Cayman Islands: work permit holders exceeds 36,000

There are currently 36,049 work permit holders in the Cayman Islands, another new record that is nevertheless increasing every day by around 12 new arrivals. The latest statistics released by Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman (WORC) on Friday show that the number of expatriate workers has increased by almost 1,900 since February.

Though expatriate workers hail from 135 different countries, more than 27,500 come from just six countries: Jamaica (15,241 people or 42% of the total), the Philippines (5,803 or 16.1%), the UK (2,082), India (2,014), Honduras (1,265) and Canada (1,254). The document lists one person as coming from the Cayman Islands.

The numbers reflect what many believe is unsustainable, given the shortages of suitable housing, school places, increasing traffic congestion and the impact on Cayman’s natural resources. It also indicates yet again that the National Census, which was published less

Although work permit holders hail from 135 different countries, more than 27,500 come from just six countries than eight months ago, is already significantly out of date.

These most recent WORC numbers were released in the first instance to HSM Chambers, local attorneys who specialise in immigration work, who have been doing their best to keep this unsustainable situation in the public eye.

HSM now estimates that there are at least 40,000 foreign nationals living in Cayman with no permanent residency rights, including expatriate workers and their dependents, people here through the Global Citizen Programme, those waiting on residency applications

— which the firm estimates is more than 1,000 — people working at Cayman Enterprise City, as well as people in jail.

This number is at odds with the official Economics and Statistics office figures and suggests the population is getting closer by the day to 100,000 — a number that is deeply concerning to some and a realistic target for others, especially those in the business community.

In a very long circular to clients sent on Monday, Nick Joseph, a partner at HSM, described an inadequate immigration system that has not only failed to protect Caymanians but has led to massive delays in residency applications. The danger now is that the broken system could see many more people transition from work permit holders to permanent residents and then become Caymanians in the coming years because of the delays, regardless of their economic circumstances, he warned.

Residency applications are now taking anywhere from just over one year to almost two, which Joseph has argued is unlawful. While there are many causes for these delays, the situation was exacerbated by the decision to allow all work permit holders to stay in the Cayman Islands long enough to make a residency application.