Some thoughts, based on personal observations:
1) First off, kudos to the board for the drop in processing time for permit applications (especially since Ivan). Though I do have to politely disagree – some permit applications can take close to six months to process.
2) Yes, temporary permits are sometimes used to help expedite hiring – simply put, if someone comes available, it’s best for the employer (and Cayman) to get the better candidates quickly on board – in the rest of the world, three months delay in hiring often means the candidate will have moved on and the employer loses out on the permit fees (and don’t kid yourself, that cost will get passed on in the form of higher prices).
3) And yes, with three to six months often the preferred period of probation, this does dovetail with standard HR practices.
4) Also, my impression is that there’s a policy (possibly unwritten) that prevents employers from submitting an application for a full work permit until the last month of the temporary permit. (If I’m wrong Mr. Ritch, please correct me).
The whole idea is to minimize unnecessary costs. Asking someone to leave and then return (whether employee or employer pays, the costs will get passed on to the consumer in higher cost of living) will only further hamper hiring efforts… Candidates will simply move on…
Suggestion No.1: Allow submission of an application for a full permit while a temporary one is in place – say, up to three months before the end of the temporary permit.
Suggestion No. 2: If there’s a delay in getting the full permit approved (let’s use three months as an example) why not charge for that period? For instance, using the example in the story where the application is filed on the last day of the temporary permit, if a permit was applied for [say] 1 September and it gets approved around 1 December a) charge a pro -rated amount for the three month period whether or not the permit gets approved and b) change the start date of the permit to reflect the actual processing date.
Putting the two suggestions in motion together, I suspect that the monetary inducement of extra fees will make employers file promptly (and early) to allow the board time to process the applications.
Use of both carrot and stick works best…. and is much more humane than arbitrary expulsion.
Ross Berube
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