New Immigration rules now in effect

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

The Immigration Regulations, a comprehensive document containing essential information for all employers and employees, came into effect on Tuesday, 18 May.

“The new law and regulations will make immigration control and the administration of work permit systems more effective,” said Chief Immigration Officer Gerry Maguire.

“There may be some teething problems and we ask for some patience from both the public and employers while the new processes are adopted.”

The regulations are supplementary to the Immigration Law 2003, which was passed by the Legislative Assembly last December and published in January.

As such, the regulations define how various requirements in the law are to be carried out by Government and provide invaluable guidance and direction to persons requiring immigration services.

One of the main changes the new regulations bring into force is that people applying for work permits will be required to submit all prescribed fees for the first year at the time of application (in accordance with the new Immigration Law, 2003).

This included the administrative filing fee, the work permit fee and the repatriation fee.

If the application is refused, the work permit and repatriation fees will be refunded.

The advantage of this is that once applicants have been notified of approval, the employee may begin to work immediately.

The schedules attached to the regulations now contain a single schedule of fees for all jobs (fees remain essentially unchanged). Fees for Cayman Brac and Little Cayman have been set at 75 percent of those in Grand Cayman.

Another schedule outlines a point system that will be used in determining applications for permanent residence, for which persons resident here for eight years or more are eligible.

This system works on the allocation of points for positive contribution and commitment to the community, but points may also be deducted for negative conduct, such as serious criminal offence.

New forms and instructions will be available at the Immigration Department or on the Government (Immigration) website, at www.gov.ky

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