The number of foreign workers on government contracts and work permits reached a new high of 34,067 in January.
This was 3.5% more than just three months earlier in mid-October 2022.
It means Cayman added on average a dozen foreign workers a day during that time, writes HSM partner Nick Joseph in his column in the Cayman Compass.
Most work-permit holders, 42.8%, come from Jamaica, followed by the Philippines (15.5%), the UK (5.8%) and India (5.5%).
Exceeding the 5% threshold for the first time has important implications for Indian workers who apply for permanent residency, as they will now be awarded only five points, rather than 10, for their nationality under the PR points system.
PR applicants from countries that represent more than 10% of work-permit holders receive no points for this specific category.
Joseph describes the application of PR points based on work-permit figures as uncertain and potentially arbitrary. It is unclear whether the statistics at the time of the application are used or when the application is considered. This can be a considerable difference, given that the process takes now on average 17 months.
It is also not clear which work categories are work permits for the calculation of PR points based on nationality. For example, the figures considered by Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman as work permits include foreign workers on government contracts even though they are clearly not work-permit holders.
Yet the statistics do not include the more than 6,300 permanent residents, which brings the number of foreign nationals working in Cayman to more than 40,400.
Once part-time residents, or “snowbirds”, and dependents are taken into account, there may be up to 50,000 foreign nationals from 135 countries living in Cayman, Joseph writes.
Given that there are about 40,000 Caymanians, he believes there are approximately 90,000 people living in the islands. This is significantly more than the official population estimate of 78,554 in the summer of 2022, which counts people who reside here for more than six months in a year.
Whatever the number, Joseph says, if daily cruise and stayover tourists are added, Cayman’s infrastructure needs to be able to cope with more than 110,000 people who are on island during peak times.
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Yes, it is obvious, as I have been saying for the past 20 years at least. WE NEED A LONG TERM DEVELOPMENT PLAN WHICH EXAMINES AS FACTORS, KEY AMONG THEM BEING IMMIGRATION. After the UDP Cabinet fiasco of 2003 with the arbitrary Granting of thousands of Cayman Status, we are definitely seeing the “chickens come home to roost” now. When I said that in 2003, SOME people said it was just scare tactics, and I was anti-Jamaican. Well, the proof should be in the pudding now. IF the Cayman Islands does not take a hard look at the issue of Permanent Residence (on the basis of Residency only) and thereafter the progressive right of Caymanian Status now and come up with a more sensible system, then future generations will hold us responsible and call us reckless and with no vision….which would be true!!