The Department of Immigration is pleased to introduce two additional tools that will benefit our business customers and persons considering whether to apply for Permanent Residency.

These are the electronic submission of Employer Declarations for those persons have Permanent Residents in their employ and the development of a “ready reckoner” for persons who wish to check to see how many points they could possibly obtain, if they were to apply for permanent residency.

Online submission of forms

IOL members are now able to electronically submit their “Permanent Residents – Change to Employment Circumstances Declaration” form (Form R17) via the IOL system.

Employer members must fill in the information on the electronic form in the same way that they would fill in the hard copy form – there is no need to submit a hard copy to Immigration. On completion the data will be conveyed to the Department of Immigration. Persons who have already submitted a first declaration, are only required to submit any changes in employment arrangements of their permanent residents.

As at 25 October, 2013, it is mandatory for all employers to submit a first declaration of the permanent residents that are employed by them. Thereafter, employers only need to update the department when there is a change to any of their working conditions. These conditions include: employment, status, and change in occupation, salary etc. Failure to do so is an offence.

Customers who wish to become IOL members should visit the Department of Immigration website (www.immigration.gov.ky) for detailed instructions.  Those with questions or comments should please send an email to [email protected].

Holders of permanent residency are not able to submit their own declarations electronically at this time.

Ready Reckoner

Meanwhile to allow the public to gauge “their individual points” prior to submitting an application for Permanent Residency, Immigration has developed a “ready reckoner”.

This reckoner, also available via the Immigration website, allows the public to use, essentially, the same tool as would be used by the Cayman Status & Permanent Residency Board to assess the application.

Using the same criteria and formulae as the Board uses in its calculation, the reckoner takes you through each of the 10 elements or factors. In October 2013, the Immigration Laws were amended to ensure a fair and transparent approach to the requirements and process of evaluating and granting Residency and Employment Rights Certificates.

A revised points system was introduced, the details of which are available on the Immigration Department website (www.immigration.gov.ky). The minimum number of points to be achieved by an applicant in order to receive a grant of permanent residence & employment rights certificate is now 110.

The reckoner and the website provide additional details about the process. Interested persons should read these before they try out the new resource and call 949-8344 with any enquiries.

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