Some of the roughly 2,000 un-reviewed applications for permanent residence date back to January 2004.
Speaking at the Council of Associations’ Immigration Forum last Friday, Permanent Residency and Caymanian Status Board Chairman Anthony Scott said his board would work diligently to clear up the backlog.
‘The board is committed to meeting two days and possibly three days [per week] and extending the length of the meetings to allow them to deal with more of the backlog,’ he said, adding that the Board has only been meeting one per week so far up until now.
Mr. Scott acknowledged that board members had put a halt to reviewing applications for permanent residency earlier this year.
‘We reached a point where we decided to hold off in addressing further applications since the [Immigration] Law and Regulations – and the points system was under review,’ he said.
Before stopping the applications reviews, Mr. Scott said board members reviewed 71 applications.
‘Just over 50 per cent were approved, which is quite higher than the 10 per cent published by the press,’ he said.
Since the new permanent residency points system was published last month, board members have met once, Mr. Scott said.
‘We have had one meeting to allow the board to familiarise itself with the changes and to work out formulas for some of the factors,’ he said.
Those factors refer to how board members will arrive at the percentage of points out of the maximum points available in each section of the permanent residency application.
Mr. Scott said the board is budgeting one-half hour to review every application.
‘But one application could take two hours,’ he said.
Allowing the review of two applications per hour, it would take board members 1,000 hours – or 125 eight-hour days – to get through the backlog.
Mr. Scott detailed how each section of the permanent residency application would be assessed. He noted that in section headed Skills, which assesses the level of skill required for the applicant’s occupation, the board would rely on statistics from the Department of Employment Relations.
‘We’ll be using the Employ Relations’ data base for determining the need of that particular occupation,’ Mr. Scott said. ‘So that will be relatively easy for us.’
Even though the new regulations state that applicants only need 100 points on the test to achieve permanent residency, Mr. Scott acknowledged board members still have discretion when it comes to the deduction of points. The regulations state the board can deduct unlimited points for other mitigating factors on the basis that to grant permanent residency would be contrary and not conducive to the public interest.
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