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 China Harbour, Cayman Enterprise City, Shetty Hospital 

UK-Cayman relationship

Local residents, both Caymanians and non-Caymanians, were invited to weigh in on the future of the relationship with the UK and Cayman Islands via a survey distributed in print and on several websites. The re-examination of the governing relationship follows the approval of Cayman’s Constitution in 2009.

Ahead of the annual Overseas Territories Consultative at the end of November, Premier McKeeva Bush met privately with Minister for Overseas Territories Henry Bellingham to discuss financial reforms and other matters.

The outcome of that meeting was the UK’s Framework for Fiscal Responsibility setting deadlines for Cayman’s government to address its financial problems.

The finalised plan requires Cayman to meet debt limits set out in the country’s law by the end of the 2015/16 budget year.

According to Cayman’s current spending plan, the government is paying too much each year to service its debts; its overall debts are too large compared to government revenues; and it does not have enough cash reserves to comply with legal requirements.

Under the UK framework agreement, Cayman will be required to publish reports on all contingent and actual liabilities, including those in the public pensions and healthcare systems.

Additionally, the framework agreement requires Cayman to have public projects with a lifetime value of more than $10 million to be evaluated for performance, published in the government’s annual Strategic Policy Statement and have input from independent financial and legal advisors.

Immigration Changes

Mr. Bush spearheaded significant changes to the Cayman Islands’ immigration system.

Since legislators voted in late September to approve a two-year suspension of the immigration rollover policy, more details have been finalised regarding the Term Limit Exemption Permit, which can be granted for one year at a time for a maximum of two years.

The grant of the exemption from the rollover policy does not count toward continuous legal residence requirements for individuals wishing to apply for permanent residence.

An application for the term limit exemption permit will cost $100. Adding dependents to the permit will cost $200 per year for domestic workers or unskilled labourers and $500 per year for any other work category.

An analysis by Appleby lawyers concluded that the changes to the Immigration Law did not constitute an actual suspension of the rollover policy; rather it created two new types of work permits, the Term Limit Exemption Permit and the 10-year work permit.

A committee is studying the rollover policy’s impact and making recommendations for future laws. It is tasked with releasing its findings by April 2012.

In November, Cabinet approved regulations easing visa requirements for Jamaican nationals younger than 15 or older than 70. The end result is a compromise from Cabinet’s original proposal in August to implement visa exemptions also for Jamaican nationals with US, UK or Canadian visas.

In September, Governor Duncan Taylor refused to endorse certain provisions of the Cabinet proposal, citing security concerns, specifically around forged and counterfeit documentation.