Up-Front
Sherri Bodden Cowan ... Immigration's
Madam Chairman
Sherri Bodden Cowan
Immigration issues have for long been someof the thorniest and most hotly debated public issues in the CaymanIslands.
Ever since this territory has taken its place on the world stageof finance and tourism and has become an enviable success story,successive Government administrations have made promise afterpromise, and attempt after attempt to find a workable immigrationpolicy that would please, if not all the people, at least someof the people, most of the time.
One of the most salient issues under the rubric of immigrationhas been the process by which work permits are granted. Employersand work permit applicants alike have often expressed frustrationwith a process that is viewed as arcane, and unnecessarily protracted.
The Immigration Board - formerly known as the Caymanian ProtectionBoard -- which considers the granting of all new work permitshas been called upon to exercise wide powers - including judgmentsabout applicants' morals, background, and the questions regardingthe operations of companies requiring work permit grants for staff.
Over time the whole immigration process has often been viewedwith suspicion, has been tolerated with varying degrees of frustrationand has been regarded as draconian.
Today, there are efforts to change these perceptions. With newinventions in technology and access to computer technology, theImmigration Board and the Department of Immigration - though onemade up of private citizens, and the other of civil servants --are taking advantage of these developments to create a more efficientand "customer-friendly" immigration process.
With the falling away of the previous Government's Select Committeeon Immigration, which did not conclude its report and recommendationsto the House of Assembly, to put in place legislation to advanceand support the efforts of the Immigration Board and Department,Cayman Net News considered that this one piece of unfinished Legislativebusiness must be addressed, prior to the election of a new governmenton 8th November, so that they will know the will and commitmentof the people who have worked long and at time many frustratinghours, to bring about the changes which will be necessary to puta friendlier face on Immigration matters.
In a two-part series, we look at the efforts to modernize thedepartment, to bring the board closer to the public and the peopleresponsible for these innovations.
Coming Soon...a Kinder, GentlerImmigration
Sherri Bodden bustled into her Saturdaymorning interview fresh from an engagement delivering the openingaddress at the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce Career's Expo,and took immediately took charge.
The subject was immigration, clearly one of her passions and anarea in which she has had vast experience, as an attorney in privatepractice who dealt with immigration matters over a 14-year career,and as someone who has served on the Cayman Islands ImmigrationBoard.
Dressed in black print form-fitting blouse and matching loosetrousers, her business-like demeanor and attire belie the factthat it is the weekend, and that she is also preoccupied withmundane domestic arrangement of conforming to a schedule to relievethe help at home.
Whatever else is running through this active mind however, forthe moment gets second place as she turns her attention to immigrationmatters.
It is an exciting time for the Immigration Board and the Departmentof Immigration, and Sherri Bodden, the current Chairman of theBoard is clearly happy to be in the midst of it.
Since February of this year, she has been at the Board, firstas Deputy Chairman, and then Chairman. It is her second stintthere, having served as Deputy Chairman between 1991-1993, underthe chairmanship of businessman Mr. Naul Bodden.
This time around she is presiding over an ambitious plan to puta friendlier, more efficient face on the Immigration Board andthe Department.
She admits that the department has a "large number of problems"but this has not been daunting for this 37-year-old attorney whosesums up her approach with this anecdote. It has been said, shenotes that in business there are different kinds: the philosopherwho comes up with the ideas; the barbarians who implement theideas, and there are the bureaucrats and autocrats.
"I'm a barbarian," Sherri says, "Once I go in andget something done, I don't want to be there anymore."
At the Immigration Board, she is getting things done, and at theDepartment, with the vision and support of Chief Immigration Officer,Mr. Orrett Connor, under whose leadership many improvements werealready being implemented - changes are coming to put a kinder,gentler face to the board and the department.
Today's changing face of immigration is a continuation and intensificationof a process began two or three years ago with the Reinventionof Government Services, that Mr. Connor says "gave us inthis department a chance to look at ourselves and to get feedbackfrom our customers on how we perform."
One result of this self-examination has been the implementationof a system for a more accessible and friendlier department inwhich anyone can call for information on the status of work permits.
Many of the problems with immigration, Sherri says, are largelyadministrative in nature. These she identifies as a lack of informationcoming out of the Board, wrong information, public frustrationwith not being able to get timely answers on the status of workpermits, and a protracted work permit process, leaving employersunable to plan, because they are never quite sure how long theprocess will take.
Within the next three months, these and other administrative problemswill to a large extent be solved, Sherri promises.
The solutions lie in a number of measures that are now being implemented.Chief among these is the launch of a web site that was part ofa proposal in the Vision 2008 Strategic Plan.
Web Technology
Drawing on the web-friendly approach usedby the Jersey and Guernsey governments, Sherri says she approachedMr. Connor with the idea of a Cayman Islands immigration web site,that will answer five questions: (1) Has the application beenreceived (2) Is there any missing information (3) Has the applicationbeen scheduled for a meeting of the Board, and if so, when (4)At the meeting was it granted, refused or deferred, and if deferred,why (5) Was the letter sent, and on what date was this done?
Use of this website is expected to reduce the calls to the ImmigrationBoard by 80 percent, Sherri says, and should alleviate many ofthe frustrations that both employer and employees now face ingetting
information from the department.
"Within the next three to four weeks, you'll be able to goto the government web site, and from there to Immigration. Whenyou get to Immigration, you'll put your identification numberin (employers)," she outlined. The website will be updateddaily. The site will show the name of the employer, the type ofwork permit applied for, details such as date of birth, when theapplication was received by the Board and the present status ofthe application."
The site will also provide detailed information on a particularemployee's application - missing information if any, cost of thepermit and the permit it was granted for. An employee, using hisown number will be able to tap into his own information, Sherriexplained.
"I don't think we'll have a problem getting employers touse it," she says of the site, "because employers aretraditionally very web-friendly."
Sherri says that a kiosk will be provided in the Immigration hallso that persons who do not normally have access to the Internetwill be able to log on to the web site.
This kind of access to the information will do two things, shefurther explained. "One, the board becomes more transparent,because you can go to the web and see where your information isat. So the disappearing into the black hole, rumors and concernswill hopefully disappear. It also holds the board accountable,she says, as the public will be able to review the date the applicationwas received and what has happened to it."
"For all these reasons, it is a great move forward,"she says.
But she dreams of far more being achieved through the immigrationweb site. "I'd like to see all forms on it and renewals beingdone through the site. You could even issue letters over the web,although there are questions about confidentiality and forgery."
She emphasizes that she would like to see a section of the website dedicated to Immigration Board policy. "The reason I'dlike to see that is that the Immigration Board can set its ownpolicy, in addition to the (political) directives issued. Shesays that over time the site is expected to develop in these areasto become " a very useful site for employers."
Business Staffing Plans
In addition to the website, the second improvementthat will come from the Immigration Department in a matter ofweeks is a directive that allows employers to voluntarily filea Business Staffing Plan with the department.
This will detail number of employees a company presently has,the positions taken by each employee, whether the employee isCaymanian, permanent resident or on a work permit, the lengthof time the employer sees that position existing in the organization,the possibilities of Caymanizing positions currently held by workpermit holders and the proposal for any new position coming intothe company within three to five years.
It will also require employers to disclose their initiatives fortraining and scholarship. Once the Immigration Board, has approvedthe business-staffing plan -- including positions within it, whichrequire a work permit -- applications for such permits would nothave to be dealt with by the full board.
Currently the Board deals with all applications requiring thegrant of a new work permit and processes these according to astandard checklist: is the applicant in good health? Are thereany criminal convictions? Is there a Caymanian available for theposition? Has the position been advertised?
According to Sherri, 85-95 percent of the times the answers tothese questions are yes and the work permit is approved. Onlyabout 5-10 percent of work permit applications are refused.
Where the Board sees that the position is capable of being caymanized,it will "put a regulation five on that person's work permit,"Sherri says. This requires that the employer recruits and trainsa Caymanian for that position within 6-12 months.
The business staffing plan "is an innovative initiative bythis government," and will "take the guessing out ofthe work permit process," Sherri points out. It will giveemployers security in planning their employment needs over threeto five years. Between this and the web site, some 80-90 percentof the administrative problems at the immigration department shouldbe solved, she notes.
She emphasized that the business-staffing plan will not be a "rubberstamp"operation. Even if work permit positions are approved, if qualifiedCaymainans come forward for such positions, they will be considered,she says.
"I want to see the staffing plans put in place," shestressed, noting that it will be a "huge initiative."
She projects that with employers all filing their staffing plans,the Board will need to establish a sub-committee, will need toseek outside advice on the employment needs of the various sectorsand that the process is going to be a negotiated one.
The Immigration Board is required by law to protect local interestsand ensure the training and promotion of Caymanians. She arguesthat too often, the Board is "given the responsibility ofcuring every single social woe of this island and any board giventhat mandate is bound to fail, because it is impossible,"she says.
These current initiatives will not solve the "political problems"of the Board, Sherri acknowledges.
The board needs to be able to function without political pressureand Government must be willing to state clear what its positionis on immigration and must give clear directives to the board,she stresses. "I hope that one of the first priorities ofthe next government will be to look at immigration," shesays.
If she speaks with passion and authority about immigration itis not just that she has explored the issue for some 14 yearsas an attorney in private practice. She relishes the challengeof serving on the board, confessing that she was "chompingat the bits" to get back on it, after her first stint ofservice.
"My real enthusiasm is not to deal with the thorny mattersthat become very daunting and stressful", she says, "eventhough I tell people that I will be better than Kissinger whenI leave, because as Chairman you have to negotiate."
Looking ahead politically
Service to the immigration board is moreso something of a family tradition, her father Norman Bodden havingserved as the Board's Chairman "in the early days."
Politics too, is in her blood. "I come from a highly politicalfamily," she admits. Though pressed from many quarters torun in the current election campaign, Sherri says she refused,to allow herself more time to prepare for the responsibilities.
"I would never go into politics unless I'm ready," shedeclares. She intends to do just that over the next four years,by working in public office, to "raise my political profileand see whether I like it and whether people like me."
She acknowledges that she has a hard act to follow with the strongpolitical representation legacy of her father, Mr. Norman Bodden,who served as the Executive Member for Tourism, Aviation and Tradein the Government administration of 1988-1992.
While she has strong family support and the encouragement of herhusband and father, she acknowledges that her father did not wanther to run this time, but to devote more time to her children- Alexander, 10, Thomas, 8 and Gemma, 6.
In the meantime too, Sherri prepares for her political career,which she sees as a "natural progression."
She now serves on the National Drug Council and sees herself takingan active role in educating young people about drugs. She alsochairs the Development Plan Tribunal Committee.
With family tradition and her own career it seems that Sherrihas been born to public service. She started out in the governmentservice, working at the Clerk of Courts Office for a year, andeven had a stint with the Cayman Pilot, one of the Nor'wester'sGroup of Publications - before going abroad to study law at theUniversity of Bristol, on a government scholarship.
She practised law in England for six months and upon her returnto Cayman, served as Clerk of Courts for three months. When thefirm of Hunter and Hunter recruited her in 1989, she paid backher government bond and embarked on a career as an attorney inprivate practice.
In 1991, along with Ian Boxall, she started Boxall's in whichshe worked as a partner until August 1998, when she says she retiredto devote more time to her children. From then to the present,she has done voluntary work and has served on a number of publicsector boards.
Her political contribution is as much a continuation of her publicservice, as well as part of a family tradition, and Sherri clearlyshows that she has the courage of her convictions and the commitmentto getting things done, at the Immigration Board or wherever herdesire to serve leads her.
Although her legacy has been nurtured by her father, it does seemnatural that she has her sights set on the traditional role ofCayman's women -- to take on leadership roles to do what mustbe done to keep the order of family values and her country intact.
Next Week: TheChief Immigration Officer, Orrett "O C" Connor, teamsup with Sherri Bodden and the Immigration Board to facilitatethe 21st century innovations necessary to bring about efficiencyand customer-friendlier relations at the Department of Immigration.