IRT seeks scientific approach
(CNS): Proposed changes to the country’s immigration system to a more scientific and less arbitrary process moved further ahead this week. Sherri- Bodden-Cowan, chair of the Immigration Review Team (IRT), told CNS that since the meeting with the Chamber last month, more results from firms testing the online accreditation system have been forwarded to the team and testers are seeking a Q&A meeting to offer their views on streamlining the tool. Aware of the business community’s frustration over the immigration system, Bodden-Cowan said it is essential that the country tackle the problems, which means there was no choice but to change the way the system works.
“We understand that people are frustrated and what they are saying about more change, but the problem is the current system is not working and we must fix it; we can’t just leave it when it’s not working, so that means change,” Bodden-Cowan said.
At the recent Chamber of Commerce ‘Be Informed’ meeting, the IRT chair had asked the audience of business owners how many believed theBusiness Staffing Plan was working. “Only three people out of that crowded room raised their hand,” she added.
With immigration tied so directly to the country’s economy, there is a pressing need to strike a balance between the demand from business for foreign workers and the need to control the population growth. Bodden-Cowan said the 2003 Immigration Law and the subsequent rollover policy was the bi-partisan, non-political result that was designed to achieve that.
“The goal was to find a way of gradually growing the population in a controlled and manageable way from the most skilled and the most needed foreign workers and to ensure that businesses got to keep their best people,” she added.
The mechanism for that was key employee designation, but she admitted the struggle has been how the concept of ‘key’ is defined and who decides who is key and why, as well as making sure that only the best employers are able to benefit from the system. She said it was crucial that businesses that are training and investing in Caymanians, that are good corporate citizens, that are offering scholarships or apprenticeships, that support good works are rewarded but those that are not complying with the law or giving something back are not.
The accreditation system, which the chair noted again was bi-partisan and started under the last administration, offers a more calculated, less arbitrary and much more scientific approach to both the needs of the business community and the concerns of the wider community about unchecked population growth.
“We want only the best and most talented people to be the ones bypassing rollover and moving through the system to become Caymanians,” she added. “This method will allow the businesses that are doing it right to get the staff they need but will also prevent those businesses that give cause for concern from abusing the work permit system.”
Bodden-Cowan explained that the new system will sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to employers. Those that are not complying with the law will not be given access to permits and those who are doing what they can to attract, retain and train Caymanians will gain more benefits and access to fast track permits.
As the system is rolled out across the community, Bodden-Cowan said the goal was to remove the business staffing plan as the accreditation system would become the tool that would measure the performance of companies against the legal requirements of the employment and immigration laws.
“I understand that people are going to be frustrated, but we have no choice but to fix the problem,” she told CNS. “What we must do is find a way to improve the system and introduce a process that can be calculated. We want to remove many of the frustrations associated with the degree of uncertainty in the current method of deciding who is key and who is not.”
Bodden-Cowan said that the fixed term policy or rollover had to stay and while the IRT was still looking at reducing the break in stay or increasing the number of years before employees were rolled over, there would be a number of issues to consider. “We have Lord Pannick looking at the question of reducing the break in stay after seven years down from one year to nine moths or even six months. But we must be careful that it is considered a legitimate break. If work permit holders return after six months and get past the ten year period, if the six month break is challenged in the courts then these people will be entitled to permanent residency,” she explained.
The unique position thatCayman finds itself in when it comes to its labour needs brings many frustrations, but the IRT chair said Cayman does not have enough people to support its economy. As a result it needs to grow its population via a properly controlled mechanism that would enable those individuals who were the most talented and the most committed to the community to stay.
“Our goal is to allow the best of the workforce to stay and settle and to encourage employers to be good corporate citizens,” Bodden Cowan said.
Over the next few weeks the IRT will be focusing on fine tuning the accreditation system in preparation for the pilot project across the financial sector by the beginning of next month. If that is a success the system will be rolled out across the wider business community, with adaptations to allow for the needs ofsmall businesses. One of the major aims during this period of development is to make sure, before the system is enshrined in the law, that it works effectively and efficiently and achieves the overall objectives of protecting Caymanians while facilitating the needs of business and the demands of the economy.
“Change is always a challenge,” said Bodden-Cowan, “but we have no choice we need to fix the problems and make it work.”
Category: Headline News
What the IRT (Immigration department) needs to make sure of is that Caymanians are employed (we are already outnumbered in our country) and stop issuing permits to employers you don’t care about any Caymanians who are being forced out of the job places and keeping the expats on.
The long and short of the whole thing is we Caymanians don’t need work permits therefore Government doesn’t collect any revenue from fees from us!!
The only time Caymanians are counted in our own country is when it is election time and politicians remember this…we are the Caymanians who vote for you all it is not the work permit holders…hope you can read between the lines.
Caymanians we need to stand up and be heard, there is no justice for us Caymanians anymore…we don’t count for anything, sad to say but it is true.
Wow.
It always amazes me how quickly some of our expats forget to remember the realities of their homeland in regards to immigration / foreigners!
Do I have to remind the room once again of what is taking place in Europe and UK right now?
Do I have to point out that blatant xenophobia / racism / Islamophobia / Eastern-Europophobia etc. are collectively the catalyst behind all of the alarming political developments in recent months and years?! (UK: BNP / UKIP advancement in the democratic process. EU: Region-wide plethora of far right parties elected as MEP’s.)
Now compare the socio-economic, political and monetary influence and quantities (percentage of population) of the emigrates in the respective countries / regions.
If the UK had to contend with the same reality as we Caymanians do in all of the above criteria rest assured there would be absolute hell to pay!
Therefore, kindly give me a break – the gig is up … clowns!
** Seriously – the ill-conceived, hypocritical and non-deserved crown of "people from earth’s utopia" has long fallen to the ground and shattered into a million pieces. **
Sincerely,
whodatis
I always receive multiple thumbs downs on comments that address the realities stated above.
However, the actual and literal feedback is almost always non-existent.
Why is this I wonder …??
Yes people – kindly take a look in the doggone mirror before you start ragging on others!
Regards,
whodatis
Think hard. What would Cayman be now without any expat businesses or workers ever being here?
Now why would you make it hard to get expat knowledge and skills?
I mean besides the obvious over protectionism and rampant prejudice.
Fear.
Justified?
"just sayen," I assume that you are telling us that you do not mind foreigners over populating your country? Yea right! There is no country where the people would like to be out numbered by foreigners, & Cayman is no different. Of course we need foreign help & foreign investment, but not foreign over population, & certainly not foreign cultures replacing ours, which is rapidly happening. I do not care what you wish to call it but Cayman is no different to any other country & we do not wish to be replaced by foreigners.
What you fail to understand is the process of integration. There are many here we call Caymanian who are not from here. For example the Wights are from Belize. Yet there is no Caymanian who is more vocal, honest and patriotic than them.
Moreover, most people believe it or not choose to leave Cayman. This is partciularly true if they come from the 1st world.
In short, you have succumb to political propaganda. Immigration’s noose over residency never has and never will allow Caymanians to be outnumbered.
Yep. Fear.
I said OVER protectionalism. You said OVER population. Cayman HAD the expat skills to help Cayman businesses. Not any more.
Is Cayman getting better?
Where there was balance between expat skill and knowledge and Caymanian way, Now there is less skill and knowledge and more well what can you agree we can call what is happening to Cayman now?
Skill doesn’t come from a country. It comes from people. It is learned person to person. It can’t be bought or stolen. It must be earned like respect by takeing the time and expending the effort. Caymanians are no different then the people of any other country. They can become the skill they need. But they must earn it. Please try harder for your own sake. Imagine a Cayman run by skillfull, proud Caymanians. Now do what you need to get there. Or at least help the ones who can.
None of the past attempts to do this has succeeded because they have all required government interference in the labor force, causing uncertainty, delays, and needless expense for both private businesses and the government.
Here is a simple market oriented method to accomplish the same aims:
1
Using this method, all the government has to do is set the fees
If the government decides it is best to let private businesses do some training, or spend for some charities, it could allow them to deduct those costs from their total work permit fees,
And it wouldbe the most efficient solution ever, requiring no government administrators, and no private business employees to interact with them.
Government’s priority is control (Cayman Protection Boards). Your suggestions, although extremely logical, cost effective, and simple, puts the power of employment in the hands of businesses. This is unacceptable as it is akin to capitalism. We do not practice capitalism here. We prefer our system of indentured servitude. It may not work for you, but it works for us.
I think that what the IRT is trying to achieve with the new Accreditation System will enhance the method of what both the Work Permit System and Business Staffing Plan have been aiming to correct over the long term. There are many Work Permit holders on the Island who do not honor the systems in place, whether because they choose to disobey the law for their own gain and take advantage of lower paid workers who often do not know what laws enforce their pension and health care and hours of work, or whether they feel forced to cheat the system because their business isn’t doing well and they try to squeeze the extra savings by not paying the mandatory health and pension costs, the point is that it is those unscrupulous Work Permit holders who make it so unfair for the ones that do play by the rules. The Accreditation System should help to minimize those who disobey the law while also rewarding those employers who do their best to honor the Work Permit system by providing real training and progression to Caymanians who are interested in moving up within a company. There are few who would disagree that it is less expensive to hire a Caymanian, it is my belief that employers are most interested in hiring the right person to do the job that they need filled. The challenge comes into play when after hiring a Caymanian, providing the incentive and on the job training for them to succeed in their position, that person makes a decision to run a side business of their own thereby taking their focus off the job they were hired to do, which does a disservice to their current employer. This may not happen all the time, but it happens frequently enough to cause doubt on the long term benefits of investing the time and money into providing continuous training to help that person advance in the company. In a good economy, many Caymanians would opt to have their own business which of course, lessens the number of Caymanians looking for work. However, in a down economy such as we are in, many of these small business owners are now screaming out that the expats are stealing their jobs. It’s tough to have it both ways. It is my hope that the new Accreditation System will be able to pinpoint the companies and Work Permit holders who are doing things properly and also cut down on those who choose to cheat the system. In order for any system to work, everyone hasto play by the same rules. We all have to move away from the "us versus them" mentality and work together to improve the state of the economy. I think we all want to live in harmony with our neighbors and by getting this system sorted out and into action will go a long way in achieving this.
entitlement to permenant residencey……..basically means eligabilty to apply right?
that means, your application goes to a board and they decide if your are worthy to reside and work, right?
And nine times out of ten, they refuse your permanent residency application – so what are they worried about?
Check your stats. The majority of PR applications are approved!
What we need for Caymanians is proper educational facilities to prepare them for the world of work once they leave school, and proper further educational facilities training them in the skills that are so desperately required by the private sector here, causing them to recruit from abroad. We need our children to be held to stricter policies at school to include achieving some actual academic qualifications if they want to graduate.
Then the private sector would have no need to recruit from abroad because their would be a pool of good qualified candidates here; and the legislators would no longer have to be so inventive with their Immigration Laws trying to force businesses to ‘train’ these youngsters because the current educational system is failing them.
In my humble opinion it is a conflict of interest to have the deputy chairperson of the UDP, who owns an immigration company, in any senior position on any of the government appointed boards or committees. It can lead to corruption & a lot of special interests & favors, oh but how silly of me, after all we’re taliking about the UDP!
Many share your opinion 06/04/2010 – 21:14!! And, it gets even worse when you realise that at least two other members have the same or even greater conflict because they own and operate agencies that do only immigration related work and temporary employment of foreigners. How the UDP could think it fitting to appoint people with such blatant conflict of interest on such an important committee as the Immigration Review Team (IRT) and expect impartial results is beyond comprehension.
"Then the private sector would have no need to recruit from abroad because their would be a pool of good qualified candidates here" Nonsense. Two things 1) population of 30,000 2) the bell curve. 1) + 2) = need for overseas workers. No amount of education is going to change that.
I agree with your post in large part 06/04/2010 15:25, however, that is only true in an ideal world where foreign businesses were of a mind to hire local labour. The employment culture that seems to predominantly exist within the business community in this country is to keep Caymanians out, even when they are well qualified for positions. Its called the "us and them" mentality and believe me it is alive and well. I have learned of several well qualified and experienced Caymanians who have been searching for employment but keep having doors closed in their faces, even as the positions are filled by foreigners and no one is doing anything about it.
The simplest and most effective way to restructure the immigration policy is simple. Do not try to re-invent the wheel with every bit of legislation.
With all of the travelling that Big MAc and his entourage of cronies do, they should be very fluent with the regions of the world that have immigration policies that work, revenue policies that work, transparency and freedom of information laws, conflict of interewst laws etc. take those laws that have been working for years, they have been challenged in courts and then modified to make them work better. Cayman could then take that law and re-word it only enough to work in Cayman.
The idea of giving an employer the work permit for each employee is indentured servitude, plain and simple. It would make much more sense and be more efficient to assess the workplace, determine in advance what type of skilled worker which is and will be required for the Cayman Islands and then pick and choose via an online points system. Then the Immigration Department can pick the best qualified from thousands of applicants from all over the world as to whom should get the highly prized 5-7year "work visa". When these new workers arrive they can apply for any position that is available. They could work at multiple jobs, different jobs what ever the employers had availble. This way employers can hire part time workers for short periods, or long periods, what ever works best for their circumsatnces. They would not need to hire full time workers when they only want a part time person.
This would result in a few less workers, but who was here would be working as many hours as they wanted, making more money, having a higher standard of living, supporting more local businesses.
AND the big hidden bonus is that we would no longer have this mass of "grey labour" which are people who have a permit with a company that cannot put them to work full time, or employers who never did have work for them and instead make a profit from selling a permit to a foreign worker, who is then told to go out and find his own work, wherever and however they can.
I estimate that there are as many as 3000 people here who either are underemployed and their permit holder wants to keep them around for the few hours per month that they need them and the worker then has to work illegally, or commit crimes to survive, or they are workers who pay for their own permits from the unscrupulous "business owners" who are paid by the workers a fee for the privilege. The next group are the ones who once had legitimate employment which has come to an end and the employer has never notified Immigration that the worker is no longer required and they either stay to the end of the current permit, or for much longer.
A long time ago Immigration made much of the news that a new department had been created to crack down on just such practices. I do not recall hearing about any success from this department since.
Spoken like a real foreigner, and I quote
" It would make much more sense and be more efficient to assess the workplace, determine in advance what type of skilled worker which is and will be required for the Cayman Islands and then pick and choose via an online points system. Then the Immigration Department can pick the best qualified from thousands of applicants from all over the world as to whom should get the highly prized 5-7year "work visa". When these new workers arrive they can apply for any position that is available. They could work at multiple jobs, different jobs what ever the employers had availble. This way employers can hire part time workers for short periods, or long periods, what ever works best for their circumsatnces. They would not need to hire full time workers when they only want a part time person .."
And I suppose this system that you propose would have some beneit to Caymanians??! Sorry, but we have Caymanians here who are unemployed and need jobs! If we do as you are suggesting and simply allow guest workers to take up any position they want, then what would happen to my people in our own country?
spoken like a true local, and i quote:
"And I suppose this system that you propose would have some beneit to Caymanians??! Sorry, but we have Caymanians here who are unemployed and need jobs! If we do as you are suggesting and simply allow guest workers to take up any position they want, then what would happen to my people in our own country?"
===========================================================
What would happen is that "your people" in "your country" would have to, and cover your ears now because this word will sound like blasphemy, COMPETE.
The question I want answered is: Who is going to police the companies that are breaking the law every day by not paying their staff members’ pensions, work permits and medical insurance? CNS maybe we can investigate this further?
There are hundreds of companies on Cayman who are forcing their staff to pay the costs of these "benefits" when it is against the law of the Cayman Islands. I wonder how many companies are forcing their employees to take pension holidays? Sadly the employee has no choice to pay these costs because his/her employer says "take it or leave it". No one is going to leave it.
I heard Sherri Bodden-Cowan on the radio a few days ago and she said that companies were advising immigration of the pension and medical plan details on the employer applying for work permits. Actually that is incorrect; medical insurance, yes; pension plans, no. Pensions only have to be put in place 9 months after the employee has started work. Whofollows up on whether these pension plans have been put in place; whether the monies have been deducted and put into the employee’s pension plan and not used by the owner to cover company costs instead? Who is checking whether medical insurance is being supplied to all employees and/or whether the employees are being forced to pay for this cover themselves? Who is checking whether, once granted, the cost of the work permit is being deducted from the employee’s salary?
I’m sorry to say Ms Bodden-Cowan, companies on this Island just aren’t as honest as you’re making them out to be. If they can get away with breaking the law, they will; especially in these tough economic times when the government decided, in their infinite wisdom, that work permits should be doubled. There is no one policing companies so how on earth is the accreditation system going to make any difference in the long run? Companies will just continue to break the law on this Island, no matter what immigration system is in place at the time.
I think Cayman has a bigger problem fixing the blatant corruption and theft by employers on this Island than pushing through an accreditation system that will make no difference whatsoever to working conditions on this Island!
Too Bad Cayman can’t be proactive like this (the protectionists would go nuts if Mac offered Citco incentives):
Citco to create 258 jobs here: Incentives and skilled work force in Charlotte lured company that verifies size of hedge fund portfolios.
CNS: Please, just the link, not the whole article next time.
Come on now. What is there to do in NC that one can’t do here? Surely those employees would rather be here and pay no taxes. Cayman is the best.
The rollover applies to the private sector only.
The public sector has no rollover.
The private sector is diminishing in size. That is, jobs leaving the island.
The public sector is increasing in size.
If the rollover truly was good for the country, why doesn’t it apply to the public sector?
The truth is, the rollover serves one purpose and one purpose only. TO PREVENT foreigners from becoming voters. This is why "the break" is so critical. The rollover has NOTHING do with with jobs for Caymanians.
If you are wondering how far we have to fall before we realize the rollover has more evil than good? Evil being negative social and economical effects. The answer is very simple. VERY FAR. The reasons being:
1) The UDP would have to admit they made a mistake implementing the policy. Mac admitting he made a mistake. It aint going to happen.
2) The PPM would have to admit they supported Mac’s rollover. The proof. Their fierce implementation of it. Sure they will argue they were just following the law. But when it came to distributing points to benefit applicants, they didn’t follow the law. For instance, how many Italians received points for being Italian?
Approximately 50,000 people live here. At the end of the day, the success of anything, is dependent on its people working together for a common goal. We have 25,000 people pulling one way, and 25,000 people pulling the other way.
Enough of the attempts to fix a system that cannot work. The system cannot get work permits current. It festers corrupt boards, favors, hypocrisy, the division. Cayman needs to either accept its guest workers or go it alone.
If the goal really is to replace skilled expats with skilled Caymanians than right now the immigration is just dealing with 1/2 of the problem. They are doing a great job of getting skilled expats off island and keeping them off. Great job! Unfortunately as employers are screaming you are effectively shutting down businesses left and right! Great job once again in killing businesses in Cayman.
What about the other half of the equation? How do you make a skilled Caymanian worker? Well since you obviously haven’t a clue. EDUCATION! TRAINING! MENTORING! Hopefully close to the same as the original rolled over expats got. The maybe 10 or 20 Caymanians that are getting these things in quantity and quality enough to compete with skilled expats are no where near enough to fill the gaps YOU are creating.
How about this for an idea? Put your considerable efforts toward EDUCATION, TRAINING, and MENTORING FIRST before you get rid of the skill necessary for Caymans business to keep afloat.
HINT: Any efforts done so far in this area are pathitic. Skilled and motivated Caymanian workers would solve many if not ALL of Caymans considerable problems. Getting ride of skilled workers in this worlds ecomimy is suicide. In simpler terms it would be better for Cayman if there was no immigration policy and all the effort went to adiquitEDUCATION, TRAINING, ETC. I would however understand your current actions if the real goal is to make Cayman only atractive to uneducated, backward, unethical and immoral people. They have to live somewhere.
To ex expat Fri 10:42,with regards to your last two sentences ;I guess that explains your being here.
Yes ex expat who are you to talk about EDUCATION, TRAINING AND MENTORING? if you read back over your post you will relize you made many mistakes not just one, so what happend to your Education? Certainly you are not going to be the one doing the training LOL .. and with that attitude, nope you dont qualify for mentoring so I agree with Anonymous 6/04/10 – 13:31 the last two sentences explains you being here!
Besides his poor spelling which belies his claim to EDUCATION, everyone knows that an ex expat would be a pat.
I actually misspelled 5 words but usually do spell check. I added the last two sentences after spell check and didn’t recheck. So I am dumber than you think but much smarter than you. I am also highly skilled and very successful at what I do so I know what it takes to make a successful business. And for your next question I have many GOOD friends thatI care about living in Cayman. And for your next question Yes many of them are Caymanian business people. And you?
It actually explains why I am not currently living or working in Cayman. Pathetic try at putting me down. Just a guess but you are an uneducated, unskilled and unemployable but intitiled problem for Cayman businesses?
I thought at the time I wrote the last two sentences that the unemployable would not like this post because right now it is acceptable to bash expats who have the jobs but it would not be acceptable to bash the educated and skilled Caymanians who would then have the jobs. Thanks for proving me right again.
Government’s ear open to concerns from the business community must not end there. The greatest concerns are coming from the constituients in the community who are now 1,000 unemployed. Something is very wrong with the system. Mrs. Bodden Cowan must consider both the businesses as well as the job seeking- would- be employees. It works hand in hand.
Businesses seeking to continue hiring foreign labor over Caymanians is not somthing we must waste our tax payers money on entertaining. Nor do we pay Mrs. Bodden Cowan to accommodate them at our expense. Those businesses willing to hire Caymanians, willing to train and educate them to climb up the corporate ladder must demonstrate same. This is what Cayman needs. Not to be dictated by businesses how to run the country to benefit themselves and their own.
No you are absolutely right, the Cayman Government should dictate to the firms how to run their businesses. What do companies know about their own businesses, nothing! what do the experts and specialists in their own particular field know, nothing. Government knows best. When all the companies leave their will be plenty of jobs for Caymanians…..
Here are the rantings of someone who wants to become an immigration board member, if not one already. Sorry to those of you who thought Cayman was a first world country.
As in any country in all societies there will always be a number of people that are unable to get/hold a job for a number of reasons and its not necessarily because there is others who will work. Because of Caymans very poor education system and obvious poor parenting there are many who cry fowl because of expats having jobs but do nothing else including trying to get and hold a job. This in itself makes it seem there is more of a problem then there really is. The problem to the island businesses start when they cannot find the skill necessary to keep going on island and can’t afford to get anyone from off island. The big question is:Why does Government listen to the unemployabel and not the businessess? And the answer is the same reason Government is not able to cut the civil service to save the country.
This is a critical area for Cayman to get right, protecting its people and ensuring their prosperity. This will require getting in the required foreign expertise and allowing them to stay (in an efficient way), to drive the economy forward. Sherri- Bodden-Cowan seems like a person who can balance businesses needs and Caymanian expectations (which I sometime feel are very high). I think it’s worth noting that in a group of 30,000 people anywhere in the world, there will be some bankers, lawyers, accountants and doctors as well as civil servants, receptionists, plumbers, cleaners and drop-outs. Cayman needs to be realistic about what its people can expect to earn and what type of civil service the business ( IE taxpaying ) community can support. Use the opportunity that skilled and willing foreign expertise presents, don’t’ squander it.