Pushing at the Boundaries (and Continuing on Cruise Control)

I have said it before, and I say it again. The thankless teams of civil servants who operate the FOI systems for the government are critical to understanding what is happening behind the scenes.   We should be very grateful to them.

Of course, they are often called upon to report on the work of various agencies of the government.  In my world, that is most frequently the Department of WORC, and the Boards appointed to make determinations, applying the rules set for them under the Immigration (Transition) Act, and accompanying Regulations.

Constrained by those rules, it is the Office of the Director of WORC and the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board who together are responsible for determining who is awarded Permanent Residence – whether under the Points System or on the Basis of Marriage to a Caymanian, a Permanent Resident, or being an Expatriate Child of a Caymanian or Permanent Resident, turning 18. They face an enormous workload. The data we have been provided in response to an FOI request made recently confirms we should be grateful to them too.

We have noted a significant decrease in the processing times of some applications and asked for data on the numbers of persons being granted Permanent Residence and the Right to be Caymanian.

In the first 8 months of this year, 496 persons have been granted Permanent Residence based on marriage to a Caymanian.

At a rate of 2 a day, it is easy to jump to the conclusion that there is a rush on marrying Caymanians – and there is some of that (we are an alluring bunch). But that is not the end of the story. A large element of this is directly related to the fact that a significant number of Permanent Residents are now becoming Caymanian. When they do, their spouses are provided with 45 days to apply for a Residency and Employment Rights Certificate (or other available permission) lest they become “Schrodinger’s Residents” (but that is a whole other story).

A further 319 were granted PR based on the Points System, and another 124 on the Basis of Marriage to a Permanent Resident or being an Expatriate Child of a Permanent Resident (or of a Caymanian) turning 18.

These applications are being processed in as little as 6 months. This is excellent, especially when compared to the excessive delays and uncertainties of yesteryear.

This means that 939 people have been granted Permanent Residence in the Cayman Islands so far this year. An average of 117 each month. Almost 4 a day.

Every day.

In a year, almost all of them will be able to apply for Naturalisation as a British Overseas Territories Citizen. The Deputy Governor’s Office will be kept particularly busy dealing with those applications. In around 6 years, almost all of them (and large numbers of their spouses and children) will be applying for the Right to be Caymanian.

The Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board is getting a lot of practice for that near inevitability and is already busy dealing with many applications for the Right to be Caymanian.

Not counting large numbers of others who have had their status confirmed, or have become Caymanian by Entitlement, 1069 expatriates have been granted the Right to be Caymanian (i.e. status) by the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board, so far this year. They are now Caymanian.

122 were persons who had been Caymanian by Entitlement, were turning (or turned)18, and needed to apply for continuation of their status past their 18^th birthday.

43 became Caymanian “by Descent” on the basis that they were able to prove that they were the child or grandchild of a Caymanian born in the Islands and were not otherwise able to apply to become Caymanian.

626 became Caymanian based on Naturalisation (the 15+ year path followed by those who were initially granted PR some years previously).

268 became Caymanian on the basis of their marriage to a Caymanian (a 7-year shortcut to that doesn’t even require the Caymanian you are married to have even been Caymanian for any of those years, as long as they are when you apply. Surprisingly there is also not even any requirement that the Caymanian (or their spouse) have any extensive prior residence in Cayman).

Another 10 became Caymanian on the basis of being the surviving spouse of a Caymanian.

In all of 2023, only 64 persons were granted the Right to be Caymanian on the grounds of Naturalisation. The authorities, this year, are granting more than that number (averaging more than 78 on the Grounds of Naturalisation) every month. These numbers in part arise because of a significant backlog of applications which were not determined in 2023. The numbers had averaged between 13 and 23 each month (on an annualised basis) in each of the years 2019 to 2022 (inclusive).

Stockbrokers frequently remind investors that past performance is no guarantor of future returns – but it can be indicative. According to the numbers provided, 4,501persons have been granted PR since 1 January 2019. In the same period 3,496 have been granted the Right to be Caymanian.

The returns, in this market, are exponential.

I have previously warned: “ready or not…”

Each new Caymanian means more people are married to Caymanians, and more people are born to Caymanians.

The die has been cast. These numbers exist not only in consequence of the excellent (and tireless) work of those dealing with the mountains of applications arriving at the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Secretariat but are a near inevitable result of changes to our PR regime (including the abandonment of the key employee filter, and guaranteeing everyone maximum points for occupation, no matter what they do) more than a decade ago.

Immigration reform may have been needed now (for some time), but the PACT and UPM Governments appear to have been unable to grasp the cockspur (a lot more painful than grabbing a mere nettle). The PPM set the course, and the governments since, even in the face of increasingly obvious dangers, have for whatever reason, continued it on cruise control.  Automatic pilot.

Less thorns.

Perhaps someone ordered “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”?

Whatever the case, unlike the 1942 sinking of the Comayagua, we no longer have Captain Eugene Thompson and the MV CIMBOCO available to pick up survivors.

A long-anticipated fact is that as an increasing portion of our workforce becomes Caymanian (or married to a Caymanian), per capita work permit revenues will drop. The reality is that many of those becoming Caymanian on the basis of Naturalisation today are in the highest work permit fee brackets, with many (or their employers) paying around CI$20,000 (or as much as CI$32,400) each year. They have made their contributions. They have earned their prize. As they shuffle off the work permit regime, we can only hope that revenue received by the government with respect to their employment over the last couple of decades was expended wisely, and its forthcoming absence planned for.

The impact will not only be fiscal. Amongst the other benefits of having the Right to be Caymanian is the right to work in any occupation, to access free (well, paid for by government) education for your children, the ability to own any business (or at least pretend to), and to register to vote. In elections, and perchance, in referenda.

Aye, there’s the rub.

Later this year we may be facing an important question: ‘Should the Cayman Islands have cruise berthing facilities?”

To berth or not to berth?

If the referendum takes place as anticipated, only those appearing on the official list of electors in existence on 1 July this year will be permitted to answer the question. Many hundreds of newly minted Caymanians will have no say.

I would hope that this could be avoided. The fullest possible participation in such an important decision must be preferable, especially since delays in the processing of applications are among the reasons why so many Caymanians are not yet registered.

The numbers are material.

Our Honourable Premier won her election having received 266 votes (in total).

2,443 persons were granted the Right to be Caymanian since the start of 2021 (I pick that date as the last election was in April of that year and so persons granted the Right to be Caymanian that year will not have had an opportunity to register to vote). The number of new Caymanians (and accordingly new prospective voters) is almost ten times the number of Caymanians that voted our Premier into office.

Put another way, the father (or grandfather or godfather) of the House, the Hon. W. McKeeva Bush, won his election in the district of West Bay West by a margin of 27 votes against fellow independent Mario Ebanks (458 to 431). Ninety times that margin have been granted the Right to be Caymanian between the last election and the start of September – and there is every indication (although the data is not yet available) that the numbers have continued to grow significantly in the month or so since.

As of 1 July 2024, there were a total of 469 electors registered in the Hon. Premier’s district of Cayman Brac East. Heading West, there are 570 electors registered in Cayman Brac West and Little Cayman, 753 in East End, and 842 in North Side. The number of “new Caymanians” able to register to vote before the next election is growing and appears likely to eclipse the size of at least four of our nineteen constituencies.  The equivalent of all of Cayman’s electorate east of Bodden Town.

And none of this includes many more generational (and first generation) Caymanians who have turned 18 and are now capable of registering to vote.

They now have that right. They should cherish it.

Democracy matters.

Cayman matters.

The Caymanian people matter.

I hope that everyone who can, will register AND actually exercise their say.

Those that choose not to vote will bear the consequences, however the chips (and ships anchors) may fall. Those that do vote will collectively set the course for the next generation.