Cayman Islands Immigration Update – September 2025

Recently there have been a number of decisions by the Deputy Governor’s Office to deny individuals applications for Naturalisation. Those decisions have fallen into two distinct categories. Firstly, those applicants who are students outside of the Cayman Islands and are yet to return to the Cayman Islands. The second decision we have seen relates to an individual who after successfully appealing against the rejection of their Permanent residency application had to wait more than 15 months to obtain his Residency and Employment Rights Certificate (RERC).

Category 1

Young adults who attend school outside of the Cayman Islands while possessing an RERC or even after extending their Right to be Caymanian on the basis of entitlement, are perhaps the most integrated into Caymanian society but that does not mean that they will be naturalised as a British Overseas Territory Citizen with a Connection to the Cayman Islands. The vast majority of the individuals will have spent their formative years in Cayman, they will have a number of Caymanian friends, they may even speak with a Caymanian accent. Equally, their home most probably will be in the Cayman Islands with their parents and perhaps their siblings.

Due to the fact that they are attending a University outside of the Cayman Islands, they will more than likely have spent more than the permitted 90 days outside of the Cayman Islands. The British Nationality Act 1981 requires an individual be a settled resident of the British Overseas Territory and further places certain conditions on the application. The applicant cannot be outside of the Cayman Islands for more than 90 days in any one calendar year (including the year prior to the application) or more than 450 days in a period of five years. However, exceptions can be made depending on the circumstances.

Unlike the majority of Immigration decisions in the Cayman Islands, where there are no published policies, there are a variety of policies published by the UK Home Office for applications for Naturalisation. However, the policy for how the Deputy Governor should exercise his discretion in regards to making an exception for absences of over 90 days in any one year (including the year prior to the application) and 450 days over a period of five years does not provide definitive guidance.

The policy states:

“The process for assessing if the statutory requirements are met will vary for territory to territory. However, for consistency, you may wish to refer to the guidance on naturalisation as a British citizen.”

Up until recently, the Deputy Governor’s Office took the view that those students who were attending higher education outside of the Cayman Islands had a reasonable explanation for why they were outside of the Cayman Islands for more than 90 days / 450 days and therefore exercised that discretion to grant the application.

This seemingly is no longer the case and we have seen a number of applications from students rejected in recent months. At no time, prior to the decisions has the Deputy Governor’s Office notify applicants or Immigration Service providers that they were going to change their approach or policy when processing these applications.

In an attempt to be consistent with the UK, the Deputy Governor’s office is seemingly applying a British policy to the Cayman Islands, despite the ability to exercise discretion, which is wholly unsuitable to the Cayman Islands.

The UK policy sets out that where an individual has absences greater than that set out in the UK policy the decision maker is able to exercise their discretion when the applicant has established their family in the UK and one of the following applies:

• at least 2 years residence (for applications under section 6(1)), or 1 year (for applications under section 6(2)), without substantial absences immediately prior to the beginning of the qualifying period – if the period of absence is greater than 730 days (for section 6(1)) or 450 days (for section 6(2)) the period of residence must be at least 3 or 2 years respectively.

• the excess absences are the result of:

• • postings abroad in Crown service under the UK government or in service designated under section 2(3) of the British Nationality act 1981.
  • accompanying a British citizen spouse or civil partner on an appointment overseas.

• the excess absences were an unavoidable consequence of the nature of the applicant’s career, such as a merchant seaman or employment with a multinational company based in the UK with frequent travel abroad.
• exceptionally compelling reasons of an occupational or compassionate nature to justify naturalisation now, such as a firm job offer where British citizenship is a statutory or mandatory requirement.
• the applicant was prevented from being in the UK because they had been removed from the UK, and the decision to remove them was later overturned.
• the applicant was incorrectly prevented from resuming permanent residence in the UK following an absence.
• the excess absences were because the applicant was unable to return to the UK because of global pandemic.

By the Deputy Governor following the above and applying it in a Cayman context, students are finding that their applications are being rejected. The fact that none of exceptions in the UK policy would apply to students is perhaps not surprising. The United Kingdom has over 260 higher education institutions and therefore there is no need to for an applicant for British Nationality to leave the UK to obtain the education they want. The Cayman Islands has far less and in many cases the Cayman Islands does not offer the courses that some people want. Despite this flaw the Deputy Governor’s office has now started to apply this narrow criteria.

Equally, the policy that is being applied to individuals who are absent for more than 100 days in the year prior to the application also means the chances for a student studying outside of the Cayman Islands and being successful in their naturalisation application are equally slim.

Whilst the Deputy Governor’s Office is saying that the student can apply when they return to the Cayman Islands, this offers little comfort to those who wish to be Naturalised as soon as possible. This is particularly true as it is unclear as to whether the individual has to wait a year and ensure that their absences fall below 90 days during that year period.

It would therefore seem that the unintended consequence of the Deputy Governor’s office is disenfranchise those Permanent Residents / RERC holders who have the strongest connections to the Cayman Islands from being naturalised.

Category 2

Last month, HSM Chambers were informed that a client who applied for Naturalisation did not meet the necessary criteria, as he had not had Permanent Residence for a year. This is a requirement of the British Nationality Act but can be waived. Since 2017, the Deputy Governor’s office, has waived this requirement when an individual has been waiting for over 15 months for a decision on their Permanent Residence application, including time spent successfully appealing the rejection, of an Permanent Residence application.

We were very surprised recently to learn that the Deputy Governor’s Officer were no longer abiding by this policy and they had unilaterally withdrawn it without consulting anyone or notifying the relevant persons. Perhaps what makes the decision even more egregious is that that UK Policy which the Department are now following (in regards to Students) states that in circumstances where “the applicant made an application for Indefinite Leave to Remain (Permanent Residence in Cayman) at least 15 months before the citizenship application, and was granted following a delay which was not their fault”, the 12 month period can be waived. It therefore appears, absent an explanation, one which has not been provided, the Deputy Governor’s Office is taking inconsistent approaches to applying the UK Policies in the Cayman Islands.

Conclusion

The current situation surrounding Naturalisation decision making is unsatisfactory. Those people with the strongest ties to the Cayman Islands are having applications rejected on the basis of a policy which does not take into account their own specific circumstances and the specific circumstances in the Cayman Islands, i.e. the limited courses available in the Cayman Islands and limited places. Equally, those people who could take advantage of a policy contained with the same document are being prevented from doing so, for reasons not clear to us. One thing is sure, if these issues continue, legal action will follow.

We would strongly urge that a clear and comprehensive policy is made available for all to see. This policy would have to be produced in agreement with the UK Home Office and take into account the special and unique circumstances of the Cayman Islands and other British Overseas Territories.

Latest Statistics

As at 11 August 2025, there are 37,262 work permits held in the Cayman Islands.

The top nationalities continue to be: Jamaica (14,298), Philippines (6,911), India (2,172), United Kingdom (2,077), Nepal (1,678), Canada (1,183), Honduras (1,100), United States of America (847) and Nicaragua (710).

Interestingly South Africa is nearing the top 10 nationalities with 686 permits.

From 1 January 2025 through 22 September 2025, the Board reviewed the following Right to be Caymanian (“RTBC”) applications:

• 221 RTBC applications on the basis of naturalisation.
• 124 RTBC applications on the basis of marriage.

Processing times from application to the notification of the result of the application continue (based on matters we are handling) remain consistent. We are currently advising clients to expect the following approximate processing times:

• Right to be Caymanian applications – 6-8 months.
• PR point based applications – 10-12 months.
• Naturalisation applications – 10 months.
• Variations to PR – up to 6 months.
• RERC as spouse of a Caymanian – up to 6 months.
• RERC as Spouse of a PR holder – up to 6 months.
• Work Permit grant – 12 weeks.
• Work Permit renewal – 12 weeks.
• Variations to work permit – between 3-6 months.