Immigration rules impact tourism staffing
The Cayman Islands Tourism Association has sent a letter to Minister of Tourism Charles Clifford lobbying for changes to the Immigration Law because of potentially serious impacts it could have on the tourism industry.
The letter, which was copied to the other members of Cabinet, comes after a survey of its members showed 76 per cent of tourism industry work permits holders are subject to the seven-year term limits proscribed by the current law.
As a result, the Cayman Islands tourism industry could face severe staffing problems in the next few years unless a good portion of current work permit holders are given Exemption under the Immigration Law 2003, according to CITA President Karie Bergstrom.
‘One of the largest watersports companies on the island will lose 22 of its most senior-level staff by 2007. That’s most of its managerial staff,’ said Ms Bergstrom. ‘Companies cannot exist with these challenges.
‘Many of the companies being impacted are small companies that cannot absorb the loss of one employee,’ she said. ‘This can have a detrimental effect on their business.’
The recent survey was undertaken by CITA to determine the full impact of the Immigration Law 2003 on the tourism industry. It was completed by approximately 135 businesses that are directly involved in tourism, of CITA’s 180 or so members.
Of the 2,679 employees in these businesses, 1,409 (53 per cent) of them are on work permits. Of this number only four employees (0.28 per cent) are exempted employees, which means that they can remain on island up to nine years consecutively, enough time to allow them to apply for Permanent Residency.
Seventy-six per cent of the surveyed businesses’ work permit holders began working in the Cayman Islands after 1 January 1999, which means are subject to term limits and have no opportunity to stay past seven years unless they are designated as exempt employees.
The businesses completing the survey reported that 24 work permit holders have already received notice from the Immigration advising them that they have to leave the island as a direct result of the Immigration Law.
Finding replacement workers for those leaving is not as easy as it once was, Ms Bergstrom said, because the term limit issue is exacerbated by the mounting reasons why people are no longer as attracted to working here.
‘The industry is having a difficult time attracting people to Cayman,’ she said. ‘People are scared of hurricanes, the cost of living is high and there is a housing shortage.’
Ms Bergstrom explained that the scenario is totally different now to what it was in 2003, and that the industry is really struggling to attract workers here.
‘Because we are having these struggles now, the situation is much different to what it was when the Immigration Law came to be,’ she said. ‘We need to look at all the impacts this law will have on the industry.’
One key issue deals with which work permit holders can be designated exempted employees.
Section 47 (3) of the Immigration Law 2003 states that before a worker or prospective worker can be designated an exempted employee, he or she must fulfil one or more of seven requirements at the time of employment in the islands.
The last part of this sentence is something Ms Bergstrom is worried about, because, if, as she interprets it, it refers to the time when the employee first took up employment in the islands, then she believes a lot of the 76 per cent of work permit holders in the tourism industry will not be exempted because they did not fulfil the criteria at their initial time of employment.
Some of the criteria for exemption include: the employee being recognised as having particular expertise in this field of practice, trade or employment and the employee is or will be a professional employee whose expertise or skills are not available in adequate measure in the islands.
‘That’s one of the major issues,’ she said. ‘How will Section 47 (3) of the law be interpreted by the Work Permit Board and the Business Staffing Plan Board.’
This, she said, is critical for the industry because probably 70 per cent of people brought in here initially to the tourism industry come in at the mid-to-lower range salary scale in positions such as dive instructors or food and beverage servers.
‘A food and beverage server can have developed into a phenomenal on-the-job-trainer and if he or she can’t meet exemption requirements, will have to be sent back to where he/she came from,’ Ms. Bergstrom said. ‘This leaves no incentive for workers to be good performers,’ she said.
She explained that by the time these people have worked their way up in their jobs to managerial levels it may be too late to apply for them to be exempted employees. The law states that the application for exemption must go in with the application for the work permit. CITA is calling for a grace period on this to allow extra time for an application for exemption, because many businesses have misunderstood the law.
And a lot of businesses have not been applying for exempt employees because they have not understood that an exempt employee can be applied for on its own merit and need not be part of a business staffing plan.
There has also been confusion between a ‘key position’ (now exempt position) and exempt employee, the latter meaning applying for a specific person in an organisation to be granted exemption.
Those people who were granted their first work permit here prior to 1 January 1999 and have worked here continuously since, are allowed extra time on their work permits to apply for Permanent Residency.
CITA is also calling for a grace period for those within the term limits, perhaps six months at the end of eight years on the island, to allow for the Permanent Residency application to go in.
CITA would also like to see someone representing the tourism industry have a voice on the Immigration review panel so issues facing the industry can be addressed.
Ms Bergstrom said that even if workers are given exemption to allow enough time to apply for Permanent Residency, the points system used in determining successful applicants is strongly focused on how much people have invested financially in the country, which, she believes is exclusionary for many people who have dedicated their lives to the islands. The points system makes the majority in the tourism industry ineligible for Permanent Residency, she said.
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