Number of work permit holders reaches new record
(CNS): After a slight decline at the end of last year, the number of work permit holders in the Cayman Islands, as of 11 March, reached a new record high of 36,972. According to a freedom of information request made by local attorneys HSM, this is an increase of 1,529 new permit holders since the start of the year. There are 15,439 Jamaican workers, which is still the largest group of WP holders (42% of the total). The next biggest groups are Filipinos (6,219), British (2,051) and Indians (2,032).
With a massive influx of expatriate workers, as well as wealthy foreign property owners and retirees, and people who came as part of the Global Citizen Concierge Programme, Cayman’s population has surged to unprecedented numbers, which is putting a huge strain on the local infrastructure, such as rental accommodation, traffic on the roads, supermarkets and overflowing hospitals.
According to HSM, there are currently 6,086 permanent residents in the Cayman Islands. The largest groups of nationalities are Jamaicans, British Overseas Territory citizens, British citizens, Canadians and Americans.
A growing population has led to an increase in the number of applications for permanent residency and Caymanian status. The processing of these applications in 2023 was incredibly slow because the board barely met, and their terms of appointment ran out in September. However, the UPM government appointed new line-ups to the immigration boards at the very end of 2023, which appears to have sped things up.
Huw Moses, a partner at HSM, said in an email to his many immigration clients that there had been “a significant increase compared with prior periods in the determination of status applications based on marriage or naturalisation”.
In 2022, the Caymanian Status and Residency Board completed 432 applications for the Right to be Caymanian on the basis of marriage or naturalisation, up from 413 completed in 2021. Last year, only 160 such applications were concluded. However, the new board determined 57 last month alone, which means that, if it maintains that pace, it could clear around 550 applications this year.
But new applications for status based on marriage or naturalisation — 35 in February — are adding to the large backlog, so it will still take many months, or even years, to get their decisions, HSM warned.
“In our opinion, no application should wait more than six months to be determined given the potential adverse consequences to applicants,” Moses stated in the update, as he gave an estimated timeline for people waiting on various applications. (See below)
In 2023, the board rejected 24 applications for the Right to be Caymanian on the Basis of Naturalisation. HSM was instructed on eight appeals from those 24 rejections, four of which relate to children of permanent residents who had PR in their own right and spent their formative years in the Cayman Islands.
However, they were denied status and informed that it was not in the public interest to grant them the right to be Caymanian. Moses said these decisions were made despite the fact that in 2022, the Immigration Appeals Tribunal overturned a decision made by the board in similar circumstances and granted a child the Right to be Caymanian.
Moses also gave an update on six appeals that HSM had made to the IAT on behalf of clients. He said that on 5 February, they were informed that all six decisions were favourable to their clients. In the children’s cases, the IAT said the status board had not provided an explanation as to what they had considered before they determined that the grant would not be in the public interest, and it “continued to apply a subjective assessment of the applications in the absence of policies”.
However, last month, the board granted two applications made by children of permanent residents, which Moses said suggested they are now following the guidance laid down in the recent IAT decisions. He warned that the continued failure to produce policies and guidance for the board would only lead to “more and more challenging decisions being made and those decisions being overturned on appeal”.
He added, “It is sincerely hoped that these four individuals will be the last children of permanent residents who have their Right to be Caymanian applications rejected on the basis that it is not in the ‘public interest’ when that public interest is not set out and… there are no facts in the specific cases which supported such a finding.”
Two other appeals that were overturned were made on behalf of adults whose applications were rejected because they had said they wanted to open a business if they became Caymanian. The board had said that “it was desirable to keep economic resources of the Islands in the control of Caymanians”, but the IAT found that the decisions were unreasonable.
The Cayman Islands Government has still not made any changes to the legislation or regulations despite the significant problems with the entire immigration system. Some of the issues were highlighted a year ago by the Court of Appeal, which found that the Immigration Act is incompatible with parts of the Bill of Rights.
The CIG has also failed to act to curb the huge number of permits being granted or address the problematic point system for those seeking permanent residency.
Dwayne Seymour MP (BTE) campaigned in 2017 on a platform of immigration reform, promising voters that if he were elected, he would implement a moratorium on work permits and reform the system. But although he was elected then and again in 2021 and is now the labour minister, not only has he never implemented a moratorium, but he has not made any changes to the system.
His colleague, Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan, stirred up considerable controversy last year when he began using billboards in his George Town Central constituency calling for “Immigration Reform Now”, given the wide concerns that the law is currently failing everyone — employers, workers and the broader community.
Although a review of the entire system is underway, in particular examining the point system for permanent residency applications, which is where the government has lost in the courts and tribunals over and over again, the CIG has not made any move yet to address the myriad issues.
While Seymour implied during the budget debate that reform was coming, he gave no details about what changes would be coming or when. He said the bill he was planning to bring would address various gaps in the existing legislation, would make changes to enforcement and strengthen the powers of the Permanent Residency and Caymanian Status Board.
He said the goal was to make the regime work for Caymanians, and that expatriate workers should be contributing to the betterment of local people or they should not be here.
See timelines of applications that HSM says its clients can expect:
- Permanent Residence via the points system — 12-14 months
- Permanent Residence as the spouse of a PR Holder — 8 months
- Permanent Residence as the spouse of a Caymanian — 6 months
- Naturalisation — 12 months
- Right to be Caymanian on the basis of Naturalisation — 23 months
- Right to be Caymanian on the basis of Marriage — 19 months
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Raise the minimum wage to a living wage of $15/hr, verify and audit minimum employment hours to say 30hrs/week, supervise those Caymanians underwriting permit applications, and enforce the Labor Law, including minimum Pension and Health Care requirements. Flag and cancel all of those that don’t meet requirements. Arrest the abusing Caymanians that are gaming this system and contributing to social decay.
We should start by ending work permits for anyone in the construction sector.
For too long we have allowed our politicians and the development cabal that controls them to legalise the importation of cheap foreign labour that drives wages down, drives housing costs up, does not know how to drive lawfully, clogs our roads and other infrastructure, and will inevitably destroy what is left of our society.
very Caymanians/ locals wants to work in a construction industry, how do you suggest to addrress labor force in this kind of business.
Thumbs downers either in total denial or ignorant of reality in construction.
Lmao and Caymanian are going to build everything then?
The More the merrier 37,000 Caymanians oooooh weee what is a Caymanian anyway??
The one late for work?
12.29pm Unfortunately it’s mostly Jamanians who should never have received Status or been allowed to invade us. 9.25am
9.25am 25,000 Jamaicans have Status so only 15,000 of us left.
We need more Caymanians. Ban the import of viagra.
I got that wrong. What I meant to say was ban the import of condoms and encourage the use of viagra. We need more Caymanians.
But your parenting skills are crap, baby daddy moves on to create five more without anny responsibility for them, and your boy children end up in Northward.
We have to realise that at some point we must stop building and developing, this cannot go on forever. Government is growing due to the revenue from taxes which are consumption based, this means the more people we have here buying imported goods the more money the government will make and in turn they use that revenue to increase the infrastructure to accommodate what ? More immigrants! Not Caymanians because our reproduction rate is probably negative now. This whole system is madness and a never ending cycle of population growth. At some point we will have to stop immigration, downsize the government and relocate Caymanian civil servants to private sector. Let’s do it now before it’s too late. Turn off the immigration pipe! Find other sources of revenue! It’s not just the work permit fees that are killing us it’s the population growth that comes from immigration.
Singapore does very well with a far higher population density.
Assuming the total population of Grand Cayman is 100,000, with a land area of 240 square kilometers, the population density is approximately 416 people per square kilometre.
Singapore’s population, on the other hand, is over 6 million people, covering a land area of 718 square kilometres. This places Singapore’s population density at around 8,357 people per square kilometre.
Singapore therefore has over 20 times Grand Cayman’s population density and exponentially better public transport, wider infrastructure, etc.
😇 Singapore: Asian levels of governance, Asian levels of marriage and single parenting, Asian levels of atheism, Asian levels of corruption, Asian levels of educational achievement, Asian work ethic, Asian approach to criminal justice (corporal & capital punishment) Asian levels of crime, Asian levels of success.
🤡 Cayman: Caribbean versions of ⬆️…
Not a major problem for expats though, because we’re not allowed to stand for election here, or even vote, so we will leave upon retirement. Terrible for Caymanians, but since they elect such utter dross, one can only infer that they have a collective death wish for their children.
Can expats vote in Singapore ? Say yes and I will not bother comment on the rest of your drivel.
Singapore doesn’t need expats to vote or stand for election: it doesn’t have convicted criminals, lobotomised god-botherers, and the terminally useless as legislators. You lot keep electing human detritus, hence the point about votes and elections. Caymanian-only government has failed utterly to manage growth in Cayman (no tram/monorail, no physically segregated cycle lanes, routine congestion, a polluted stinking dump, convicted criminals getting elected, no political finance transparency laws etc.).
You having a hissy fit about work permits isn’t going to help. It’s, at best, a cathartic distraction for the jingoists. Cayman is over populated because (1) the politicians are both incompetent and corrupt, so this place hasn’t developed like Singapore; (2) the minimum wage is far too low; (3) NAU = vote buying (and encourages fecklessness: people should work or starve); (4) civil service ‘jobs’ are de facto welfare; (5) many Caymanians refuse to do jobs which they (incorrectly) perceive to be ‘beneath them’; and so consequently (6) there are immense numbers of people here on work permits.
Almost all first world immigrants on work permits return home when they finish working here. Why stay in a corruptly and incompetently-governed speck of sand in the Caribbean with a crippling cost of living? They progress their careers, then leave in due course.
There is a difference for third world immigrants: many of those stay to get PR, and become NAU cases, but they are also offer reliable for ‘wotes’ for the ‘giveaways for political jobs’ crowd who characterise Caymanian politicians, so status giveaways to those people will continue.
In summary, Cayman’s problem isn’t permanent residence, because most people are here on work permits and will leave upon retirement, to move somewhere better governed: it’s a singularly incompetent and corrupt political class and civil service, and you won’t fix those by excluding expats.
Keep digging: Cayman, and your children, are doomed long term.
Amen
You have quite a bit to say for an immigrant who uprooted from an allegedly superior culture and moved to Cayman for a better life.
– Who
“Almost all first world immigrants on work permits return home when they finish working here”. Oh lord, if that was only true! We wish! But, 1:19, you obviously have no idea who lives in Vista Del Mar, Yacht Club, Crystal Harbor, Grand Harbor and all the other million dollar homes gated communities that have sprung up in the last 30 years. No, “bobo”, they didn’t go home. They got PR then Status and they are here living a fantastic life that the rest of us can only dream of and, by the way, we are not all brainless lazy corrupt natives; just thought I would let you know.
1:19 pm Much of what you said is true and it saddens me to have to accept that truth. I just have one question, Why aren’t you living in Singapore instead of hanging around these ‘corruptly and incompetently governed’ Islands? Surely you don’t need to progress your career. Just curious.
Cayman has nicer weather than Singapore, and is utterly dependent on expats in the financial services sector, as Marla Dukharan recently confirmed: https://caymannewsservice.com/2024/03/bryan-challenges-report-on-low-value-of-cayman-tourism.
Singapore, by contrast, has plenty of highly educated, internationally competitive white collar workers of its own, and therefore isn’t reliant on expats. It’s not a perfect comparison to Cayman in that respect (and many others, of course). Dubai is probably closer to Cayman – it too has very low indigenous human capital, and thus relies on expats, and attracts them with 0% income tax. The respective countries’ approach to Covid was illustrative in this respect, including a famous comment about expats in Singapore being ballast! :-
“Two global cities—Singapore and Dubai—show the two approaches to life under the virus. Singapore is putting its own citizens first, with one government minister memorably describing foreign workers as “ballast” to be shed in a storm. In contrast, Dubai has thrown open its doors, becoming a party city for Europe’s elite, competing for remote workers and moving towards a more liberal interpretation of citizenship.”
https://fortune.com/2022/01/19/singapore-dubai-covid-expatriates-travel-immigration-citizenship-jeevan-vasagar/
This post is factually incorrect and mostly directed at allowing foreigners to vote and take even more control of this place. You are green with envy and simply want to take control politcally now that your lot have economic control. It iwll never happen, we are fast approaching the point where this place will explode if people with your attitude do not chnage your waye!
Singapore is blessed not to be overrun by Jamaicans.
It’s also a bit fascist. Read more.
Comparing Singapore to here is akin to comparing apples to oranges.
The Singapore lover has logged on. Has he or she told you about the caning punsihment? The chewing gum ban? The Orwellian surveillance state?
Yes go back home to live off the country you avoided paying taxes and enjoy your fat retirement fund you sucked out of the cayman economy and caused the destruction of our envorinment to accommodate you. What will be left is the next generation of Caymanians with a concrete jungle riddled with crime and poverty with nowhere to go.
Okay here are some ways for us to reduce the work permits:
Every condo complex on Seven Mile Beach does not need a Security Guard. I think the Security companies permeate the idea that they are necessary.
Stop letting companies “sell” permits to people to come to the Island and then have to go on a mission to find work. It is happening.
Make it the norm for high school students to work part time. I know I certainly did. Fast food, supermarket, movie theatres, restaurants. So many places. And this would eliminate the need for work permits for people that aren’t getting full time hours. (there are a lot…)
WORK ETHICS
Also to reduce work permits, get rid of foolishness like jewellery stores, spas, nail salons, dance studios and other places that service bored expats and their spoilt kids.
“Two other appeals that were overturned were made on behalf of adults whose applications were rejected because they had said they wanted to open a business if they became Caymanian. The board had said that “it was desirable to keep economic resources of the Islands in the control of Caymanians””
The density of this warps the fabric of time and space. As I read it I found myself transported to another dimension, where competition is bad for consumers and non-existent businesses are best controlled by non-existent owners.
Jon Jon is not the worst that has happened to the Cayman Islands.
CIG sell out.
Does this include the expatriates that are inside the Civil Service/Public Service? Or does this number only reflect the private sector? A FULL picture would be great to see. WORC has the Government Contract numbers as they get stamps in their passports as well.
expats working for government do not need work permits and therefore are not included in these statistics
Actually they are.. WORC include them, it’s wrong to do so but they won’t stop.
This explains the Mad Max roads we have now.
*Jamaican construction workers battle it out to arrive places 30 seconds quicker, all whilst not wearing seatbelts, tailgating, weaving, and texting. All this in old German saloons, battered Hondas, and Isuzu Elf’s belching out diesel fumes.
* plenty of locals, too.
In Kingston, you Mercedes Benz high grade jah.
As has been said before put some form of tax (duty) on the sending of personal money off island which will automatically limited the number of people wanting to come here.
Consistently, the first impulse of many Caymanians is to screw over their invited guests. Not even realising their proposed plan will screw themselves. The problem in Cayman are the abusive Caymanians that enjoy a lax framework to lure indentured foreigners here to serve them, with starvation wages, incomplete weekly hours and without honouring pension or health care, or even seeing that their staff are adequately housed, watered, and fed. Caymanians are specifically the only category of people holding permits for all these betrayed floaters trying to salvage their mistake. Put the blame squarely where it belongs: bad Caymanians taking out fake permits for jobs that don’t exist.
You are right but for the sake of clarity I must highlight the fact that many of these abusers became Caymanian through Caymanian Status grants. They are the very ones that take advantage of their own people! I know because I am a victim.
as a caymanian, been waiting over a year now for my spouses RERC. they straight up laugh when we ask what the new date is. we’ve had 3 different dates now, the first one they gave wad Christmas. I’m hopeful we will see it soon but it is a very stressful process
If you buy PR or Status you get it in weeks.
Please tell me how I can do this. I’ve been waiting 18 years for my status. I’d gladly buy it now rather than keep paying the annual fees.
CI$2M in developed property and CI$100,000 issue fee when its approved.
You only get PR then, but Status.
Do what Jamaicans have done for years, cosy up to a politician and Mek it worth his while “to look after you”.
Jamaicans have instilled so much corruption in Cayman and it’s politicians, that it is now considered a normal way of conducting business, Just like in Jamaica.
11:20 am, yes too many Jamaicans here. Government should not allow so many from one Country to be have. Do we want to be like Jamaica ? NO WE DONT. STOP THIS MADNESS NOW.
Because the majority of the elected representatives have very strong ties to Jamaica so they want Cayman to be just like Jamaica
Not majority: minority.
You can count the ones who do not support the Jamaican culture on one hand and still have four fingers left.
I do
Speak for yourself.
They legalized the weed.
We must, please, must be over 100,000 population now, – starting to get excited, maybe just a month or two of adjusting before our utopia is fully realised, 🤡
it soon will be over 100,000. Stats (on the Wikipedia page) say it will be like that by 2030.
Two words come to mind after reading the above – and, of course, observing the current reality.
National security.
– Whodatis
Welcome back Who. Many of us have missed you.
Enjoying life back on the outside?
Not just a strain on infrastructure and supermarkets, but also the natural environment!!
numbers are not the problem….cayman could hold 200k comfortably…but we don’t have a sustainable development plan, so everything is a mess with 90% of the island trying to get to gt/smb every day.
I came from an island in the San Franciso Bay that was about the square mileage of Cayman Brac, except that it had 120,000 people. It was well planned, and everything worked well.
We need intelligent planning and infrastructure foresight. Please, can we have those things. Otherwise, we will just grow more and more and have move expats to services the hotels and other services and our roads will become more and more clogged, and the tourism experience will get worse for them to the point where ‘they’ no longer choose to come here, and then we will be much less than we were.
Alameda?! it’s not exactly heaven either…
And more taxes to pay for these roads and for politicians salaries
There is no fair way to “curb the number of permits being granted”. Who would decide which businesses would be allowed to get permits (and thus continue to operate and grow) and who would not? Should the authorities prioritise large businesses or small businesses? Financial services or tourism? Inviting unqualified bureaucrats or venal boards to make such decisions would be lunacy.
The truth is we can’t solve for both economic growth AND population control at the same time. The best option to allow Cayman to continue to thrive is not to impose arbitrary limits or requirements that fetter this group or that one (or more likely everyone!), but to plan properly and invest in the infrastructure we need to ensure the country can handle the inevitable increase.
Popular opposition to population growth is what prevents the planning and investment that would mitigate the harmful impacts. Politicians are too afraid to level with the people that we need the population growth and plan for it accordingly, because that would be offensive to Churchill’s “average voter”. They prefer to pretend that someone should do something to stop it, and that they are that someone. Then they get elected and realise a) they can’t and b) they shouldn’t.
The Cayman business model depends on high numbers of workers that contribute to the economy without taking much from it (expats do not qualify for any of the big ticket government services – healthcare, education and welfare). If you replaced all the expats with Caymanians today you’d have to introduce direct taxation to pay for all the government services those Caymanians would require, without the legions of duty-paying expats and their fee-paying employers to pick up most of the tab.
It’s high time politicians leveled with the people of the country about the basic fiscal arithmetic at work so that they can start fixing and preventing the issues rather than claiming to be able to hold back the tide.
Alternatively, Caymanian voters could stop falling for it.
Thank you for speaking the inconvenient truth so few want to hear.
Correct. Expats pay for Caymanians, but it’s not politically convenient to admit that. Most expats then have the decency to disappear once they retire, rather than burden the islands’ creaking infrastructure. The place is being dragged down by those sucking on taxpayers’ money.
NAU, the civil service, healthcare and pensions are all parts of the same “gimme gimme gimme” handout culture.
Cayman is on borrowed time unless the locals shape up and stop being parasites.
23 months for status from naturalization is ridiculous and just a cash grab at this stage. When I submitted my application the woman told me 6-8 weeks for a response, that was over 12 months ago. 6-8 weeks seems reasonable to me because I have followed the letter of the law, been a permanent resident contributing to this economy and community for years, and the status application provides no additional information that needs vetting. Stop making people pay these incredibly high PR fees as you sit on the applications year over year.
The rollover policy needs revision ASAP!! Five years then you have to leave, we cannot allow this to continue. Our Caymanian young people coming home with a Degree and can’t find a decent job!! If this Govt don’t deal with this matter as a priority then I’m sorry for most of them come next election.
The sort of people affected by rollover…Jamaican laborers mostly….are not the sort keeping Caymanian young people out of a job “coming home with a degree”!!!
It is not policy. It is law. And it just needs to be followed. It is not.
That would probably work for unskilled/low-skilled labour, but not professional services workers, upon whom Cayman is economically dependent.
You need highly skilled expats, unless you force Caymanians to perform better. How’s that’s going? ⬇️
“Premier Wayne Panton has said the civil service headcount cannot continue to grow… Panton said that the government must move away from “social hiring””
https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/09/premier-says-civil-service-must-stop-growing
“It’s the duty of communities all over the world to give their children an education to a standard that enables them to become full members of their home communities. It takes a village, as they say. By that measure, Cayman’s government has failed, and continues to fail. Some of our Islands’ children succeed, but most don’t…”
https://www.caymancompass.com/2016/01/21/barlow-education-versus-protection/
“Cayman’s current representatives have their knickers in a twist, trying to resolve the consequences. An uncomfortable number of the tribe’s members are coming up short in the following respects:-
· Unschooled beyond a minimal level
· Unemployable because of an anti-work attitude
· Untrained and undisciplined in the management of their personal finances
· Intolerant towards foreign ethnic groups
Those deficiencies have steadily worsened in recent years; the drift to full dependency on government handouts has passed the point of no return. There is no apparent solution on the horizon. It looks as though, in time, our “native” citizenry will become overwhelmingly dependent on welfare.”
https://barlowscayman.blogspot.com/2015/05/caymans-entitlement-culture.html
If Caymanians want better jobs, they must perform better. That starts early. See:
(1) 2021: “Almost 60% of Year 11 students miss 2021 exam targets, 19/04/2022, …according to the Data Report for the Academic Year 2020-21, just 40.3% of Year 11 students achieved the national standard target of five or more Level 2 subjects including English and maths.” https://caymannewsservice.com/2022/04/almost-60-of-year-11-students-miss-2021-exam-targets.
(2) 2023: “A data report released by the education ministry reflects a decline in external exam results…with standards in mathematics dropping back to 2017 levels in 2022, despite the significant investment that has been made in public education… Only 27% of all students at Key Stage 2, when they leave primary school, had reached the expected standards in all three core subjects of reading, writing and maths.” https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/05/report-shows-school-leaver-results-drop-from-peak/
Businesses are not welfare schemes for the unemployable (that’s the World Class Civil Service™). The equivalent of the obsessive navel-gaving about Caymanian affirmative action, and whinging about expats, is the Black Economic Empowerment legislation in South Africa. As with all attempts to impose racial preferences/unmeritocratic tribalism, it has been a failure: https://theconversation.com/only-south-africas-elite-benefits-from-black-economic-empowerment-and-covid-19-proved-it-189596.
If Cayman wants to regress to being a handful of fishing villages, then it can have a hissy fit about expats. If not, keep quiet, knuckle down, and focus on educating your kids so that they can outcompete our kids for jobs in Cayman. On merit: not skin color. It may be our grandchildren, though: an island of only 30,000 so-called “multigenerational Caymanians”, with the record of educational achievement documented above, seems unlikely to be able to rapidly/if ever generate any more that a tiny % of competent, internationally, competitive, white collar professionals to fulfil the wide range of roles here. If I’m wrong, why are 60% of Caymanian kids leaving school functionally illiterate and innumerate?
Double the minimum wage, stop NAU entirely, cut the civil service, cease government pensions and healthcare, and force people to live within their means. That will rapidly incentivise performance. Too harsh? Enjoy the collapse when it comes – when Dubai and Singapore take all the lucrative work which currently funds Cayman.
How about making a change to the way large development projects are approved (if they are). Why not schedule them out over time. For example, if we currently have large projects A, B & C underway then if large project D is approved it cannot start until one of the other ongoing projects completes. This effectively caps the number of imported workers for the large project sector and extends the benefits derived. Keep the number of large projects to 2 and let others activate when appropriate.
Agree. Plus, — just spitballing here — how about something really radical, like construction workers go back home after the project finishes.
Rich people won’t like that and for this to be applied equally, us mostly poor folk will suffer as well. Sorry – there are 50 houses in front of yours. The earliest we can schedule you in for a build is 2034.
A house is not a large project and wouldnot be effected.
A large project would be a hotel, condo complex, office building, apartments over say 10 units, etc.
Way too sensible. And the developer lobby would get upset and stop contributing to our politicians’ “election campaign” funds.
Moses also gave an update on six appeals that HSM had made to the IAT on behalf of clients. He said that on 5 February, they were informed that all six decisions were favourable to their clients. In the children’s cases, the IAT said the status board had not provided an explanation as to what they had considered before they determined that the grant would not be in the public interest, and it “continued to apply a subjective assessment of the applications in the absence of policies”.
The above summarizes everything that is wrong about CIG. MP’s just doing what they want in their own interest with no rhyme or reason. Looks like CIG is losing 90% of appeals.
Did I hear someone whisper, “Mr David Ritch?”He is the only person that I would trust to sort out this immigration mess! Mr Ritch is a man of integrity, is capable and fearless, and understands the Cayman Islands’ myriad immigration issues.
Yes!! David Ritch for Premier! A good Caymanian man of the soil. He would straighten out a lot of the corruption and and dirt happening here.
The number of work permits will increase massively in the next 12-24 months. There are at least four major hotels under construction, these businesses employ large numbers of expatriate workers, mostly on low or minimum wage. So that will add thousands. Who knows where they are expected to find accommodation. Or what it will do to the congested roads. I don’t know if there’s anywhere in the world where authorities give such little thought to the future.
Nowhere else purportedly democratic has such obvious corruption, in the form of criminals in government, and no campaign finance laws. The construction work above need not necessarily increase work permits, if:
1. CIG dramatically increased minimum wage, to perhaps CI$12;
2. NAU was abolished, and people forced to work or starve;
3. The civil service was cut to a tiny fraction of its size, jettisoning all the ‘social hiring’ detritus who are no better than NAU parasites; and
4. A certain part of the Caymanian population stopped believing they were ‘too good’ for service sector jobs.
Obviously, none of there things will every happen, so Cayman is doomed in the medium to long term.
Thats the legal workers on the Island. Wonder how many Illegals are here. I am sure the government has no idea as they do nothing to round them up and deport them when they get fired, quit our permit expired and they don’t leave.
Everyone well aware of the construction sites. Why not begin surprise and aggressive site investigations starting now? WORC, CBC, RCIPS get to work!
Just another thought. The government should put the responsibility of insuring people that no longer have work permits on the individual that applies for them. If the work permit expires our you terminate employment of an individual it should be up to th responser to insure they leave the island. If they don’t leave then it’s the sponsor responsibility to report them. If you don not of the above then you get shut down or a major fine. Let’s start at $5,000.00 for first offence and double it every time after. It really is that simple.
Too many Jamaicans. Please send them back before we are overran with them.
And who will be your Gardeners? Nannies? Cooks? Nail Tecnicians? Servers? Lawyers? Accountants? Teachers? Doctors? Nurses? Physiotherapists? Surgeons? Coaches? Plumbers? Electricians? Technical staff at the Ulitiy companies? Security Guards? … Well, let me know.
12:39, I bet no one answers your question because they just want to bitch about the number of Jamaicans but they have zero answer as to who will do all the jobs that they, spoilt jerks, want done for them.
One word answer 7.41.
PHILIPiNOS.
Too many have fallen for the ages old nationalism movement. “Build the wall” is brain poison.
12:49 pm There are many other nationalities from around the world who welcome the opportunity to work here and is excellent at the same jobs that you have listed. We need to get imported labour more balanced in these islands. Oh and by the way, I am Jamaican but chose to come here many years ago because of the high crime in my country. Now I’m painfully watching it happening here in these peaceful islands too. Cayman Is now my home and I feel blessed to be allowed here. Shame on the authorities here for allowing the lawlessness and other destructiveness happening here,
Indians
Canadians
Kenyans
Indonesians
Cubans
French
Egyptians
There are almost 200 to choose from, and dare I suggest it, some could even be Caymanian.
Filipinos
other people
* Utility. So, in your twisted, biased mind no one else in the Cayman Islands could do the jobs you listed? Whether they were Caymanians or any other nationality for that matter? It’s a tough pill to swallow but Jamaicans never built the Cayman Islands, they are just the largest beneficiaries of its economic success. Observing the erosion of the wider society of the Cayman Islands today, of which Jamaicans play a central role, this is the thanks we get.
Philippinos do these jobs twice as well with honesty and put in a full day’s work.
They also don’t scam, and don’t litter the Island with unwanted babies .
Stop employing Jamaicans.
11:20 am, yes too many Jamaicans here. Government should not allow so many from one Country to be have. Do we want to be like Jamaica ? NO WE DONT. STOP THIS MADNESS NOW.
I am not anti-Jamaican. In fact I have Jamaican heritage and love Jamaica, however, these Cayman Islands are my beloved homeland and I agree with you 11:20 am. There are way too many Jamaicans here. Most are the lowest of the lower class of Jamaica and those people are fast destroying here as they did their own island! Grand Cayman is taking on a rundown appearance that is typical of lower class communities in Jamaica. The majority of dilapidated vehicles are owned by them, not to mention the reckless driving and speeding. Cayman politicians better STOP kissing up to Jamaicans and allowing the continued growth of Jamaican communities here. At least one of those politicians has grown his voting base and caters to them. We need to have a purging of the CI govt and it’s agencies as well, including the RCIPS, Judiciary, NAU and HSA, from the Jamaican majority of staff. I know that this post will likely draw much negative reaction and thumbs down but I could care less! We need a balance of nationalities here. Jamaicans are way above what the number should be and Filipinos are fast catching up! None of this is good. Cayman’s politicians need to wake up, be brave and do what is necessary to save the Cayman Islands from further destruction! We are paying the lot of you way too much to allow you to continue sleeping on the job … or whatever you may be doing. Next election soon come!
Just send the bad ones back. The 10 good ones can stay.
Aren’t we “overran” with them already?
11.20am There are at least 40,000 on island so they already outnumber everyone else put together. Also full flights arriving daily.
Wow – Jon-Jon has everything under control. All our problems are things of the past now!
10:59 an, Remember Jon Jon is a very sensible man compared to his voters. The voters are the ones that’s stupid fools.
The voters are Mac Seymour Saunders Kenneth worshippers.
They are Jamaicans who believe those politicians will tolerate and support their baby mama NAU culture… all in exchange for their wotes.