Almost two years since government began the process to overhaul the permanent residency system, there is still no definitive timeline on when the review will be completed.
At the moment, legal experts are drafting proposed recommendations to tighten Cayman’s permanent residency regime in a bid to limit who can qualify to remain indefinitely.
Ministry of Labour Chief Officer Wesley Howell told the Cayman Compass that work on the recommendations to change the existing points system is nearing completion.
“The legal subcommittee is now working to craft legal direction on the general recommendations in [the review]. They’ve been going through significant consultation with stakeholders that are part of that recommendation. Once that’s done, it will go back to the main PR committee,” he said.
Those recommendations form part of the ongoing review, which was launched in August 2022 under then Deputy Premier Chris Saunders and has continued under Border Control and Labour Minister Dwayne Seymour.
‘Longer than expected’
Howell, acknowledging that the review is “taking longer than expected”, said once the legal direction on the recommendations is passed to the review committee, which is chaired by attorney Steve McField, a round of public consultations will be conducted, after which a report will go back to Cabinet for a decision.
“We’re hopeful that we’ll get that through without much delay here. Minister Seymour is quite keen on looking at that aspect,” he said.
Howell declined to give a specific timeline for the final stages of the review, saying that it is already behind schedule.
“I can say that the legal work is just about there now. So that likely would be done in the next few weeks and then into the main committee and then out from there,” he said.
Under the current permanent residency system, an eligible applicant – who has been resident here for at least eight years – has to obtain a minimum of 110 points in order 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.
Government is looking to make changes to how points are awarded.
Howell said there’s a “general uneasiness” about the number of persons qualifying for residency.
“One of the things that is being looked at is tweaking the points system such that it becomes less easy or a bit more difficult for folks to meet that bar [for PR]. That is one of the areas that is being examined, but we’re looking forward to having that report and then moving forward with the other stages as that would entail,” he said.
Howell said one of the major concerns, which has been shown through data, is that more people are becoming Caymanian through marriage than through the points system and “that is across all demographics”.
“The vast majority of folks coming in are mixing with our local population, marrying, having kids that are Caymanian, so that aspect is where we’re growing most,” he said.
Backlog being addressed
As for the backlog in processing permanent residency applications, Howell said that is not tied to the ongoing review.
He said the system is transparent and an individual either “gets the points or they don’t” and the guidance is “quite tight” around that.
Howell said the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board has been meeting since October and making “really good progress” in dealing with the backlog of applications, some of which date back 18 to 24 months.
“They’ve divided up the areas that can be done administratively, i.e. by Director [Jeremy] Scott and his team. They have the power to make decisions on certain types of applications. Those are being done administratively, leaving the boards to look at those types of applications that can only be done by them,” he said.
He said the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board and the Business Staff Planning Board are aiming to have no more than a six-month backlog of applications by the time they get to the second half of this year.
“That would take the backlog down from 18-24 months to six months or less. I’m looking forward to see what the productivity numbers have been for February now that we’re just into March. But I have no doubt that they’re making solid progress,” Howell added.
He said all Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman boards are meeting on Grand Cayman and working through applications.
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