Even as concerns over processing delays persist, Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman Director Jeremy Scott says his team is making progress chipping away at the backlog of work-permit and related applications.
WORC has been under fire from the business community amid complaints that it was taking anywhere from six to eight months to get permits processed, but Scott says that period is now down to 60 days.
“It is fair to say that up until the ending of last year, we were running between four to six months of delays in renewals primarily,” he said.
In February, he commissioned a review of how applications are processed and the staff involved.
“I can say with certainty based on stats and based on our performance [records] that we’ve actually moved from [those numbers] within the last year,” he told the Cayman Compass this week.
The department, he said, takes ownership that the performance of processing of applications “was not necessarily the best” when the backlog worsened, but it was not only due to internal resourcing issues, as rising demand and incomplete applications also added to the delays.
“We were reporting every month of having a backlog of up to 5,000 to 8,000 applications … and it was not necessarily the best performance.” he said.
As fast as the applications were processed, an even greater amount was being submitted each month, Scott explained.
Within six months, he said WORC found itself down from 8,000 backlogged applications to 4,000, according to last month’s report.
“If we continue down the internal controls and the new way of doing business, I’m optimistic that within the last quarter of this year, we will find ourselves back to what I think the desire is… that [annual] grants as well as [permit] renewals will be processed within 30 days,” he said.
Outstanding Applications as of July 2023
- Work Permit Grants: 2,017
- Temporary Work Permits: 692
- Work Permit Renewals: 1,753
- Temporary Work Permit Extensions: 214
Statistics released to the Compass shows that outstanding applications as of July were: 2,017 work-permit grants, 692 temporary work permits, 1,753 work-permit renewals and 214 temporary work-permit extensions.
Scott said the department is finding that the stability from Cayman’s reopening and growth is pushing application numbers back upward.
“Based on years prior, the trajectory prior to any national emergency or having a national crisis [like COVID] has always shown a continued increase,” he said, pointing to a total of 12,700 temporary work-permit applications being submitted from January to date.
A total of 10,000 of those permits were granted, while 2,603 were refused.
Temp permits increase
Scott said he believes the temporary work permit system is “being abused” given the volume, although he added that he does think that the majority of applications are genuine.
He noted that employers like to start with temporary permits.
“It’s a choice by an employer to start at that juncture applying for work permits. It’s very attractive because our policy and our procedures normally [take] within seven to 14 days for a regular temporary work permit,” he said.
But, in urgent circumstances, he explained an employer can pay extra to get express service on an application which will be processed within 48 hours.
Scott said he believes there is a minority of “bad actors and maybe non-genuine applications”.
While he said “we have more jobs than we have Caymanians,” Scott said WORC is charged with ensuring that where there is growth that Caymanians have employment opportunities.
Part of the issue is deciding how to “ensure that training, development and placements are continuing to increase in success… The true question is, are we ensuring that Caymanians are actually filling the majority of those [jobs] and any overflow?” he said.
If this is done properly, he said, then Cayman can look at attracting additional outside labour, as needed.
Scott said with the change in processing times he hopes employers will seek a full permit for their employee instead of first applying for a temporary one and then the grant which adds to the strain of WORC being able to decrease the existing backlog.
No more deferrals for incomplete applications
Close to 25% to 30% of decisions are deferred, Scott said, which can be attributed to applicants not submitting the required documents, or perhaps requiring additional scrutiny.
He said the department has a small unit and having to go over one application multiple times is a challenge so the decision has been taken to refuse to accept incomplete applications.
“Historically, there was policy positions that were taken to say, ‘Okay, well, we are going to defer an application if it’s missing a critical component that is needed.’ That doesn’t help us. It doesn’t help those whose applications have been completed,” he explained, because that holds up the process for everyone.
The WORC website, he said, has made it very clear what is needed for applications.
“We are asking the public also to own part of this process and help us be able to look at applications one time and with a complete application allow us to then make a decision… rather than us having to go back at something two or three times,” he said.
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If processing times were reasonable, then fewer temporary permits would be submitted.
Employers are simply looking for a way to ensure they have the staff that they need. If you look at Enterprise City, it is basically selling fast turnaround with immigration. The Cayman Islands are already the equivalent of a Special Enterprise Zone, if immigration WORCed there would be little to no need for anyone to go into CEC.
It is good to hear they are making some progress on Work Permits, now how about PR and Status applications? They need to get moving on that or with the processing delays and any appeals a large number of unqualified people will hit the magic 10 years on island and when the Courts find against CIG (again!) they will get PR with the stroke of a pen.