Cayman Work Permits

It has been a while since I posted. Getting engaged can be quite distracting :)

Anyway after spending an hour and a half at the immigration office I decided to write this post on Work Permits. Every expat must have one in order to work in the Cayman Islands. Employers of expats must apply (and pay a fee) for these work permits and then pay for them once they are granted. It is not cheap. This is why there is such a process in getting a job here. Once an employer has found a suitable expat candidate, the employer must first prove that there are no qualified Caymanians to fill the position by advertising in the local newspapers. Once this has been performed and no suitable Caymanian applicants apply, a request for a work permit for the expat candidate can be applied for.

This can be a little disconcerting for some professions here. My work permit was for two years and after the two years were up my job was advertised in the local newspaper, ie to offer it first to suitable Caymanians. If a qualified caymanian candidate materialized they would easily have my job and I would have a few weeks to pack up my things and get out of the country. Luckily for me my line of business is rather unique being IT/Software, but even in the core sectors like Financial Services and Law, the skills are sorely lacking among the Caymanians…so don’t despair, the work is out there!!

You can of course appeal the decisions of immigration but that does not mean you will get to stay. I have had a few friends who were basically forced to leave because their work permit was not renewed.

By immigration law if you do not have a work permit you must have a ticket flying out of Cayman booked before they allow you to enter Cayman. I was in Honduras with my mom and they would not let her board the flight for Cayman until they saw her return ticket from Cayman to Canada. Luckily there was a free wifi there!

I recently went on a trip to Peru and my work permit was still in the process of being renewed and my stamp in my passport expired. I needed a letter from my employer and had to go sit at immigration for two hours to get a stamp so i would be allowed to come back. That stamp was only for the duration of my trip so if I had more traveling to do before I was officially renewed I would have had to get stamps for each trip. This whole process can be quite painful for someone who has never had to visit an immigration office before.

Initial work permits for Financial Services are usually issued for 18 month to 2 year durations. This would be for new recruits coming in at the entry level to the firms. This is to ensure two busy seasons worth are worked. Of course, coming in at a more senior level, a permit would most likely be issued for one year, and renewed as mentioned above. For service Industry permits, these could potentially be even shorter, and perhaps more seasonal, like the winter busy tourist season etc. Don’t quote me on this though.

All in all, work permits are a pain but it’s a cost to company, and cannot be looked at as something that affects your cash flow. You’ll never see it as a deduction like a pension or medical contribution. It’s usually just a nightmare for your HR person at your work, and then when you need to be renewed, and you sit there sweating bullets hoping that no Caymanian has managed to acquire your unique skill in the year since your last renewal, only then to have to sit in the queue at immigration for an hour and half waiting for your renewal stamp!