PR appellants face new rules
(CNS): With the first stage of government’s overhaul of the immigration law now enacted, people who have appealed to the immigration tribunal following the refusal of an application for permanent residency are facing a new process. These people now have just two months to submit additional information, as their appeal will be handled in writing and not at an open hearing. As a result, this process is likely to be far quicker and the appellant’s length of time staying on the island if their appeal is refused is likely to be much shorter than they may have bargained for. In its effort to speed up the appeals process, government is streamlining a system, which Premier Alden McLaughlin said had previously been abused.
During his debate on the immigration amendment bill last month, McLaughlin said that the system had been open to abuse, and because of the backlog of work, those who had been refused PR remained in Cayman working by operation of the law for months, even years, after the refusal. The premier said that this was because the appellants and their lawyers were allowed to be present at the hearings and so could wait until the last minute to cancel the date of the tribunal for one reason or another. This could buy months of time because the backlog allowed appellants to stay and continue working and residing here, despite being declined the right to do so.
The changes to the appeal process, which government hopes will clear the backlog, speed up new appeals and deter people from appealing, are now in effect and they will impact existing appeals even if they were made under the old law.
Anyone with an appeal pending with the Immigration Appeals Tribunal (IAT) has until Monday 30 December 2013 to submit detailed grounds of appeal and the hearing will now be an administrative process on the basis of written grounds and submissions only. Appellants will no longer appear in person before the Tribunal.
IAT Coordinator Natasha Bodden said that in order to facilitate this change in procedure, those who have already submitted appeals prior to the change in legislation will be given the opportunity to enhance those submissions to ensure that their appeal statement is sufficiently detailed for the IAT to deal with the appeal.
She warned that the IAT has the right to quash or dismiss the appeal on the basis of the appellant failing to submit the documents requested.
In addition, the immigration authorities can award costs against appellants where in the opinion of the Immigration Appeals Tribunal the appeal was made frivolously, is vexatious or in bad faith.
Located on the ground floor of the Government Administration Building, the IAT counter is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 100am to 2pm. IAT’s mailing address is PO Box 105, Grand Cayman KY1-9000.
Category: Local News
I know one thing. Big Mac might have thought about giving up politics next run. But the way things starting to look now. Ole Mac is almost smiling while building his team together. You can see it happening now. PPM started off so good, but they so intent on getting rid of the "Expat" that they do not see how many Caymanian business and companies are going through the hardships that this is starting to create. Its easy to be lazy and complain about not getting a job, but let me tell you, this does not look good from an employer that has to hire one expat to monitor or back up 3 to 4 Caymanians. Because of one expat in most companies they are able to continue to hire the persons that do not show up or work how and when they supposed to. What difference does it make of having the roll over set to one year or ten years, if so much troubles to get a good qualified help? PPM if you going to go this far and create all this road blocks to the Caymanian companies, then at least get the proper unemployment figures so that we as business owners can pick and share upthe unemployment to have it sorted once and for all. In the end we might just find out that it’s just Chriss and Tilley that not want to work. Even Rudy has a part time job. And don’t forget about the kid outside the restaurant in north side, he even seem to picked up a few days work. Cayman please stop and think about what is happening, is this not all seem like the crab in a bucket mentality, or the SOB mentality. (I don’t have a ting and I don’t want to see another SOB with nothing.). Like the old cartoon saying. "It just don’t add up".
Unna cross me in the stairwell and look past me wit no hello nor smile an see wha ya gets now.
Try be friendly and save 100 points!
Cayman should be like Hong Kong, you work & then you leave! No PR etc!
You should try that and see how it works for you
According to my friend working in Hong Kong, she can apply for PR and it's apparentlymuch easier than here in Cayman.
By what logic is it good to send people away after 9 years in a country that has twice as many jobs as it does local people? You prefer than someone inexperienced and with less ties to the islands come to take that job?
Still, with a judicial review application and an injunction you can probably achieve the same result as before.
You'll have yourself to blame for messing up something you'll had good! cheap labour & holding down my Caymanian people is the cause of this clamping down on PR etc! "TAKE DAT" Caymanian
The NEW PR qualification is worst than obeah.
Unless you are a chicken. If you are a chicken obeah remains worse.
Worst
Oh my god I can't stop laugh. Thanks for making me laugh so much, I needed the release of all this tension building up over the ever-increasing stupidity from the great political minds who rule and ruin our lives.
Roll out lol!!!! Caymanian
Until the rollover was introduced, nobody wanted residency. Expats never looked for it and never expected it. Everyboy just worked and that was that.
Now they are being forced to apply and if not leave.
It should have been left as it was – everyone was happy back then.
Those were the good old days when you could go to sleep with your mango tree loaded with mangoes and when you woke in the morning they were still there. Nowadays you are lucky to find your tree still there…
Aaah, how quickly we forget. Nobody was happy back then. There were screams from expats about the "uncertainty" of living from work permit renewal to work permit renewal, there was an action in court which removed the moratorium on the grant of Caymanian status, there were concerns about breaches of international human rights obligations from the UK re people living in Cayman for 20+ years without any form of security of tenure. And even now, there are demands that long term residents should have the right to vote which of course they could only have if they been granted PR and then status. People are never satisfied.
It was more than just "concerns" about human rights obligations. If the Cayman government could have stayed with the old sytem, believe me, it would have, but the UK wasn't going to allow it.
What interesting about the current PR requirements is that they might violate human rights conventions as well. I'm just waiting for the first person to get denied by a few points, points that they lost because of their older age, and see if there's not a challenge in court. I would bet that it would win.
That is the best thing about Status. You get to leave.
Exactly, just follow Bermuda and drop the roll over they way they did. Cayman was quick to copy Bermuda when they introduced the roll over, so why isn't Cayman copying them when they dropped it altogether? And remember, Bermuda is much smaller than Cayman with a population more than Cayman, yet they are able to drop the roll over!!
Never happen. My premier did the right thing. The only thing I would fault him for is that he should have made it more difficult for anyone to get PR. The points should have increased to 200, with $250,000 cash in the bank and a property with a value of $750,000. I would suspect that such a person should not become a burden on the state when he/she retires.
I think by that criteria YOU would be rolled. Ha ha ha
Bermuda does not allow anyone to become Bermudan except through marriage.
Oh dear god no!
The Caymanian politicians who are driving this immigration bill should really study Bermuda. There are some lessons that could be learnt. The government in power repeatedly claims between 8,000 and 10,000 people (including Bermudians left the island from 2010).This is mostly hyperbole and the truer figure is closer to 4,000 people. The population of Bermuda is somewhere in the range of 61,500 persons which if true means a population drop of roughly 6 per cent since 2010. This is directly connected to the "roll over" and the general downturn in the economy. The result has caused a lot of hardship on the island with layoffs, business closings and general hardships. Plus there are politicians, most notabley the deputy mayor of Hamilton stating the international business community may have brought some jobs and apparant prosperity, but are also responsible for the moral decay of island life. Not a good situation in Bermuda. They are beset with the same problems as Cayman, robberies, violent behavior and gangs. Cayman needs to go forward carefully. Maybe the first thing to do is to decide what type of country Cayman wishes to become. Be careful as the harm once done will take a long time to erase.
Yes, and look what a mess Bermuda made for itself. Cayman probably needs anohter 30-40,000 people to gain critical mass and become investement worthy, then you can restrict it..right now, not so attractive.
12;02
You are so correct in what you saying.
In the 80s construction workers came, worked, got paid a bonus ontop, and when it got slow they returned to their own country.
When work picked up again, they returned, and the cycle continued. The government interfared with the businesses when they introduced that stupid law for the expats to run to, Now, when there are a slow and no further work, they run to labour bour board to sue the businesses for servants pay, vacation pay, and all kinds of pay. The government is at fault for all this mess.
The expats have the law, so they manipulate their employers to stay ,even when there are no (construction )work. Most of them end up staying here for up to 10 years.
Another area where the government screwed up, they past a law which would make it mandatory for all businesses to be responsible for the work permit fees… for their employees.
This was done so as to make it look like it was all the fault of the employers, which would be punished, for not hiring caymanians.
Caymanians do not realise that, especially in the construction industry. The goverment failed to establish trade schools for their people. So the result is,blame the businesses.
yet agian…the ppm have somehow made a bad situation worse…….
Bad for who? Not us Caymanians that for sure! No more abuse and manipulation of the system. Well done PPM!!!
Nonsense 11.44, putting this decision making into the hands of bureaucrats is a recipe for more corruption..the board was a much better idea, although i agree the time frames should be enforced and quick for appeals…dragging them on was nonsense..now..no transparency and I suspect there will be more Human rights cases as a result.
you caymanians are not the only people on earth!
To:Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/11/2013 – 19:26. Excellent deduction my dear .Did you come up with it all by yourself ,or did you have help?
Bite
Neither, whoever you is, I just know I want some dat sweet honey from dat sweet sweet honey pot. C'mon, open up. God wants you to share his blessings.
Really?
Who else is out there lurking in the shadows?…
No you are right we are not the only people in the world.
But we did not come to your land and we did not tell you how to run your country. But some of the expats have the attitude before they even set foot on the island.
Get it straight it is not the expats that brought financial success to the cayman islands it is the system.
Please understand that I have no problem with a man thats been working here for years on end to be given his due. But some of this is going overboard. First and foremost is to look after your own people not people from overseas.
But we are now being sold the idea that when we bring these expats in they in turn start business and hire caymanians. truth is they may start business but most of who they hire are more expats.
No more abuse and manipulation of the system?? If you truly believe this, then I feel real sorry for you….. This will not solve unemployment, will not put more caymanians back to work,Just another x-pat to replace the old.
I'm happy to receive a new one as long as you leave and does not gain permanecy here. Let's just keep rolling them out when they come to the end of their time.
That’s obeone way of getting rid of them & getting our people back to work! Those who are given PR need to be able to support themselves & their kids & not be a burden on our government & our $$$! Wb
Why is it that people keep saying giving expats PR with lead to them being a burdon on Cayman. I am constantly hearing about people getting PR becoming a burdon on Cayman. Does anyone know what the percentage of people on Poor Support or currently getting any kind of Government assistance such as unemployment or rent assistance.
Basically how many are PR recipients compared to Caymanians ?
Just check the number of people who received status in the staus grants and see how many are now on social Services!
PR is a very different kettle of fish to Status. One gives you a passport, one does not. Until you have a passport you are unable to collect benefits and ultimately it wasn't expats that gave out the status grants now was it – it was your Premier looking for more votes! Can't blame the expats for that!
On that note I have also heard that the government is owed millions in outstanding status grant monies. Why are these people allowed to remain on Island if they owe the government money? Status is not something written in stone, it can be revoked. So revoke it intead of having a bunch of losers feeding off the system. Having said that, I read the other day that a Caymanian kid had 19 siblings. Wow, let's talk again on who exactly is a drain on society?!?
Status does no,t get you a passport, only BOTC citizenship does. It is unrelated to status. People with PR have Cayman passports too.
All 19 are from another country.
Actually, neither one gives you a passport. One must be a BOTC to get a passport.
We can blame them for accepting grants from an unlawful and probably corrupt process.
OK, so essetially what you are saying is that the people who recieved status grants are all the ones that are currently on Social Services. Does that include the peope currently recieving Unemployment. I am trying to understand this is it in fact mostly people that got status and not Caymanians that are getting Government assistance ? Is it a fact that someone who worked for years and then got PR could quit thier jobs and collect welfare with no issues.
That would be hard to find out actually. You see, after Mac gave away status to all his people, he changed the law. There is no more Cayman Status Holder, just Caymanian.
If you count the number of persons who have become Caymanian, including through the PR process, the number is high, but no accurate statistics exist.
The number of persons in these categories receiving very expensive Government education and healthcare also needs to be considered in any sensible analysis.
I would bet that there are no Permanenet Residents being given assistance, becasue if that was the case, because it ould be far easier to reject their PR and send them home.
Now, those given status, that's another cup of tea.
You would lose that bet.
This is a myth: People on PR do not qualify for Social Services (and they can't vote) – only full Caymanian Status holders do!
They don't want paper Caymanians getting into their sweet, sweet honey pot.
Well.. clearly because after 9 years of continous gainful employment, overseen by the work permit system, once people get PR they will instantly quit their jobs and collect welfare.
Yep. That is the exact explanation that i was given for why people granted PR will become a burden on Cayman. They will quit their jobs and collect welfare.
Realistically, people who have lived here for 9 years and been on continuous work permits have proven that they are NOT a burden on society but quite the opposite, they are productive members of society.
Having continuous work for 9 years should merit some points towards PR.
What happens is that they can't be abused by the work permit system so they can't get a job which is the same thing that happens to Caymanians. Also, people that were given status in that big giveaway weren't properly vetted and yes, some ended up on welfare. Then there are the ones that are married to Caymanians leave their spouses and collect welfare.
We have 9 PR's in our office, and several with Status…good jobs, they work hard and are a burden to no-one. And you know, their attitude is that they will never be, they would prefer to leave if they had no job here..
Agreed. Some however have proven to be the kind of "citizens" that we just do not need more of. The majority of those who got are continuing to work and advance themselves for the benifit of their family. Others however have started milking the system and have brought in all family they can to enjoy the perks as well.
This is a myth. People on PR do not qualify for Caymanian social services – only Caymanians do!
Well whether they qualify or not they sure are receiving it. No myth.
I was told the PR stamp in your passport says something like… "Unless revoked" or "until further notice" . Got to think that quitting your job and applying for social service to pay for your recidency fee would qualify.
Just take off one day from your busy working and sit down by the Social Service Office and you will be shocked to see the ones receiving the hand outs…. Majority of Caymanians suffer but feel ashamed to ask for assistance. You dont know what you are talking about. Caymanians worked and still work but there was no competition with the jobs back then. If they did not work and build up their Country the likes like you would not have been here. Seems like in your Country you all were lazy and did not do much to enhance your Country thats why you had to run elsewhere to take someones job.
God, I would try anything to get your people to work!!
"Be careful for what you wish, lest you receive it."
With just a written submission and no lawyer to represent the appellant, one wonders if that process doesn`t now allow for the IAT abuse of power. What has been happening with changes in law and policy by both past and previous governments, has simply created more problems rather than fix them. One wonders if the government seeks enough advice before making changes. Creating one problem in order to fix another is certainly not the answer. However that has been the way the government does business here.
An appellant was never required to have an attorney to make his submission or attend a hearing. This is why immgiration consultants could be used. Its not a requirement under the Immigration (or any other) law. I have been to several hearings and they add nothing because you simply go over what was in the written submissions. People in Cayman historically have these knee jerk negative reactions to anything resembling change without necessarily giving enough thought or consideration as to the true intention or effect. The PPM inherited the TLEP situation they did not create it. Whoever thought up a plan which led to 1500 people being eligible for roll over created the problem and it landed squarely in the new government's laps. So, what did they do? The dealt with it. Most commenters on CNS come on to moan whatever decision is made but imagine if CNS only allowed comments which were constructive or which constituted ideas or alternative approaches….it would be crickets in here. Immigration practitioners with insight into how these processes work are the one's whose comments carry weight with me. This, in my opinion as an immigration practitioner, has the potential to clear out alot of backlog which bred abuse IF it is managed properly. There are severl innovative and very useful amendments which should minimise abuse of the previous system and I wish people for once would just look at the big picture and get to grips with the facts: Caymanians need to get off their a$$e$ (I am Caymanian so dont even go there) and take every single job available whether it be at a supermarket or a bank or a hotel BEFORE they complain about expats and needing work. I have NO shame in taking ANY job to keep myself off social services. Caymanian business owners need to proactively hire and train Caymanians. We can tell expats what ever we like but until we start looking out for each other dont expect anyone else to do it. The government is not responsible for YOUR wellbeing. As for Immigration, name ONE country where anyone can easily live, work and acquire its nationality? Its difficult EVERYWHERE and dammit Cayman needs to stop apologizing for itself and get on withit like other countries do.
You would have to say the same about every statutory body to which you make an application and which you have no right to appear in front of. If you carry that thought through to it's logical conclusion you would also have to say the same about those matters where the appellant elects not to be heard in person. Anyway, that's why you have the judicial review process.
laughable that the premeir blames the appellants and their lawyers for delays instead of the blatant incompetence of the immigration department…..
I have seen where appeal after appeal has been deliberately delayed and put off by the applicants who know they have no chance in hell of getting PR, this is just a way for them to stay on the island longer without having to apply for a permit. I am glad the PPM changed this!
And I know of several who have been waiting for their appeals to be heard on good solid reasons for years, one has been waiting since 2009! And none of the ones I know of have used lawyers it is just plain incompetence on Immigration's part.
Nothing sinister, that's just how long these things take espescially under old system. It's exactly the same issue in UK except their immigration backlog is worse! Read their news release on their backlog numbers this year. Staggering.
So long as the legitimate applications are considered with all due care and reasonableness and this, like the pensions fiasco, is not "quick fix" for the government to get rid of all "old" appeals.
What you say is true, but I have also seen where appeal after appeal has been deliberately delayed when an applicant has a very good case and disagreeing Caymanians interfer with the files, get files lost, lie to immigration, pull favours, etc. and essentially illegally make the lives of good applicants a living hell.
Its like football – when your team loses, its always the referees fault, never the teams!
Do you not suspect that some appeals take years because Immigration has no interest in having them actually heard – better to just sign off on WOLs then risk losing a case and setting a precedent? And those cases you ahve "seen" (what do you do, hang around the tribunal?) where the PR applicant is bound to lose, as you suggest – why the hell aren't Immigration arguing for an hearing instead of simply agreeing. After one or two deferrals surely the delays by the plaintiff would be exposed?
Moving to a system where Immigration makes a decision, and the applicant can only appeal on the papers is a hell of a response to a supposed problem with simple scheduling. Like a lot of problems with Immigration, the response is not for Immigration to do its job moreefficiently within the existing law, its to change the law to make it easier for civil servants not to do the job they are paid to do. SMH.
That's text book politicking! Managerial level stuff.