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The head of Cayman’s Chamber of Commerce, government’s top immigration adviser and a conservative firebrand politician were all in agreement Thursday night on one topic:
The Immigration Department’s enforcement arm and politically appointed boards should have far less influence and decision-making power in the future over which foreign employees are issued work permits.
“The key objective to immigration should be border control,” said North Side MLA Ezzard Miller. “All of us accept that, currently, we must import some labour. But to have that handled in this day and age … by politically appointed boards, I think, is wrong.”
“What is happening now is the Immigration Law is connected to the Labour Law; it should not be that way, it should be two separate laws,” said Chamber of Commerce President Jim O’Neill.
The comments came during a two-and-a-half hour long debate held at the Harquail Theatre where a diverse group of community leaders gave their views on what the country should do with Cayman’s current immigration policies – in particular the seven-year term limit on foreign workers, often call the “rollover” policy.
Four of the panellists; Mr. O’Neill, Work Permit Board Chairman Sherri Bodden-Cowan, Opposition Leader Alden McLaughlin and Cayman Islands Stock Exchange Chairman Anthony Travers all agreed the current “rollover” policy should be revised.
Mr. Miller was the lone vote for keeping the policy as it currently exists.
Mrs. Bodden-Cowan, an attorney who has also been one of government’s longest-serving immigration advisers, said she supported a wholesale review of the rollover policy, but not necessarily an absolute separation between immigration and work permits.
“In relation to the human resources needs of our country, you need a proper human resource authority to analyse what those needs are,” she said.
“[With 20,000 work permit holders] try as you might, to have voluntary boards dealing with that volume of work, cannot continue. Strides have been made to have a substantial number of those work permits dealt with by work permit administrators who are hired specifically by immigration to review [those permits].
“Whether those people are employed by labour or a human resources authority, or by immigration, I do believe it is the right step in the direction of separating those human resource requirements and the processing of work permits.”
Mr. Miller said it was also his view part-time boards can’t handle the work and reviews of work permit applications were quite cursory, particularly with regard to HR evaluations.
“The process does not provide, in my view, adequate and proper justification for the labour force that they need,” he said.
Mr. O’Neill thought the current immigration system too inflexible to meet the needs of local businesses, especially smaller operations who depend heavily on their few work permit holders to keep the business going.
“If you have someone … that they have to leave the Islands [because of Immigration Law], that becomes a labour problem,” he said. “It should be two separate laws.”
How rollover should work
The panellists at Thursday evening’s debate were in somewhat less agreement over how the rollover policy should function once the planned revisions are made.
Mr. Travers, the former chairman of Cayman Finance, favours an industry-specific application of the term-limit policy, where financial services company higher-ups and professional managers are given preferential treatment and lower-echelon workers less so.
“I’m going to surprise Mr. Miller – and possibly some members of the audience – in saying that I agree with him in terms of the rollover policy continuing to apply to unskilled labour, possibly with certain exceptions in relation to life caregivers, where there’s a long term relationship there,” Mr. Travers said. “The majority of financial services professionals will not come to this Island with a seven year term limit on their residence.”
Opposition Leader McLaughlin said such a policy would not strike the balance required to ensure the local population’s interests are protected and also Cayman’s overall economy can flourish.
“Don’t get into this issue of term limits,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether you come here on a work permit as a gardener, or you come here as the managing director of the Bank of Butterfield.
You get the same opportunity to stay for the same length of time and apply for PR, and either you get it or you don’t.”
Mr. Travers argued all jobs are not created equal; pointing out fees charged to financial services companies currently make up about half of the Cayman Islands government’s revenue.
“The financial services industry is in deep trouble, and so too will be the Cayman Islands government unless it starts to make substantial cuts … to the civil service,” he said.
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No! Leave Immigration fully engaged.
It is with their continued effort we have avoided diplomatic genocide so far.
In any mining operation, be it profit. The environment is essentially monitored during and after the operation to insure native species are not destroyed or displaced by invasive elements..
I agree with Mr Travers re looking at specific industries and that ‘all jobs are not created equal’. BUT, I would suggest putting another option in the equation.
Put a moratorium on work permits!! All industries or industry specific!
This will allow a backlog or applications for PR, status to be cleared once and for all, eliminating that loophole to increase time on the islands and work on complimentary employment laws to create a fairer playing field, and yes to protect native Caymanians.
I would also seek for a definition of ‘native’ Caymanian in the Labour Law (Employment Law), (similar to that enjoyed by the MLAs, s. 61 of the Constitution Order 2009) to be used in the proposal by Ellio Solomon to have certain positions reserved for Caymanians only.
Revenue could be maintained by an escalated payment system, using the current system for each industry/occupation and have the increase to be based on actual fees now.
Also, pass the Employment Law 2004, immediately so that civil service and churches are subject to same immigration laws.
Amend the Legal Practitioner’s Law, in conjunction with Immigration to include formal qualifications for foreign workers who wish to work in certain posiitons in the financial industry such as corporate administrators and paralegals (similar to the restrictions, or qualifications required in other jurisdictions, eg Canadian para legal positions).
And, I would like to know how many high net worth individuals want to ‘work’ here as Mr Travers keeps stating? In my humble opinion, high net worth individuals will want to invest and this is usually handled through companies, trade business licences etc and not necessarily the need for personal work permits. I agree that the professionals now carrying out the wishes of these high net worth individuals need to be qualified etc and will be seeking work permits, and it is these workers that can also employ, train or be replaced by Caymanians.
So, despite all the objections that will be raised to the objection of a moratorium, we have done so in the past and it can be industry specific.
If the businesses, lobbyists and special interest groups keep amending the laws to satisfy their needs, there are many Caymanians willing to risk a loss in revenue to get this issue back to a level playing field and quite frankly have become tired of the reverse psychology tactics that it will prevent development, it will decrease revenue, we’re xenophobic, there are not enough qualified Caymanians, we’re not employable and the list continues.
UNless and until Caymanians unite and refuse to be bullied, intimidated and promoted in order to allow foreigners change our immigration laws to suit their interests and for their friends, we will continue to struggle.
I implore you to not simply think ‘moratorium’ is radical, we know persons who are not concerned about our rights as Caymanians will say that.
We need to demand that something for our protection be added to the ‘mix’ which is now catering primarily to needs of others including rollover, 10 year work permits, key employee status, permanent residence etc and has demonstrated an inherent unfairness to native Caymanians.
Maybe it’s time foreign workers appreciate their opportunities period and they might stop demanding we keep amending laws to meet their needs. ALL workers can be replace, let us not be fooled any longer.
Change is inevitable but native Caymanians should not have to be the first to have to compromise in the labour market when workers on work permits volunteered to come here and should not expect to walk off the plane and tell us what we need to do to keep them.
Its a bit of a pity that the archives of Cayman Net News could not have been preserved for future generations…and current reference, as well.
If they had been, anyone accessing them would be able to read commentaries and editorials stating facts and opinions that are now being put forward on this and other pressing issues, in Cayman yet…
During his life, Desmond Seales was villified and victimised by many in the Caymanian elite food-chain but could easily be called a visionary by many others.
These opinions are nothing new regarding the changes necessary in Cayman’s immigration policy and system.
Could the introduction of the Anti-Corruption Law have anything to do with a prominent and public figure now calling for changes to a system that have been resisted for many years because many were profiting financially, legally and illegally, from it ?
This has been stated before and I will dare to state it again.
Cayman’s social and economic culture and systems are rooted in a segregationists and discrimminatory mentality that has long ago outlived its usefulness, even to those who benefitted from it in the past and those would have been the wealthy minority;it certainly has benefitted no one else.
To change a system might only call for the creation or changing of laws but to change a national culture and mentality…that is a much bigger challenge.
Cayman’s system of segregating different nationalities along economic and racial lines can said to be nothing else than propogating the old ‘plantation mentality’ that has no place in the modern world.
If and when this changes, the solutions to Cayman’s economic and social problems might be that much closer at hand than many people currently realise.