Immigration & Employment Regulations
The Cayman Islands immigration and employment regulations are quite complicated and it isn’t really necessary to go into the gory details here. In any case it is the employer’s responsibility to deal with the majority of the paperwork.
Major points to note are:
- All workers must have a work permit issued by the Cayman Islands Government Department of Immigration. The employer will apply for the work permit after offering the prospective employee a job. The application will only be successful if Immigration considers the potential employee suitably qualified and experienced. In most cases the job will have already been unsuccessfully advertised to Caymanians in the local press.
- Suitably qualified Caymanians have precedence over foreigners for any vacancy. Although this initially sounds daunting, practically it is not always a problem. There are huge numbers of jobs where there is simply a massive shortage of suitably qualified Caymanians. There are equally large numbers of jobs which Caymanians simply do not want. Most vacancies are in the financial and tourism sectors of the economy.
- All workers whose native tongue is not English are required to take an English language skills test on arrival in the Cayman Islands (Owen Roberts International Airport). Those whole fail the test will not be allowed to commence employment, will not be allowed to retake the test, and will be expected to leave the islands as soon as possible. The test takes approximately 20 minutes and consists of simple oral and written questions.
Immigration Department Call Centre
The Cayman Islands Immigration Department operates a call centre. Members of the public can dial 949-8344 and using an automated system be directed to trained staff able to deal with matters such as work permits, permanent residence, visas etc.