Keep Calm and Carry On - Proposed Changes to Cayman's Immigration Act

With the publishing on Friday (17 October 2025) of the proposed new Immigration Bill, numerous clients have sought advice/reassurance that they will not be adversely affected by any proposed changes. Like with any change in legislation, there will be those who will be more affected than others but in the main it appears that the proposed changes will not be as severe as some had feared.

The previous Government published a white paper of proposed legislative changes in January of this year and while there are changes to those proposals, there are similarities. The Immigration (Transition) (Amendment and Validation) Bill 2025 was gazetted on Friday, 17 October 2025 and is open for public for consultation until 14 November 2025.

There will be for instance:

• No proposed term limit of 10 years.
• No proposed two-year rollover.
• There will be no blanket ban on work permit holders changing their employment.

It is however proposed that:

• The time that an individual can obtain the Right to be Caymanian (“Caymanian Status”) by Naturalisation be extended to 20 years resident in the Cayman Islands or 10 years post naturalisation.
• Residency and Employment Rights Certificates (“RERC”) whether obtained through marriage to a Caymanian or a PR holder will not be Permanent Residency and will be time barred.
• Certain Immigration certificates obtained by marriage can be revoked on the basis of reasonable suspicion, which is a lower standard of proof than the balance of probabilities.

And these were proposed under the previous Government.

What is noticeable however is that the transitional provisions make it clear that:

• Those individuals who currently have a pending PR / Residency and Employment Rights Certificate (“RERC”) application will be assessed and awarded PR if successful under the current Act.
• Those people who have started on the path to obtaining Cayman Status, i.e.
  • Those people who have applied for a RERC and currently have a Permission to Continue Work.
  • Those people who have a RERC granted under the current or earlier law.

Will be able to apply for the Right to be Caymanian as the law currently stands.  Therefore, if you have been granted an RERC or if you have applied for one, you will be able to obtain Cayman Status after being naturalised if you have been resident in the Cayman Islands for 15 years as opposed to the proposed 20 years.

It is therefore vital that those people who can apply for an RERC now should apply before the change in the Law so that they can take advantage of the transitional provisions.

One of the greatest issues with the current (and the previous) consultation is that the “meat” of the changes will no doubt be found in the Regulations which accompany the Act. It is clear that the current proposed changes envisage changes to the Regulations. However, those Regulations have not been provided for public consultation. This is an issue, and it is not clear why these proposed Regulations have not been published.

While, a view might be that Regulations are not often consulted upon, in an Immigration context, and when those Regulations will be so important it is believed that they should be published in this case.