I’m deeply concerned by the recent Cayman Compass headline attributed to the chair of the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board that ‘Controversial’ changes to PR system will be in ‘best interests of Caymanians’ (6 July 2023).
Being a Caymanian, my concern does not rest with the intention to protect the ‘best interests of Caymanians’. That, of course, should always be the goal of any government-related body.
Instead, I’m troubled because the same sentiment from the same board was used to deny my initial application for the Right to be Caymanian, and the broad indefiniteness of that sentiment was subsequently denounced by the Immigration Appeals Tribunal as “wholly subjective”.
Specifically, the board’s denial of my application was solely based on Section 30 (a) of the Immigration (Transition) Act (2022 Revision), which states:
“In the course of processing an application for the right to be Caymanian, the Board shall satisfy itself that –
(a) such grant would be in the public interest”.
Having been an educator since 2009 at the University College of the Cayman Islands, a former business owner on Cayman Brac, a past-president and Rotarian since 2008, and a property owner since 2002 with multiple parcels on both the Brac and Grand Cayman, it was devastating to be told that I did not deserve to be a Caymanian because it would not be in the public interest.
In its review of the matter, the Immigration Appeals Tribunal called the 32-word decision of the board “…unreasonable, as the Board did not provide an explanation as to what was considered and reason(s) why the grant of this application to this Appellant would not be in the public’s interest.’
I suffered months of anguish and great expense to challenge an unsubstantiated pronouncement that I somehow didn’t belong in a land that I was so very proud to call my home. Now, I worry anew that this board’s actions will improperly exclude other deserving applicants.
J.D. Mosley-Matchett
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