Backlog builds as immigration boards remain vacant

Clearing the growing backlog of applications for both permanent residency and Caymanian status has hit a major snag as, for the last two months, there has been no functioning board to review and process the forms.

Processing of work permits is facing a similar situation at Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman, as the Business Staffing Plan Board is also vacant.

Both the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency and Business Staffing Plan boards have had no members since the end of September, when their term limits expired, with no indication as to when new appointments will be made.

Though there are WORC administrators who are looking at applications, the boards serve an important function in the process.

At present, permanent residency applicants are being told when they submit their documents to expect to have their forms processed in a year’s time.

Additionally, appointments for the history and culture tests, a key component for applications under the points system, are being scheduled more than nine months out from the date of submission.

Alastair David, senior associate at HSM Chambers, says the absence of a functioning board will add to the existing delays.

“The failure to appoint new boards will have the obvious consequence that applications which are already delayed will take even longer to be concluded. This is especially so for Right to be Caymanian applications which can only be granted by the CSPR Board. These delays are currently in excess of 21 months and we only expect them to get longer,” he said.

The failure to appoint the immigration boards, he said, puts the future of applicants in limbo.

“Those people who have applied for the Right to be Caymanian are potentially being denied the opportunity to take part in elections, being jurors, being prevented from representing the Cayman Islands in sporting events and their children, in some cases, are being denied the opportunity of becoming Caymanian by entitlement,” David said.

Seymour: ‘We are working as quick as we can’

Newly re-appointed Border Control Minister Dwayne Seymour, in response to Compass queries on the situation, said the United People’s Movement government is “working diligently” to appoint the Cayman Status and Permanent Residency (CSPR) Board and the Business Staffing Plan (BSP) Board.

“I understand the frustration that this delay may be causing for some applicants. I want to assure you that we are working as quickly as possible to appoint the boards,” he said in the emailed statement as he addressed both the business community and the public.

In the interim, he said, civil servant decision-makers have processed “many applications the boards would have considered”.

He said, however a small number of application types, which can only be considered by the boards, are pending the appointment of the boards.

These include certain types of Caymanian Status, business staff plan approvals and variations.

The Minister said he is committed to ensuring that the boards are appointed with “the right skills and experience to make fair and timely application decisions.”

“I am confident that I will have the support of my caucus and cabinet colleagues to appoint these boards and that the boards will be able to clear the backlog of applications quickly,” Seymour added as he thanked the business community and the public for their patience and understanding given the circumstances.

Left in the dark

The chairmen of both boards, attorneys Richard Barton and Steve McField, have said they have not been informed of reappointments.

Barton, in an interview with the Cayman Compass, said that he had written to Issac Rankine, who was the minister responsible for border control at the time, informing him that he would be not open to reappointment as Business Staffing Plan Board chair.

In the 7 Nov. letter, Barton said his inquiries into the future of the board had proven “futile”, adding that while he accepts there is no obligation for this information to be disclosed to him, he was querying the matter following concerns from stakeholders.

The attorney, in his letter, withdrew himself as a candidate for renewed appointment.

“Whatever your decision for the future of the board, in this case, perhaps it is best chaired by someone other than me. I have struggled to reconcile the passage of time since the expiration of the board. My fear is that I may never and so it is only fair that you are respectfully informed,” Barton wrote.

He said nothing was issued to the board prior to his letter or following his correspondence.

Political upheaval added to delay

While McField said he is awaiting word, he pointed out these are political appointments, so the new Minister for Border Control and Labour, Dwayne Seymour, will have to select and appoint the boards.

The political upheaval around the dissolving of the PACT administration and the start of the United People’s Movement administration has compounded the situation.

McField pointed out that since the board members’ two-year appointments ended, there had been changes in ministers in quick succession which may have added to the delay.

“We haven’t had any meetings since [the end of September],” he said.

Since that time, he added, Seymour stepped down as minister, was replaced by Rankine and then Seymour again took up the Cabinet position.

“We don’t know whether they are appointing a new board or whether they are going to reappoint us,” McField said.

McField said, if he is not reappointed, he will “just move on”, though for the moment, he and the board members are all in a “wait and see” holding pattern.

He said his board had been meeting weekly to review and determine applications and they had been chipping away at the backlog.

“We had started to look at last year’s [applications] and some of this year’s applications,” he said.

However, since the expiration of the board, nine meetings have been missed, he said.

McField said the board was being careful in its deliberations, and had even called in applicants for interviews to “get a better understanding of the positions for the decisions that we had to make”.

He pointed out that it was not only applications for permanent residency and status that the board was looking at.

The board also considered, among others, applications for status by right, by marriage, and following naturalisation.

“We wanted to be as fair as possible to people and that was one of our goals, as well as protecting the interests of the Caymanian people,” he said.