FOI reveals over 19,000 people ‘not welcome’ to Cayman
(CNS): A freedom of information request to Customs and Border Control by a local law firm has revealed that, as of August this year, 19,607 people are banned from entering the Cayman Islands. The Stop List held by CBC is part of immigration legislation. It should only apply to prohibited immigrants, but there are thousands of individuals on it that the law never intended to include. There are just 3,412 actual prohibited immigrants. The rest includes 13,766 personae non gratae (PNG) as well as 472 permanent residents and Caymanians who, by law, cannot be refused entry.
In their regular email update to their clients in relation to the latest information on immigration issues, lawyers at HSM Chambers explained that it was not clear how a Caymanian or a permanent resident can be on the Stop List, potentially prevented from coming to their home.
“As a matter of law, they cannot be Prohibited Immigrants because they are specifically excluded from this designation by the relevant legislation,” the lawyers said. “We suspect that these people may have been placed on this list prior to them obtaining the relevant permissions they are now shown as having.”
There are also eleven dead people whose immigration status was unknown in a category of their own on the list. The HSM team noted that they are presumably not considering returning to the Cayman Islands in the near future but are prevented from being buried here or having their bodies or ashes brought here.
“We suspect that this is just an administrative mechanism to record the death of a person previously alive and on the Stop List,” they added as they tried to make sense of the list.
The category of PNG refers to diplomats who have been asked to leave the Cayman Islands and people who have opted to be administratively fined or convicted of an offence (anywhere in the world) or been sentenced to imprisonment, as well as overstayers. However, the PNG policy that CBC operates with has not been published.
HSM warned that reliance upon it by CBC could lead to challenges, “especially for those who accept an administrative fine rather than challenge the allegation that they have breached the Immigration Act in some way”.
As they drew attention to some of the more serious aspects of this incredibly long stop list, they noted, “It certainly does not appear that WORC specifically warns an individual who is considering accepting an administrative fine that they might well be prevented from coming to the Cayman Islands again.”
HSM said anyone who thinks they are on the list or that they may be placed on it upon arrival in the Cayman Islands should contact the director of CBC ahead of time and request that they be permitted entry into the Cayman Islands to ensure they can enter.
Caymanians and permanent residents cannot be refused entry by law because they have an unconditional right to enter. However, CBC has said they maintain a Person of Interest list for Caymanians as they may be prohibited from leaving the jurisdiction.
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19,000 more need to go from here instead of issuing more permits to this rabble We see now around here Those foreign high officials conspiring against the Cayman people now in government trying to form this deportation court need to stop their Bull$#@% . The immigration law that they clearly have been trying to destroy and undermine lays out who can come and need to go and should be amended to remove undesirables from our shores.Look at those who have recently join HSM chambers from government and understand what this is all about Cayman This right to family life rubbish that these very same usurpers and judiciary minions have been pushing is not an ABSOLUTE right Cayman yet our idiotic politician will not stand up to these bastards who are clearly trying to undermine and destroy the Cayman Islands and it’s people.On top of all this they are making millions off this misery they are causing whilst we and our children future is suffering and is been destroyed by their foreign criminal agenda. Criminals and those not acting in the best interest of the Caymans Need to Go home! The Cayman Islands Protection Law was destroyed by these same nasty people for the very same reason Cayman by over 100 “Amendments”.. Which other UK territory has done this ???
I’m not welcome but I’m already here.
Same, and I’m Caymanian!
Please be advised that law uttering the words and/or referring to these Islands as “The Caymins” or any derivative thereof automatically places you on this list.
Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.
Signed,
literally every native Caymanian
Please be advised that you are not a native Caymanian but a British Overseas Territories Citizen.
Actually, not the same. Many Caymanians are not BOTC’s.
No such thing as a Caymanian, actually.
If there is no such thing as a Caymanian, explain to me how the Cayman subtype of Cerebellar ataxia came to be. If we did not create a very small but distinct ethnicity here like those existing on other islands all around the world, what did we do?
But there certainly is such a thing as a churlish, argumentative twit.
You might want to check that assertion.
Caymanians “automatically became British citizens on 21 May 2002 if their British overseas territories citizenship was gained by connection with a qualifying territory.
If that person was born in a qualifying territory on or after 21 May 2002, they also automatically became a British citizen if their parent was either:
a British OR British overseas territories citizen OR settled in that territory”
https://www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-overseas-territories-citizen
That doesn’t necessarily mean they have taken their own steps to apply for continuance of Caymanian Status at Age 18, or the BOTC travel document, or for Naturalisation as a full British Subject, if they want that too. Those are separate applications and fees, but also available privileges.
We don’t care.
Agree with you completely. My list would be much longer as I’d include persons convicted of a felony in the Cayman Islands as well as those illegally overstaying their time and every non-citizen convicted of driving an unlicensed vehicle, driving without insurance or driving under the influence.
DUI is on the books as a civil Traffic offence, but you probably know that. Some people have had a half dozen lifetime DUI convictions and are still out there driving, some never stop, even while serving a ban.
That is unacceptable but you probably already knew that.
Yes absolutely! I know of three individuals who were administratively fined by immigration a few years ago for producing false documentation. However ALL three of these individuals had their applications approved for different jobs than they had originally applied for and as such allowed to work on Island.
Examples such as this is why our Cayman Islands is in the mess it is in now and I do NOT care who gets insulted when I say our Immigration policies and procedures have failed the Caymanian people. I may be a citizen of a British Overseas Territory (as posted as a reply above) but I am first and foremost a CAYMANIAN and damn proud of it.
Completely agree. I could probably name a hundred or more, including a kinky actor who elected to prance around a hotel during Covid. I am fine with an exclusion list if it includes drug runners, felons, and other enemies of the Cayman Islands. I would guess that those who were deported for various crimes would be on the list.
This place is too small to be for everyone. We should be selective, and if CBC is one of those filters, I’m glad for that. I hope there are more.
List should be much longer.
Please define non-citizen.
booo hoo…i a duppie! i yah! lol
Cayman Legislatures better start taking a hard look at these law firms constantly challenging our immigration departments for money whilst paying no concern to the actual stability and well being of these islands. Please i beg Cayman lets vote in only folks that are going to return some form of pleasantness to this rock. God knows 3.5 hours of traffic every Monday to Friday and now Saturday is not our way of life. Concrete stacks called apartments are not our way of life, why do we accept what the outside world is bringing instead of imposing our will and way on them…..When in ROME!
LTD Da Unboozler.
Off-topic.
I am dying to know how you came up with your signature.
We, The Cayman Islands, have an absolute right to determine whom we will allow to visit our country and those whom we will not allow to enter our borders.
Territory, but yes.
The UK has that absolute right, not you.
True….to an extent…, 8:01, but are you not being unnecessarily combative? And maybe deliberately so? Why rub people’s noses in the fact that Cayman is a B.O.T.?
Well said.
Yes, once certain MPs leave, should not be allowed back in!
Every country should have the right to say who can come into their territory. If you don’t have borders you don’t have a country/island. The same goes for the US and UK but for some reason when you say that everyone calls you mean words.
Every country does. First, you have to be a country.