Work permits at over 37,300 even in low season

(CNS): At the start of this month, despite entering tourism’s low season, the number of valid work permits was 37,334, according to the latest official figures. This is about 100 fewer than the record-breaking high of 37,437 in April this year. The huge number comes when an estimated 5% of local people are without work and after the Economics and Statistics Office published its latest occupational wage survey revealing that around 58% of workers here are earning CI$4,000 per month or less.

The usual low-season departure of tourism workers does not appear to have greatly impacted the number, which has been in excess of 37,000 permits throughout this year so far, as the current government has still not made any meaningful change to the immigration law.

In a round-robin message to their clients, local attorneys, and immigration experts, HSM said that the figures they received earlier this month show that the highest number of currently active permits are for Jamaicans at 15,427. This is followed by 6,463 workers from the Philippines, 2,081 from India, 2,024 from the United Kingdom. There are 1,246 workers from Nepal, who recently jumped into the top five largest groups, and 1,197 from Canada.

HSM also said that work permit grants or renewals are taking around 12 weeks, but it can take as much as six months to vary the conditions of a permit.

The lawyers reported that, based on the cases they are dealing with, the processing time for permanent residency and status applications has continued to drop over the last few months. Caymanian status and PR applications are taking up to twelve months, while applications for the right to work as a spouse of a Caymanian or a PR holder are taking between three and six months.

In June 2024, the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board determined 138 applications for the Right to be Caymanian on the basis of naturalisation and another 58 based on marriage.

Meanwhile, the attorneys said that they recently managed to get two PR applications that they believed were wrongfully rejected based on the allocation of points reconsidered without having to appeal.

“Upon reviewing the points which they had been awarded, it appeared to us that there were clear errors made in assessing the applications, which if resolved in our clients’ favour, would lead to the award of Permanent Residence to them,” Huw Moses, a partner with the firm, said.

He explained that they decided to ask for a reconsideration even though there is no formal process, but given that this was a clear administration error, the lawyers gave it a shot.

“In both of these cases, reconsideration requests were made and approved prior to the time limit for any appeal to be filed expiring,” Moses said. “In some cases, reconsideration requests are not appropriate, however in these cases, the department exercised their discretion in a reasonable manner and accepted the submissions we made, and in doing so our clients not only obtained Permanent Residence in a far quicker manner than they eventually would via an appeal but incurred less legal fees,” he added.