and undesirables who are allowed to stay here and work among us.
Who will carry out these background checks? They can’t even do the jobs they have to do right now
When you have Caymanians qualified or willing to cover all the jobs available, I’ll agree with you.
That won5 be possible. What’s needed is proper vetting of individuals before permits are issued. Too many claim they are qualified for a job, yet when employed they are relying on the caymanian to train them. Hello, not today Bo-Bo. They must come equipped an$ ready to perform the duties there and them.
Too much pandering by employers.
Be stricter in granting them, or not granting them at all?
every caymanian I have employed in the last 12 months has quit inside a month, saying the work was too hard, or the hours too long. we work 45hr weeks, doing minor repairs. Basic easy work.
we don’t help our own reputation here.