Thursday, June 29, 2006

One of the main reasons why this publication will continue to criticize the seven-year rollover policy is because of the detrimental impact we believe the policy will have on our overall future economic growth.

As a very small country, in order to develop our economy further we need our population to grow because if it does not, local businesses will suffer.

With only 55,000 people across the three Cayman Islands, it is impossible to continue expanding our local economy without adding more people.

If the Government is bent on ensuring that foreigners are restricted from settling here and ultimately becoming Caymanians, perhaps we should look further a field and make a concerted effort to bring home the Cayman Diaspora.

Many Caymanians left here in days gone by and settled in other countries. They took on the nationality of their respective adopted nations and had children, who in turn had children.

Many off those second and third generations do not have Caymanian passports and are treated like any other foreign national when they come here.

However, in a similar way that the UK government used to offer passports to second generation descendents of the British who settled in Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and other former colonies, Cayman could have a limited offer.

If the current Administration created an extensive window of opportunity for descendents of Caymanians who had migrated to apply for Cayamanian passports we may boost the population and gain valuable talents at the same time.

Many of those who have Caymanian grandparents or great grandparents who have grown up, gone to school and worked in other parts of the world will have many of the skills which we are seeking for our struggling workforce.

These people are international and cosmopolitan, but they are also the offspring of Caymanians.

As blood seems to play such an emotive part in the whole issue of immigration, attracting back the children and grandchildren of the Diaspora could offer a genuine solution.

The likes of Benson Ebanks, the father of the Caymanian Protection Law, would have little to criticize as after all these people would be by his definition 'real Caymanians' as they are born of Cayman blood and not made as so poetically described by Mr Ebanks, like 'cassava cake'.

And it could satisfy the business community as hopefully many of this group would be well qualified and internationally trained experts in their field without having to pay work permit fees.

On top of that the Diaspora would probably have more understanding of the cultural aspects of Caymanian life as one would expect their grandparents to have related tales and stories of their lives here and they may have been frequent visitors to our shores.

Offering them easy access to residency here, either through offering them specialist unrestricted work-permits or even better - Caymanian Status, would go someway to addressing the conflict which has been a focus of attention recently with regard to immigration and its impact on the business community.

Whatever happens, the most important thing is for our current Government to do something to stop what could be a serious problem of a declining population.

We must have people. We are an entirely based service economy which needs talented, specialist and professional people to keep it going and if we do not do something to increase the body count, this country will indeed be the place that 'modern' time forgot.

Be it offering overseas employees who have already demonstrated their love and commitment to this community, Caymanian Status or trying to attract those who left, back to the Cayman Islands, increasing our population is a very important part of this country's future. Without it, it will not be possible to sustain the economic success that Cayman has enjoyed for the last three decades.

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