Tag: work permits
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 […]
Growth in WPs undermining economic growth
(CNS): Recent revelations from the 2023 Fall Labour Force Survey about the size of the workforce and the increase in local unemployment to over 5% from just over 3% last year while work permit numbers remain high raise questions about the health and sustainability of Cayman’s economy. Last year, the economy grew by about 4% […]
Civil service headcount increased 4.6% in Q3 of 2023
(CNS): Alongside the unprecedented growth in work permits over the last year, the civil service headcount grew by 203 (4.6%) between September 2022 and September 2023, when it stood at 4,629, according to the Economics and Statistics Office’s latest publication. The Third Quarter Economic Report 2023 said there were 36,079 work permits during this period, […]
Year opens with a drop of over 1,000 permit holders
(CNS): According to the latest statistics released by WORC, there was a significant drop in the number of work permit holders over the final quarter of last year. Since September, when there were a record-breaking 36,501 individual permit holders in the Cayman Islands, the number has fallen, for the first time since the pandemic, by […]
Population grows 2.6% as work permits surge
(CNS): The Cayman Islands population has grown by at least another 2.6% to almost 84,000, according to the latest Labour Force Survey undertaken by the Economics and Statistics Office. The proportion of Caymanians in this new estimated population has dropped another 1% since the last survey in October to 46.5%, as the growth has been […]
Minister gives conflicting views on immigration
(CNS): Labour Minister Dwayne Seymour, as a guest on Radio Cayman on Monday, failed to outline any specific plans the PACT government has to solve Cayman’s growing immigration challenges. Claiming he knew nothing about Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan’s controversial billboard demanding “Immigration Reform Now!”, Seymour expressed very mixed views about what needs to be reformed […]
Bryan calls for full immigration reform
(CNS): Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan MP (GTC) is calling for immigration reform and for his colleagues in Cabinet to agree on a policy to tackle what he has said are the significant problems the current situation is causing. Following the attention his new billboard poster with this message has attracted, Bryan told CNS that there […]
Vaccine mandate for permit holders lifted
(CNS): The legal requirement for non-Caymanian residents and their dependents to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 has been lifted. From Friday, applicants for work permits (new and renewals), permanent residency, specialist caregiver certificates, student visas or Cabinet entry permits, as well as dependents no longer need to prove they are vaccinated, according to government officials.
Ad mandate for temp permits repealed
(CNS): The new requirement for employers to advertise jobs when applying for a temporary work permit for a foreign worker was repealed on the day it was supposed to come into effect. WORC officials did not detail the reasons for the U-turn so soon after the new policy was announced last month but implied it […]
Jobs for temp permits must now be advertised
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government is introducing new rules under immigration legislation that will require employers to advertise vacancies when they apply for a temporary work permit. Of the more than 34,000 foreign nationals on permits or government contracts, over 6,500 of them hold temporary work permits, for which bosses were not required to advertise […]
Housing crisis leaves workers in costly, cramped conditions
(CNS): The housing crisis in the Cayman Islands is leading to overseas low-paid workers living in costly but nevertheless unacceptable slum conditions, with some paying as much as $400 per month for a bunkbed in tiny apartments where even kitchens have been converted into bedrooms. CNS has received several reports about the cramped conditions some […]
