Work-permit numbers continue relentless climb
(CNS): The number of work-permit holders in the Cayman Islands reached another record last month when the figure climbed to a new high of 37,678 permits in effect. The news comes as the minority UPM government still hopes to bring amendments to immigration legislation before the end of this parliament. Whether the proposed bill makes it through before the next election remains to be seen and given the probable controversies its more likely the UPM will join the long list of governments that have promised but failed to address Cayman’s complex and defective immigration system.
The latest number was revealed in a regular FOI request made by the local law firm HSM Chambers. It is also some 4000 more permit holders than the figure reported in the latest Labour Force Survey which was published last month as just 33,573.
With the workforce growing continually as a result of permit holders the impact on the population and strain on local infrastructure is now becoming a significant problem and likely to be a critical issue during the election campaign.
Appearing on Radio Cayman last week, Kenneth Bryan said that the immigration reform that government wants to steer through before parliament is prorogued only deals with the issue relating to permutant residents and the road to Caymanian status. But he said the government needs to reform the work-permit side of the equation as well because that is where the infrastructure strain is. He said Caymanians are keen to see the number of people making it to status reduced dramatically, or stopped altogether. But the problems society is now experiencing such as the traffic nightmare, school placement shortages, a straining hospital and the housing crisis are all related to the number of people here at any time regardless of whether the are Caymanian, permanent residents or permit holders.
According to the latest figures the largest number of permit holders by far come from Jamaica which has been the case since the system began for obvious reasons. However, over the last 20 years the number of people from the Philippines on permits has increased significantly and stood at 6,678 last month. While the number of Jamaicans coming to Cayman on permits is beginning to fall the number from the Philippines is still climbing. The third biggest nationality is now Indian with 2,133 permit holders, the British are at number four with 2,076 while people from Nepal round out the top five with 1,399.
It is currently taking around twelve weeks for a new permit to be approved or for a renewal. Meanwhile, the pace of applications to the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency board has picked up with applications for the right to be Caymanian taking 6 months or less while point based PR applications are now taking a year. During the month of October alone the Board determined 336 Right to be Caymanian applications.
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Category: Local News
Its rough when an Indigenous person of Cayman raise a genuine concern of being outnumbered and disregarded in their own Island, and the only feedback is that Caymanians are lazy, don’t have no education, don”t want to work, Yes, they are some locals here with that mentality like everywhere else in the world, But what about the bunch with ambition and drive and education that cant get a response from a job application? To all those whether local or foreign that putting Caymanians down in those terms really need to stop.Not every person is the same.
Why would you want to prevent expats who have contributed years to Cayman’s society and economy? Cayman is unique because it is home to a multicultural community and we can all integrate. There are many incredibly intelligent, gifted, and kind expats on this island who make Cayman a better place, and to take away the right to become Caymanian would be a slap in the face and a disservice to the community.
There are also lots of business owners and high-earners who would eventually leave Cayman if you take away their right to gain Caymanian status. With them, their money/profits that they made in Cayman would leave, ejecting money from the economy, as well as their businesses (which employ Caymanians and/or pay work permit fees to government), and contributions to general society.
Bermuda is an example of a jurisdiction where expats cannot gain citizenship, and as a result it has become notorious for its divide between expats and Bermudans. It’s not pleasant. We cannot become like them.
Why would you want to prevent expats who have contributed years to Cayman’s society and economy?
Easy answer – Caymanian racism!
My God how the hell we are supposed to solve all of these people’s problems???? When is enough going to be “enough”???? Damn. We may need some of these people, but these people need us more it’s plain to see that we are being taken advantage of.
According to ESO, Permanent Residents WRW most commonly worked as professionals (24.7%), service and sales workers (19.2%), managers (17.8%), technicians and associate professionals (16.9%), and craft and related workers (8.2%).
The late year tourism high-season hiring surge is primarily service and sales workers that rarely get to an 8th year PR stage. It take a lot of people to run a hotel properly.
WORC permit ease via insincere Caymanian sponsored applications, and PR/Status qualification are two different buckets, decades apart, and somewhat unrelated. The focus should be on the Caymanians importing volumes of entry-level cheap menial low skilled labour where output quality suffers, and consumers pay three times – if there even is a job for them. It’s not just congestion and capacity constraints, it’s also the output quality on important deliverables, underutilisation/idleness, and widening poverty gaps, because the signing application sponsor has lied about guaranteed work hours to both WORC and the indentured labourer/their national workforce regulator.
“Caymanians”
Gibberish??? What is your point? Be specific, please.
4:01pm: LOL
10:02pm: If you know, you know!
There is a question that has been asked for many years and until now has not been answered by one single politician.
Exactly who is benefiting from development? Who are we developing for?
After a full work permit term (9 years) by most minimum wage workers, they have already set up their future in whatever Country they have arrived from, built houses, apartments, business etc, because costs of living / building in their homeland supported by the mighty KYD makes this achievable.
The average Caymanian on the other hand could never achieve this in that time frame, so are we developing to help others or our own?
The ‘average Caymanian’ needs to get it’s ass off the couch and actually apply for a job! Oh yea, they also need to get skills. Oh yea, they need a good education. Oh yea, they need a CIG that will support education and skills education for trades. Oh yea – all of the above are absent from Cayman. Summary… the Cayman youth are screwed the next 2-5 years. And Cayman as a Territory is also screwed the next 5-15 years… Bleak times are on the horizon. ALL self-inflicted – no sympathy from me.
Wow!!! Wow!!! Now we are lazy and worthless? Well damn we were smart enough to create a paradise for people like you to suck up here! Well your day soon come!
Did Jamaicans not build Cayman?
Hahahahahah*snort*ahahaha
There is so much corruption and unethical conduct taking place as it relates to employment and work permits that this is not surprising.
What does our honorable labor minister Seymour have to say about all these issues? He seems very quite about the Hyatt fiasco.
Jamaican biased passport and immigration petty officials give Philipinos a hard time.
great news for cayman as well as being sanctioned and approved by cig!
Not to worry. The next government will come, and like the previous two, three, or four governments, do nothing significant. The problem is now insurmountable – just about. Cayman politicians have sold the country for much less than Judas Iscariot got for betraying the Son of Man, except by lining their personal pockets!
Ok, 12:21, not much exaggeration there!
So you don’t like the truth? You are the problem!
Isn’t this just a seasonal inflow for temporary permits for the start of the tourist season at hotels, restaurants etc?
Shhhh! The torches and pitchforks purveyors need that bag!
Why would this be necessary? Young Caymanians should be working in tourism!
Those temporary jobs aren’t going to be a long term prospect, hotels want to hire staff for the busy season, which will be the next 6 months or so. If we had a 12 month tourism product then this temporary influx wouldn’t be needed, but let’s face it no-one likes the summer months, tourists are the same.
Service workers, with gratuity income, earn as little as $4.50/hr. Construction starts at $6/hr. Compare with NAU paying around $18.20, or a cozy civil service position where you can’t ever be fired.
Sorry, are you implying that the issue here is actually with NAU and/or civil service providing adequately for the people they are responsible for?
Not with the greedy companies paying desperate immigrants the absolute bare minimum (and completely unlivable) wages that the law will allow, and lording permits over their heads to get them to work outside of their remit?
Get real 9:15, young Caymanians do NOT / NOT work in tourism. You must be new here.
No one is stopping them. They don’t want to.
Key words: “should be”. However, the reality is “don’t want to”, “can’t make me”, “work makes me tired…” Such is the reality of the Caymanian youth. AND that is the future of Cayman.
Bullshit. We just won’t work for unlivable wages, and we won’t allow you to treat us like garbage like you do so many of the impoverished permit holders.
This anti-Caymanian rhetoric needs to end.
Cayman government, PLEASE WAKE UP! The single thing that is driving all other problems on Cayman is allowing too many people in. There needs to be an immediate moratorium on new work permit holders. No new work permit holders should be allowed unless it’s to replace a departing existing worker. Is anyone in Cayman government concerned about maintaining quality of life on this island? If so, don’t allow the population to keep skyrocketing. Take the bull by the horns NOW — not 5 years from now when it will be too late.
Might be time to crack down on all of the fake landscaping and cleaning companies who’s only business is charging poor people from 3rd world countries a lot of money to put in a work permit application!!
No no no, if that happens LG & Fred won’t have any workers to exploit!
so?…every job could not be filled by a local ..as confirmed by multiple cig agencies…
what is the story here?
Most of the time they don’t even have work for them. Permits for Janitorial services and Landscaping services need to be looked into more deeply. Also, construction. DCI needs to stop handing out licenses as candy.
Funny there are so many Canadians on island yet they didn’t make the head count? This is strange? Unless they are here but are giving PR/Status right away?
This should be investigated.
Same with the Irish. Everywhere.
I’ve wondered this too.
My current guess is that Canadians are well represented in leadership positions, so they are higher profile and their numbers appear higher.
Normally your ears would be ringing, from all their complaining…about everything!
no investigation needed. I think Canadians are number 6 or 7 or something on the list. That list is published by HSM every time they do an FOI.
They don’t count the ones that caravaned down from Canada to Florida and then fought the high seas in a makeshift raft to get here illegally.
It might seem to you that there are many Canadians because you happen to encounter them in your daily life. It all depends where you spend time. You can spend time only on SMB and get a drastically different idea of what the ethnic makeup is here vs spending time in EE or BT.
The reality is that Indians, Jamaicans and Filipinos make up the bulk of WP holders. Canadians and Americans aren’t even close.
Uh-oh – looks like the yoga guru/bartender -> real estate pipeline mafia don’t like your comment 😂
Nothing to see here. I came in the late 90’s when 80% of the accountants were Canadian. They are now Caymanian. The numbers declined for Canadians in FS and in service over the years as cost of living went up and the CAD/USD exchange was less favorable. Now the entry level accountants come from SA, Philippines and other African nations for cost/availability.
Very true 10:18, the cost of living and low accountant salaries here no longer make Cayman an attractive place for Canadian accountants.
That is why South Africans, Filipinos and those from African states are the new people here in accounting.
Yes, all those Canadians were given status right away after 15 years here. That’s the way the law works.
please name the 2,000 Canadians here, as you seem to know them all, lol
ANY Government which promises to reduce wor permits is blatantly lying or paying lip service to the issue!
Government needs every cent of work permit revenues to help support Franz Manderson’s bloated and inefficient world-class Civil Circus!
The various budgets within the Civil “Service” keep growing, yet service never improves!!
Franz feeds the need!
Nope. Its for the Brac school, school lunches(school children throw away most of it), laptops, etc. I noticed that there is an uptake in foreign children going to local schools. There is no way they are paying school fees.They can’t afford that on $6.00 an hour.
Garbage. Work permit fees are 13% of government income.
This government needs to go! Every last one of them collecting fat salaries and destroying our environment and our way of life in the process.
The “ welfare system “ needs to only be a short term remedy unless you’re disabled or elderly. Having babies is not a disability. All these “ hotel and restaurant “ jobs could go to those not currently working instead of to work permits/ expat workers. Don’t like the job? Go get a different position, but time is up getting a handout.
The reason Jamaican permits is falling and Philipinos is rising is because at last people are realizing that…j
Philipinos will do a full days work, they are polite and respectful, and they don’t take every opportunity to steal from you.
Not so sure about that, ask Subway or the Hyundai dealer as both were ripped off from Filipinos. As far as a days work, the Filipinos suck up to your face and goof off behind your back, always wanting you to hire there brother or cousin. Both need to be cut back on.
Be careful with the racism, 8:34 pm. I have caught a Filipino employee stealing from my household myself. It’s not about race or nationality, it is about character.
100% correct!
Correc 4.36. But Jamaicans repeatedly and overwhelmingly demonstrate they are lacking in that department.
I love the way Philippinos, particularly women, are fooling Caymanians. By the time they understand what is going on the Philippinos will have stolen their island under their nose
They put on nice cologne though!
Immigration. Affordable housing. Environment. Public Transport. Infrastructure.
Cayman isn’t moving backwards in terms of development any time soon. Can a single politician or party instead of just pointing out the problem or blaming the previous administration actually have a plan to make Cayman sustainable?
You don’t even need to get wonky. Don’t tell us every detail. Just tell give us a roadmap of how this is all going to make sense and not completely diminish our way of living.
Let us be realistic, the CIG and Civil Service are deeply addicted to work permits fees because otherwise their bloat would result in a ginormous deficit which would be the death knell of the island’s reputation.
The moment that happens, the UK will give their all to offer cayman full independence which would lead to a de-pegging of the currency from the USD , the books will have to be opened revealing the 2 Billions in liabilities that aren’t funded and have been ignored during the last 15 plus years !
The BIS (Bank of International Settlements) and IMF will not look kindly on the situation and the KYD will slide down to the value of the JMD of today, would you lend your monies to a nation whose debt to GDP ratio is over 200 percent and whose revenues are shrinking ? I think not !
As confidence will be tested the Financial Sector on island will pack the bags back to the Bahamas whom is doing all in its power to attract back capital and ween its economy out of tourism !
Not only does the island confederation is modernizing its infrastructure and business practices but has real applicable coherent vision about development, resilience and respect for their environment which are all clearly lacking here !
Already we hear talk about taxing annually foreign owned properties by various parties, I have seen personally how such taxation creeps up every single time to levels that boggles the mind !
Cayman is losing its attractiveness FAST and it won’t take much for things to go in full reverse, I have seen this happen before in other countries including islands in the caribbean and it didn’t end well for the locals and investors alike !
Already Cayman is turning into a 1:1 scale experiment in social darwinism and if the CIG needs to find a culprit they need only look into a mirror !
Would be investors are constantly investigated with ever increasing scrutiny to the point of feeling uncomfortable and under suspicion from the authorities !
Building a home here is an exercise in absolute absurdity as various inspectors whom are involved on a single project more often than not contradict themselves and each other , delaying projects and creating cost overruns with multiple remediations !
The perfect demonstration of what I stated above is that a major building company is tethering on the brink of implosion, I guess that this will make the headlines shortly, i guess !
The constant movement of the goalposts sure isn’t helping and I don’t think will stop until morale improves (read get cancelled) !
The government and governor are in clear dereliction of their duties, responsibilities and mandates letting the state of affairs deteriorate for reasons unknown.
Corruption runs rampant and deep and yet the governor , Attorney General, Anti Corruption Commission, Office of the Auditor General continue acting as if nothing happens, whereas they could put a stop to the Civil Circus, this, is clearly the hallmark that they are either trying to maintain plausible deniability or planning to make Cayman somebody else’s problem to deal with ! And our MLAs and ministers would be granted their long awaited wish to be let out of the “shackles” that actually are only restraints to avoid the patient (read the Cayman Island Government) from hurting himself rather than others!
The present set of patients amok in the mental hospital in downtown George Town are so disconnected from reality and much too busy fending for themselves as they KNOW their chances of getting re-elected are dwindling with each passing day as each of them can’t keep away either from abusing the public purse or expressing overtly xenophobic resentment on the airwaves !
Garrison politics have their limits and often lead to the creation of ghettos where the rule of law is considered a relic of ages gone by !
Let me remind the public that we do have on the books laws that consider mal administration a criminal offense and that the defendant under investigation has to provide evidence of his/her innocence throughout the investigation and that ignorance and/or incompetence won’t stand as an extenuating factor especially when defendants are provided opportunities to be trained appropriately !
In the eye of the law the use of ignorance to maintain plausible deniability can be considered akin to aiding and abetting the offenders involved especially when it is widespread and/or systematic, let that sink in!
The number of Jamaicans is not decreasing as much as it appears. Many are marrying Caymanians, Permanent Residents, or becoming Caymanians or Permanent Residents. They are very much still here, just no longer counted in the work permit figures.
There are more Jamaican-born people here than generational Caymanians. And as a result, there are plenty Caymanians girls with Jamaican baby daddies. Soon, Caymanians will be more Jamaican than Caymanian.
Think they already are
Saunders Seymour Kenneth and Mac need their votes.
There is no other rational reason for this.
So if the permit holders have gone up by 4,000 in a month the population will have risen by even more than that, as some have dependents. We will be at 100,000 population by the time of the election if not there already.
Total sell out Cayman, what a mess
There used to be a requirement for a heritage connection for Caymanian Status. I suppose these days that that doesn’t matter any more, because some Caymanians with Status were born elsewhere, and therefore their heritage isn’t grounded in Cayman. Our government(s) have let us down.
If they cracked down on all these buy a work permit people that would really lower the numbers but then where would LG, the French import GC and Fred get their workers from? Don’t forget our good friend Dart.
I must disagree because DART hires a lot of Caymanians.
Caymanians yes, but where from?
The ones he is bringing in from Canada and Dominican Republic for the new building? Oh wait, their prices were more in line with your budget weren’t they?
Excuse me why hiring all these foreigners?
it’s undisputed that the hardest workers on the planet are local born raised no drift wood come by boat or plane.
island companies should just be hiring local top straight from school Hiring has to change to be unburdened from what has been
🤣
clearly you have not met most of our high school leavers. You’re aware that a large number of them aren’t proficient in math or English right? A number of them are illiterate completely. Many of them won’t look you in the eye or show up to work on time or at all.
The truly “top” kids go to college and get hired right out the gate with good jobs. Trust me. Go to a high school graduation, and take note of the 5 kids who kick ass and collect all the awards…those kids are set for success and will never have to worry. The bottom half or so, need to worry.
Troll.
Driftwood: Upon the shore, where the waves do sigh,
A piece of driftwood catches the eye.
At first, it seems a forlorn thing,
A tangle of scars the ocean did bring.
It whispers of places far and strange,
Of salt-kissed journeys and tidal change.
A stranger here, with no tale to tell,
Unrelated, unshaped, by Cayman’s spell.
Yet in the hands of love and care,
This castaway finds purpose there.
Sanded smooth, its edges refined,
Its grain emerges, a treasure defined.
From something useless, gnarled, and bleak,
A quiet beauty begins to speak.
A testament to time’s soft embrace,
And the artistry of the human race.
No longer just driftwood, aimless and worn,
But a work of pride, transformed, reborn.
In Cayman’s heart, it claims its place,
More than décor—an emblem of grace.
So let us not judge what the waves bestow,
For in its soul, a masterpiece may grow.
What seems unrelated can still belong,
A chorus in Cayman’s enduring song.
What a shockingly uninformed take.
Your murdering of the English language is a cracking indicator as to why locals struggle to get jobs. It’s almost parody level.
It’s definitely parody – see the Kamala ‘retard’ Harris reference to “unburdening”…
All these comments no no how undisputed empirical evidence hire local grassroots businesses thrive historically bedrock local created companies like Cayman Islands Bank of Commerce Royal Bank of Cayman Louisiana Chicken list goes on island prosperity My brethren me yard we know just by researching history. To be unburdened from what has been get the ship back sailing in the path to everyone prosperity
The government appears addicted to work permit fees, and cruise passenger fees. They would like to increase both. It’s most of why the minimum wage can has been again kicked down the road. Neither of these are what is best for Caymanians, as it only increases traffic and health care costs, impinges upon the environment, and decreases the quality of life. However, we’d have to have a Cabinet that truly cared for our will. It’s good to have dreams.
On fees, cruise tourism’s best year ever, 2019, raised <$3mln in head taxes, farted away in annual NICE program vote buying that same year. We can see from those numbers that cruise has never been anywhere near a main revenue line item for CIG. It is a political footnote for the handful of otherwise unemployable bus drivers, watersports operators, souvenir retailers in select electoral districts; for foreigner-owned duty free donors and FCCA lobby members and organisers that actively sponsor their party picks to hold this artificially-skewed political stance.