Minister of Tourism and Ports Kenneth Bryan confirmed on the For The Record talk show today, June 12, 2024, that the Government has discussed and agreed to make amendments to immigration rules. While Bryan leaves the detailed discussion of the proposals to the Minister of Labour, some amendments are expected to impact marriages of convenience. In addition, a new rollover policy will be introduced for non-Caymanian workers employed by the Government.
Marriages of convenience
Regarding marriages of convenience, Bryan said:
We want to address this matter of marriage of convenience. We’re going to make some amendments to the law there.
That way, a person can’t just get status off of being married to a Caymanian as quickly as it is now, which is a seeming to be a loophole, and then people get divorced right afterwards and have Caymanian Status.
While Bryan did not provide any data on the number of marriages of convenience and the impact on immigration, the move is probably linked to the incidences of sham marriages uncovered by the immigration authorities and previously reported in the media.
Rollover policy
Moving onto the rollover policy for non-Caymanians employed by the Government, Bryan said: “There is also the proposed legislation to make it mandatory that persons who are civil servants, contracted workers who are not Caymanian, they’ll be subject to rollover, just like in the private sector.”
He explained that one reason for this proposal is that “there’s been a culture over the years where persons would strategically try to get a job in government as they get closer to their rollover period, whether it’s four years or five years, and they know there’s a rollover thing coming soon, and they’ll try to jump and get a job there.”
He added:
One of the things that’s interesting, I haven’t gotten the figure yet is how many persons became Caymanian through the civil service?
Because we always sit here and we always discuss how much status the Government and the politicians give away.
But how many persons became status holders as a result of going through the civil service and not subject to the immigration provisions and protections that we have on boards and within the law?
Bryan did not offer any data on the number of non-Caymanians in the civil service or working with government-owned entities; however, he noted that his preference would be for the civil service and public service to “be 100%” Caymanians.
Members of the public now await further information on the proposed changes from the Minister of Labour, Dwayne Seymour.
