More than 19,000 work permits have been granted in the first eight months of 2007.
The figure includes 4,742 annual grants, 5,049 work permit renewals, and 9,494 temporary work permits, for a total of 19,285.
Acting Chief Secretary Donovan Ebanks provided the statistics in the Legislative Assembly Friday in response to a Parliamentary Question asked by Leader of the Opposition McKeeva Bush.
The figures only represent the number of applications that were approved during the period, not the number of permits in effect at any given time.
Compared to the eight previous months, the figures represented a decline of 922 overall permits, or 4.56 per cent. Temporary permits declined the most between the two eight-month periods, with 744 fewer permits.
There were also 298 fewer work permit grants issued in the first eight months of 2007 compared to the last eight months of 2006. Work permit renewals, however, were up 120 over the same period
Mr. Ebanks was unable to indicate the geographical breakdown of the work permit grantees when asked a supplemental question on the matter by Mr. Bush, but he undertook to provide that information in writing at a later date.
West Bay MLA Cline Glidden asked another supplemental question on the matter, concerning a statement made in the Legislative Assembly recently by Employment Minister Alden McLaughlin.
When speaking about recent successes of the Department of Employment Relations, Mr. McLaughlin said the DER had not issued any waivers to employers seeking to hire someone on a work permit since May.
Mr. McLaughlin explained that employers cannot get work permit applications approved for certain jobs unless the Department of Employment Relations gives them a waiver that can be taken to the Immigration Department. That waiver is issued only after the Department of Employment Relations has exhausted all attempts to match someone to the job.
In an interview with the Caymanian Compass recently, DER Acting Director Philip Scott explained that the waivers only applied to temporary work permits.
Still, 4,813 temporary work permits have been granted since May.
Mr. Glidden, trying to ascertain how the permits were granted without any waivers being issued by the DER, asked if the policy requiring the waivers had changed.
Mr. Ebanks stated that to his knowledge, there had been no change of government policy on the matter.
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