Cabinet has agreed a number of important changes to immigration policy which will be implemented in two phases. The main areas concerned are work permits, permanent residency, term limits and the key employee provision.

Phase One of the reform exercise will concentrate on making the required changes to legislation to extend the term limit for work permit holders to 10 years, remove the “key employee” provision and amend the requirements for permanent residence.  These changes to the Immigration Law are scheduled to take effect by the end of October 2013.

Phase Two will be a full scale review of the work permit system with the intention of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. The preliminary findings and recommendations will be presented to Cabinet by January 2014, with the aim of further amendments to the Immigration Law being made by May 2014.

Phase One

Term Limit Policy

Following through on the commitments made in the Progressives’ Manifesto and also taking into account the recommendations of the Term Limit Review Committee, Cabinet has agreed to extend the length of time that a worker may remain in the Islands on a work permit from seven to ten years. At the same time the key employee aspect of the term limit policy will be abolished and all work permit holders who have resided here for at least eight years will become eligible to apply for permanent residence.

Cabinet also agreed that all persons who hold a Term Limit Exemption Permit will be allowed to resume holding work permits in accordance with a ten year term limit. Similarly, persons whose term limit has expired but who are allowed to work on the basis of being married to another work permit holder or to a Government contracted employee will also be reintegrated into the work permit system. These workers, along with holders of a Term Limit Exemption Permit or a Certificate for Specialist Caregivers will also, if they have not done so previously, be permitted to apply for permanent residence once they have been resident here for eight years.

Permanent Residence requirements and appeals

The Ministry of Home Affairs is also to lead a review of the law and processes relating to the granting of permanent residence. The review will focus on redefining the assessment criteria so that they align with the Government’s economic, cultural and social objectives. The aim is to ensure persons granted Permanent Residence are drawn from a diverse cross-section of our society and are also assets to the community.  The revised criteria will also take into account the impact of the removal of the initial filter afforded by the key employee feature of the term limit process. It is intended that the revised Permanent Residence Points System and application process will come into effect at the same time as the changes to legislation regarding term limits.

The review will also examine ways of improving the appeals process so that appeals may be dealt with swiftly. This may involve creating the ability to dispose of an appeal at an early stage where it is determined to have no merit and to have been made solely to afford the appellant continued residence by taking advantage of a heavily backlogged system.

Phase Two

Work Permits

The Progressives’ Manifesto undertakes that the Government will amend the Immigration Law and policies to reduce bureaucracy and eliminate the current system of boards, review and reform the way in which work permits and licenses are processed and ensure Caymanians are given the opportunity to participate fully in the local economy.  In an effort to achieve this, Cabinet has agreed to a wholesale review of the work permit system and has established a Work Permit Process Review Committee.

With over 20,000 work permit holders in Cayman’s workforce, coupled with over 1,500 Caymanians registered as unemployed, the processing of work permit applications is critically important to Cayman’s economic and social fortunes. The system must be fair, reliable, efficient and transparent.

The review will focus on harnessing the power of information technology to provide an efficient and effective 24/7 service to the business community. Specific areas that will be reviewed include but are not limited to:

•          Criteria for applying for and approving a Work Permit

•          The Application Process

.      Time taken to approve a work permit

.      The costs of reviewing a work permit application

•          Working relationship and synergies with the National Workforce    Development Agency and other Government Departments

•          Work Permit fees – specifically for small businesses

•          Work Permit Administrators

•          Enforcement of Conditions and Rules of Work Permits

•          Appeals Process

The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked for representation from a cross-section of the business community to sit on this committee.  A further release will be made shortly identifying the actual committee members as well as the approved Terms of Reference for the review.