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(CNS): There are currently 36,049 work permit holders in the Cayman Islands, another new record that is nevertheless increasing every day by around 12 new arrivals. The latest statistics released by Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman (WORC) on Friday show that the number of expatriate workers has increased by almost 1,900 since February.
Though expatriate workers hail from 135 different countries, more than 27,500 come from just six countries: Jamaica (15,241 people or 42% of the total), the Philippines (5,803 or 16.1%), the UK (2,082), India (2,014), Honduras (1,265) and Canada (1,254). The document lists one person as coming from the Cayman Islands.
The numbers reflect what many believe is unsustainable, given the shortages of suitable housing, school places, increasing traffic congestion and the impact on Cayman’s natural resources. It also indicates yet again that the National Census, which was published less than eight months ago, is already significantly out of date.
These most recent WORC numbers were released in the first instance to HSM Chambers, local attorneys who specialise in immigration work, who have been doing their best to keep this unsustainable situation in the public eye.
HSM now estimates that there are at least 40,000 foreign nationals living in Cayman with no permanent residency rights, including expatriate workers and their dependents, people here through the Global Citizen Programme, those waiting on residency applications — which the firm estimates is more than 1,000 — people working at Cayman Enterprise City, as well as people in jail.
This number is at odds with the official Economics and Statistics office figures and suggests the population is getting closer by the day to 100,000 — a number that is deeply concerning to some and a realistic target for others, especially those in the business community.
In a very long circular to clients sent on Monday, Nick Joseph, a partner at HSM, described an inadequate immigration system that has not only failed to protect Caymanians but has led to massive delays in residency applications. The danger now is that the broken system could see many more people transition from work permit holders to permanent residents and then become Caymanians in the coming years because of the delays, regardless of their economic circumstances, he warned.
Residency applications are now taking anywhere from just over one year to almost two, which Joseph has argued is unlawful. While there are many causes for these delays, the situation was exacerbated by the decision to allow all work permit holders to stay in the Cayman Islands long enough to make a residency application.
“Doing away with a Key Employee filter at seven years was always going to greatly increase the number of potential applicants for PR,” Joseph said in his open email. “Subsequent changes to the Points System greatly increased the likelihood that applicants would gain enough points to be assured of a grant of PR. Significant increases in the numbers being granted PR inevitably leads to significant increases in the numbers qualified to apply for status.”
Permanent residency was supposed to be the step that would prevent too many people from going on to become Caymanian in any given year, thereby undermining the cultural heritage of these islands. “It has failed to fulfil that role,” Joseph said.
A significant number of people have been getting through the PR step, and many more may now qualify with the help of the courts because of the delays and legal problems with the point system, and the number of people with PR is impacting the number of status grants.
HSM alone has over 630 people with pending status applications as a result of residency or marriage, some of whom are still waiting for an answer 19 months after applying.
The firm estimates that around 35 applications are filed every month, and at least another 1,000 people will be granted status between now and the next general election, which will make them eligible to register to vote. Joseph described this group of pending new Caymanians as a “ghost constituency”, which should be taken into consideration during the current boundary review.
See the WORC document here.
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