Over 300 permanent residency applications pending

As of July there were just over 300 outstanding permanent residency applications awaiting processing, a significant decrease from the 800 backlogged in the last two years, according to Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman Director Jeremy Scott.

Scott, speaking with the Cayman Compass last week about the backlog, said his team is working on further reducing the pool of applications awaiting decision, some of which have taken as long as two years to be processed.

However, he said strides are being made to cut down on that time.

“As of October last year, for an example, permanent residence at eight years reached a benchmark of, I would say, close to two years of waiting, and owning that we had to actually conduct internal training. We had to actually look at ways to introduce new delegations to administrators, have them dedicated to the process,” Scott explained.

He said within six-to-eight months, WORC was able to reduce the 800-application backlog by 50%.

“You should be seeing an improvement in our processing times and we are dedicated to that… We understand the impacts if decisions are delayed that relate to employment opportunities,” he said.

WORC, he said, is processing applications that were submitted in June of last year.

“We’re a year out in applications versus last year when we were two years out. [In] less than [about] eight months, we have decreased the wait time,” he said.

Outstanding Caymanian Status and Residency Applications as of July 2023

• Right to be Caymanian – Acknowledgement: 19
• Right to be Caymanian – Grounds of Naturalisation: 188
• Right to be Caymanian – Grounds of Marriage: 79
• Residency and Employment Right (Spouse of Caymanian): 216
• Residency and Employment Rights Certificate (Residency 8+ years): 241
• Residency with the Right to Work – Dependent of a Permanent Resident: 87
• Confirmation of Caymanian as of Right: 134

From January to July, 320 PR (8 years+) applications have been processed and, of that figure, 195 were granted while 114 were refused.

Eleven applications were deferred during that period.

He said the department is looking at trying to find additional resources, but at on a monthly average, it is processing close to 50 of those applications.

However, he said, PR applications will still be a year behind in processing.

Additional resources

Scott said barring any major change in resources by the end of the year, “if we’re looking at a backlog figure of 300 for 2022 [then] when we reach into 2024, applications that were submitted in 2023 should be looked at”.

He said WORC is still seeking additional resources, but none are available at this point.

“We’re looking at working a little bit more collaboratively with the boards as well for residency and status. They’re doing their best with their meetings once a week. We’re also working on PR variations,” he said.

Scott explained that apart from applying for permanent residency, there are other applications that require processing such as PR variations, Right to be Caymanian by Acknowledgement, Right to be Caymanian by Grounds of Naturalisation, and Right to be Caymanian by Grounds of Marriage.

All these applications enter the same pool, which adds to the backlog challenges.

However, Scott said the department was able to reduce the backlog of 300 PR-variation applications for last year to 150.

“By next month at least, we should not have any variations that are currently pending. That’s something positive to look forward to… that we would be up to date with PR variations,” he said.

Scott said when the backlog of PR variations is cleared, personnel will be redeployed to deal with applications for residency by marriage, which have been taking about a year to process.

“We’re again looking at a shift in resources to be able to deal with the demands and the wait periods should be reduced with that deployment,” he said.

PR review still pending

In addition, a review of the PR points system is under review by a committee established last year.

Scott said that review is ongoing and the deadline for the committee report has been extended to September.

Attorney Steve McField, who is chairing the review committee that was established in August 2022, said earlier in July that changes to the nine-point PR system, along with some recommendations, may be “controversial”.

McField said he could not reveal what changes the committee was considering, but noted the findings should be made public at the end of the process.

The committee was tasked with looking at the system under which an eligible applicant, who has been resident for at least eight years, has to obtain a minimum of 110 points to be granted the right to remain permanently in the Cayman Islands.

Those points are awarded based on a number of categories, including occupation, nationality, local investment, education and community service.

Meanwhile, WORC statistics show January to July, 1,301 Confirmation of Caymanian as of Right applications were processed, 1,289 were approved and 12 were refused.

A total of 134 similar applications are outstanding.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect the number of Confirmation of Caymanian as of Right applications that were processed by WORC which was incorrectly identified as Caymanian status grants.