10,600 work permits deferred over last 10 months

Just over a third of work-permit applications have been either deferred or refused since April 2021, with the majority being placed on hold, as Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman seeks to place Caymanians in employment.

According to statistics shared with the Cayman Compass, since April, when the PACT government took office, WORC has deferred 10,600 of the 39,705 applications for work permits and renewals it has received, and refused 2,687.

Of the deferred applications, 1,173 remained outstanding as of 22 Feb.

In January and February this year, 26.7% of all applications for work permits and renewals were refused or deferred.

Border Control and Labour Ministry Chief Officer Wesley Howell says this trend will continue as the PACT government moves ahead with its ‘Caymanian first’ employment push.

“The government understands that businesses need resources to be successful, but they also keenly understand that that can’t come at the expense of having unemployed Caymanians, who are willing and able and qualified to work, not being given opportunities to work,” Howell said when he appeared on the 23 Feb. episode of the Compass Facebook talk show ‘The Resh Hour’.

Howell said, despite the additional scrutiny of the applications, there is a still a high number of approvals, at 26,418.

From 1 Jan. to 22 Feb. this year, he said, 66% of the 8,386 work permit applications that came before work permit boards were approved.

He called on employers to exercise fairness when hiring.

“Ensure that you’re giving the Caymanians an opportunity to apply for jobs and if they match… give them the opportunity to work. It is so frustrating for the boards to have an application for folks and know that there are Caymanians looking for work that aren’t given the opportunity. So they’ve been turning down the work permits and that’s part of the issue,” Howell said.

Scrutinising permits

Howell said the keen review of applications will continue as Deputy Premier Chris Saunders and the WORC boards are “fired up” to ensure Caymanians are being given the chance to get jobs. He said resources were being applied to examine and process applications, but no rubber-stamping was taking place.

He said instances where employers were not making efforts to hire locally and to train Caymanians was causing “disharmony”, adding, “That’s not healthy for our long-term society.”

The refusal rate for work permits from 1 Jan. to 22 Feb was 6.6%, Howell said, as WORC boards closely scrutinise applications to see if a suitable Caymanian could be filling the position.

“The administrators and the boards have access to see the calibre of individuals that applied, all their qualifications that they’ve entered in the system, and then they can compare that with the notes coming from whoever interviewed them, if they interviewed them. In some cases, they didn’t even bother to interview Caymanians,” he said, explaining that in those circumstances the application will be refused, with the employer told to give the Caymanian applicant an opportunity to take up the job.

He pointed out that action is already under way as “test cases” when it comes to challenging applications and WORC’s ability to advocate for Caymanians.

Jobs vacancies are being listed on the government’s employment portal. As of 24 Feb., Howell said, 900 jobs had been posted, and he encouraged Caymanians to look at the vacancies and apply where applicable.

He said Saunders is “quite keen” to increase compliance-enforcement officers across the ministry, not just in WORC and Customs and Border Control, but in Labour and Pensions as well, and the funding is in the budget to make that happen.

Howell noted that presenting false information to WORC is a prosecutable offence.

“The applications, the signatures are essentially an affidavit saying I certified that this is true and accurate,” adding if it isn’t accurate, then they can take punitive action “for what appears to be a deliberate marginalisation of people that applied by ruling them out”.
Howell said the extra steps in reviewing permits can work in favour of businesses, saying WORC has invested in compiling labour market information to guide policy and training.

Law changes being contemplated

Howell said the deputy premier is looking at changes to strengthen legislation to address underemployment and lack of advancement in certain industries, and rewarding employers who are creating opportunities for Caymanians.

“The boards are looking at that quite seriously in relation to those opportunities and essentially what are glass ceilings within certain industries… The deputy premier is quite keen again on introducing an employer accreditation,” so those employers who have a history of providing scholarships to and promoting Caymanians “will get an easier time with their work permits. So those may be done administratively as opposed to going to the board,” he said.

However, employers who marginalise Caymanians “are going to get more [carefully] scrutinised”, he said.

“If it takes amending legislation to give more teeth the deputy premier is quite ready to lead that charge,” Howell added.

This is not the only area that is undergoing intense scrutiny under WORC; permanent residency and Caymanian status applications are also being closely assessed.

Since April last year, WORC has refused 206 PR applications and deferred another 206, while approving 811 out of 1,240 applications. In addition, WORC granted 1,485 status applications, deferred 217, and refused 84.