The Cayman Islands Society of Human Resource Professionals and a local businessman have suggested to government new ways of dealing with temporary work permits with input on the Draft Immigration Bill submitted last week.
While it commented on a number of provisions of the Immigration Bill, the CISHPR particularly expressed concern about the proposed amendment to the law that would remove the ability of an employee to continue working between the expiry of a temporary work permit and the approval of an annual work permit.
The amendment creates significant concerns for the CISHRP membership.
‘The current turn around time on Work Permit Board grants is four months or more,’ the CISHRP submission said. ‘In today’s job market, most candidates will not wait four to six months for a permit to be approved.’
The CISHRP noted that businesses rely on temporary work permits for the degree of flexibility they afford in meeting staffing needs.
‘This measure seems to take us steps backward and creates an unnecessary hurdle for businesses who are not trying to bypass the system, but who need their staff.
‘Until the Work Permit Board is up to date or able to consider grant applications on a more timely basis – which would require the Immigration Department to be afforded more resources – this does not seem a progressive amendment.’
The CISHRP wasn’t the only one that made representations to the Government about the proposed changes to the Immigration Law concerning temporary work permits.
Androgroup Ltd. Managing Director Alan Roffey also sent input to the Government last week, specifically addressing the need of temporary work permits in the construction industry.
‘As an employer in the sub-contracting area of the construction industry for the last 22 years, I have found that there is rarely enough time to mobilize for a project,’ Mr. Roffey said, noting that companies must act very quickly to staff projects they are awarded.
‘It is always possible to hold the fort for a week or two, juggle some personnel so that absolutely time-critical issues following the award are taken care of, but those band-aid solutions can only last so long.
‘In the end it is essential that we are able to rapidly employ the personnel with the necessary skills for the project to be completed on time and profitably for all concerned.’
Mr. Roffey noted that the timeline for obtaining approval of a temporary work permit is at least four months less than that for the full work permit process.
‘In these circumstances, it is obvious why employers have been using the current arrangement extensively… The overwhelming reason why this provision has been used is because it a much faster and better overall solution to the business’ recruiting process.’
Mr. Roffey offered an alternative temporary work permit system.
‘Perhaps all first time work permits should be granted administratively as temporary work permits, by either the Chief Immigration Officer, or the Business Staffing Plan Board, say for six months, a time conveniently equal to a typical probationary period in a contract of employment,’ he said.
‘Once the new employee has been working for a few weeks, and both employer and employee have agreed that they are willing to continue with the arrangement and no suitable Caymanian applicant has applied, then an application for a full work permit, for the proper consideration of the work permit board, would be submitted.
Mr. Roffey said it could be a requirement that such an application be submitted three months before the expiration of the Temporary Work Permit, thus allowing the Work Permit Board time for it to conduct its due diligence.
‘If such an alternative process was adopted, there might arise the additional advantage that by the time the work permit board is considering the grant of a full work permit for the employee, any reasons why the work permit should not be granted would have come to light.’
The CISHRP also made suggestions on how to deal with temporary work permits.
‘A suggestion… might be to limit the ability to work between a temporary work permit and a full permit to 90-day work permits only and require the full permit application to be submitted at the same time as the temporary, if the intention is a longer term employment relationship.’
The CISHRP said its suggested system would increase the possibility of a full permit being approved before the expiry date of the temporary work permit.
‘If need be, a special provision… could be made to allow the Chief Immigration Officer discretion to extend a 90 day permit by an additional 30 days, upon payment of the prescribed fee, if this is required or recommended by the Work Permit Board or the Business Staffing Plan Board in order to get the permit approved and the matter dealt with.’
Steve Hawley, senior partner of Phoenix Group, also has concerns about the proposed amendments to the temporary work permit system.
‘I believe that the idea of eliminating the extension altogether is too extreme, too hard on employers,’ he said. ‘But let’s keep in mind that the reason the policy reversal has been suggested is that some employers have taken unfair advantage of the policy.’
Mr. Hawley said temporary permits are sometimes the best answer for employers who urgently need a person to start work as soon as possible.
‘If for any reason I urgently need a temp approved and I intend to roll that into a full permit, I should be stating my intention to Immigration up front, in my cover letter,’ he said. ‘I also think that it is entirely reasonable for Immigration to give me, say, two months to apply for the full permit.
‘Similarly, if I have honoured this relationship, it is only reasonable that if Immigration takes longer than four months to process the full permit, they should not tell the employee that he has to go. The temp should be extended until such time as the Board has been able to process the full permit.’
Mr. Hawley said if employers are reasonable in the time frame they submit their full applications for workers on temporary permits, Immigration should be reasonable, too.
‘On the other hand, if I abuse the policy by not making the application for the full permit within two months, I should not complain if the Board tells me that I submitted the full permit too late.’
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