Grandfather clauses in the government’s proposed immigration reform bill will allow existing permanent residents and foreign spouses of Caymanians to be dealt with under the current legislation.
The bill, released for public consultation last week, caused concern among permanent residents and others with legal residency in Cayman, as well as those with pending applications, who worried that they may have to wait several more years before being granted Caymanian status.
The Immigration (Transition) (Amendment and Validation) Bill 2025 extends the length of time foreign residents must live in Cayman before they are eligible to apply for the right to be Caymanian, known as ‘Caymanian status’. Under the proposed amendments, residents who have been naturalised as British Overseas Territories Citizens would have to live here for 20 years before being able to apply for status, or 10 years after being naturalised. Under the existing immigration law, they can apply after 15 years of being legally and ordinarily resident here.
The bill specifically addresses future legacy applicants for status, noting that if an application has been made under the existing law and has not yet been determined by the date the new legislation comes into effect, the old law would apply. The same applies for appeals or applications for judicial reviews of immigration-related decisions.
The immigration ministry confirmed to the Compass that permanent residents, after the new legislation is implemented, would retain the right to apply for Caymanian status after living in Cayman for 15 years, or five years after being naturalised.
Daniel Altneu of law firm Bedell Cristin issued an advisory to clients on 20 Oct. in a bid to set their minds at ease about the proposed legislation, especially those who hold or have applied for permanent residency under the points system (PRPS) or for certificates of permanent residence for persons of independent means (PIMS).
“The Bill’s explicit transitional provisions preserve existing rights, timelines and expectations, such that the ultimate pathways to the ‘Right to be Caymanian’ on the grounds of naturalisation remain unaffected for PRPS and PIMS holders, along with their spouses/civil partners and dependents,” he wrote.
“One of the most discussed potential changes in recent months has been the proposal to lengthen the legal and ordinary residence periods that applicants must satisfy in order to apply for the ‘Right to be Caymanian’. Without the proposed clear transitional framework, there could have been understandable anxiety that lengthened periods would ‘reset the clock’ for those already well along in their Cayman immigration journeys.”
He added, “Thankfully, the Bill decisively avoids that outcome and proposes to preserve the position of existing permanent residents so that their route to Caymanian status, provided they have naturalised as British Overseas Territories Citizens upon satisfying the residence and good character requirements prescribed by the British Nationality Act 1981, remains governed by the rules in force when they embarked on that pathway.”
The bill, which was published on 17 Oct., also includes several measures which the government says will combat marriages of convenience, but those will also not apply to spouses who get wed to or enter into a civil union with a Caymanian prior to the date the new law comes into effect.
The ministry confirmed that those individuals will also be grandfathered in, and so can apply for Caymanian status after seven years, rather than the proposed 15 years.
Immigration lawyer Nick Joseph, founder of Reside Cayman, welcomed the “very sensible and appropriate staging of residency” for spouses of Caymanians and permanent residents in the proposed legislation.
He said, however, that it seemed “peculiar that there is an apparent grandfathering in of existing rules for anyone who marries a Caymanian before it comes into effect”, and wondered if there would be “a run on marriage licences” in the months prior to the introduction of the revised law.
Wide-ranging legislation
The proposed immigration bill, which is expected to have long-reaching effects, is open to public consultation until 14 Nov.
The changes, described by government as “sweeping”, address broadly who will get to live permanently and vote in the Cayman Islands in the years and decades ahead.
In a statement accompanying the draft bill, the government said, “After decades in which work-permit rules and status pathways remained essentially unchanged despite demographic, economic and infrastructure pressures, the 2025 government and opposition manifestos converged around the urgent need for change.”
The bill covers an array of subjects, including the introduction of term limits for civil servants; new job mobility rules for work-permit holders; efforts to combat marriages of convenience; the aforementioned transitionary arrangements for those who already hold or have applied for permanent residence; and an extension of the numbers of years people will need to live in Cayman before they can apply for the right to be Caymanian.
An element not included in the bill, which many had expected to see, was changes to how permanent residency – a vital step on the path to attaining Caymanian status – is awarded.
However, an ‘Easy Reference Guide‘ accompanying the proposed amendments, notes that the immigration bill does not propose any changes to the permanent-residency framework, and that such changes “will be addressed in the next round of legislative amendments”.
Measures to combat sham marriages
The bill amendments stipulate that individuals who are married to a permanent resident or Caymanian and who have been granted a Residency and Employment Rights Certificate, under the proposed amendments would have to wait 15 years before they can be naturalised. Five years after that, they would be eligible to apply for the right to be Caymanian. Currently, expat spouses of Caymanians can apply for status after seven years of marriage.
The bill also includes a new provision that gives the director of Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman, known as WORC, and the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board the discretion to allow the Residency and Employment Rights Certificate, or RERC, of an ex-spouse of a Caymanian to remain in force.
The proposed bill stipulates that individuals who have been granted status by the board are required to provide an annual declaration, which contains details relating to them and their dependents, for seven years after being granted the right. Failure to do so will be an offence and may lead to the revocation of the person’s status grant, the amendments indicate.
Exactly what the annual declarations are expected to include is not outlined in the bill, but lawyers who spoke to the Compass said they were likely to be similar to the paperwork that permanent residents are required to supply to WORC each year.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Caymanian Employment and Immigration noted that such annual declarations have been included in the bill as a means to combat sham marriages.
“Persons who gain their Caymanian status through marriage will be required to file annual declarations,” she said. “These declarations will seek to ensure that the marriage is still intact, instead of placing the onus on the Compliance Department of WORC to conduct research and make the determination.”
Other amendments
The amendments also include the introduction of term limits for civil servants, details of which the government announced in May. This would bring the residency rules for expat government workers in line with foreign individuals in the private sector.
The proposed reforms also state that work-permit holders generally, with some exceptions, would not be allowed to change employers within the first two years of their permit being granted, “in an effort to curb job-hopping and encourage stability within the labour market”, the government statement noted. A permit holder would be required to leave Cayman for at least a year before being allowed to apply for another permit.
Another proposed change relates to holders of the right to be Caymanian by entitlement, such as a child of individuals who become Caymanian after the child is born. After reaching the age of 18, if that offspring resides outside Cayman for five years or more and fails to notify WORC, they would lose that right, under the amendments.
No regulations yet
While the 58-page, 37-clause immigration bill does outline a plethora of proposed changes, the associated regulations, as yet unpublished, will contain far more detail.
Alastair David of HSM law firm, which deals with many immigration-related cases, says asking the public to comment on the bill is premature, as any accompanying immigration regulations have not been issued.
“It is very difficult to have a full and proper consultation when you don’t have regulations published at the same time,” he said.
As an example of the information missing in the proposed legislation, he said, is the amount of money someone applying for a Certificate of Permanent Residence for Persons of Independent Means would need to invest in property in Cayman. The proposed legislation mentions only a “prescribed sum” approved by the director of WORC.
Under the existing legislation, that sum is $2 million invested in developed real estate.
“It’s difficult to comment on that [amendment] because we don’t know what or how much it is going to be,” David said. “What is the prescribed sum? … If it is $400,000, there will be people who want to comment on that. If it is $50 million, there will be people who want to comment on that.
“How can the Caymanian people fully comment on something so very important if they don’t have the totality of the changes that are being proposed?”
Public consultation
Immigration Minister Michael Myles, in the statement accompanying the release of the bill, emphasised the importance of input from members of the public and stakeholders on the proposed amendments.
“Public consultation of a bill is a cornerstone of good governance,” he said. “This process ensures that every voice is heard and that the Immigration Bill reflects the realities, needs, and aspirations of the people it will serve. By engaging with the public, we can craft a fair, transparent, and effective immigration system that upholds our national values and supports both our citizens and those who wish to contribute to our society.”
Lawyer Joseph, who has been studying the proposed legislation, echoed this, noting that the public feedback was vital. “This is an incredibly important moment for Cayman,” he told the Compass on 20 Oct. “What happens in the next 25 days could be critically important in the long term.”
Members of the public can send their input on the bill to government via email at [email protected].