McLaughlin urges gov’t to address work permit delays

Red Bay MP Alden McLaughlin has called on the PACT government to sort out delays in processing work permits, saying the backlog was impacting local businesses, as the islands begin to open up to tourists.

Speaking in Parliament in response to the government’s budget, the former premier said there was a “massive concern” about the “non-action by immigration boards with respect to processing work permits”.

The work permit issue, especially in the tourism sector, was one the government needed to “grapple with immediately,” McLaughlin said. “I know, I’m not guessing, that administrators are not considering permits.”

He read aloud a WhatsApp message he had received from an unnamed individual, who told him that work permit applications submitted in October by that person’s company would not be considered until March.

“We are going to face a massive crisis over the next few months if the work permit process is not sorted out,” he said.

Cayman Islands Tourism Association chiefs, at its annual general meeting on Tuesday, stated that there were not enough Caymanians interested in working in the hospitality industry to fill all the positions available as the Islands open up, and that there were long delays in the processing of work permits for overseas workers to take up those roles.

McLaughlin cited CITA’s concerns in his parliamentary address the following day, saying these issues had to be addressed, or tourism and other local businesses would suffer.

He said that he and all Parliament members agreed that Caymanians should be the first people to be considered for jobs, but acknowledged that Caymanians traditionally had not considered the hospitality industry an attractive one, in which to work. In situations where positions are not being filled by Caymanians, work permit holders would need to be hired.

McLaughlin added that the government’s failure to address local businesses need to hire work permit holders in certain roles was part of what he called its “anti-development, anti-immigration, anti-investor rhetoric”, which he said had to be reconsidered, if Cayman’s economy were to survive.

He also questioned the government’s approach to controlling the community transmission of COVID-19, saying it appeared the plan was to let the virus “burn itself out”.

“I don’t know how the government expects that there is going to be a return to anything approaching normalcy in relation to the tourism industry or other local trade, if they don’t do something or some things to slow the spread of the virus,” he said, adding, “Not one effective means or measure has been put in place since we had this breakout in September.”

Local cases of COVID-19 have spiked over the past two months, after more than a year of no community transmission of the virus. As of 1 Dec., there were 3,866 active cases of COVID in Cayman.

In late October, the government implemented a national policy for the use of rapid antigen-detecting, or lateral flow, tests in schools, workplaces and households where positive cases are found.

As the CITA leadership had done on Tuesday, the former premier also took aim at the government for the current steps in place for incoming tourists – including not allowing unvaccinated children to travel here without quarantining, and requiring lateral flow tests for people two, five and 10 days after arrival.

He added that Cayman remains on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s ‘Do Not Travel’ list of destinations, and until local transmission of cases is brought under control, the islands are likely to remain on that list – deterring tourists from coming here.