The Business Staffing Plan

The following section explains how the Business Staffing Plan concept works, the requirements, and its benefits for both businesses and the Business Staffing Plan Board ('the BSP Board'). If you have further questions, feel free to contact the Business Staffing Plan Board Secretariat on 244-2098 or 244-2074.

What is a Business Staffing Plan

A Business Staffing Plan, for the purposes of the Immigration Law (2007 Revision) and the Immigration Regulations (2007 Revision), is a detailed plan of the staffing needs of a business. This plan provides the Department of Immigration and the BSP Board with valuable information relating to the staffing needs of your business over the next three to five years.

Who must have a Business Staffing Plan

Section 45 of the Immigration Law (2007 Revision) requires every company, firm or other business enterprise employing fifteen or more work permit holders to submit to the BSP Board a Business Staffing Plan in accordance with the Third Schedule to the Immigration Regulations (2007 Revision) by 31 March 2007. Companies or businesses employing fewer than fifteen work permit holders may submit a Business Staffing Plan. However, such a company must submit a Business Staffing Plan within six months of the date as of which they commence employing fifteen or more persons on work permits.

Who needs to be included in the Business Staffing Plan?

Paragraph 3 of the Third Schedule to the Immigration Regulations (2007 Revision) requires the following information to be included in a Business Staffing Plan:-

• the number of employees at the date of the submission of the Plan;
• the number of Caymanian and non-Caymanian employees;
• the positions occupied by all Caymanian and non-Caymanian employees, the nationality of the non-Caymanian employees and whether such non-Caymanian employees are permanent residents or holders of work permits;
• the length of time each position has been held by a work permit holder;
• in respect of posts held by work permit holders other than permanent residents, the likelihood of such posts being filled by Caymanians or permanent residents and the anticipated length of time, in respect of each post, before that happens;
• a list of the positions in the business that are identified as exempted positions and a brief statement as to why they are so considered;
• the anticipated growth of the business and its future plans for the next three years;
• the future anticipated needs of the business as regards its workforce for the next three years;
• the commitment of the business to education and development locally including scholarships, training schemes and in-house training;
• the recruitment policy of the business; and
• an identification by the business of the number of work permits that will be required in at least the next three years, the posts for which they will be required and the desired duration of those work permits.

A standard Business Staffing Plan submission form is available from the Department of Immigration or it can be downloaded here.

Key Employees

An employer may make an application to the Business Staffing Plan Board to nominate a worker as a key employee either on the grant or, in the case of an existing worker, at any time prior to the expiration of their final work permit under the term limit provisions of the Immigration Law (2007 Revision). In making such an application the employer must provide evidence that the worker fulfils one or more of the following requirements as stated in section 49 (4) of the Immigration Law (2007 Revision):

1. he is recognized as having particular expertise in his field of practice, trade or employment;
2. he is or will be directly involved in training Caymanians or developing their skills in the field in which he is employed or practices and his expertise in this regard is important to the effective continuation of such training or development;
3. he is or will be a professional employee whose expertise or skills are not available in adequate measure in the islands and it is of economic and social benefit to the business or the islands to attract such skills to the islands;
4. his absence from the islands will be detrimental or cause serious hardship to his employer, to Caymanians or to the islands;
5. his business contacts are or will be of importance to the continued success of the business or its contribution to the islands;
6. there exists other economic or social benefits to the island by virtue of securing or retaining his specialist skills or expertise; or
7. the circumstances of his particular case are considered by the Board to be exceptional and to justify a special reason to employ him or allow him to be designated as an exempted employee.

For further guidance on the sort of information that is useful when seeking to demonstrate why a worker fits into any of these subsections, please click here.

What are the benefits of filing a business staffing plan with the BSP Board?

A Business Staffing Plan will assist both the BSP Board and your business to plan for the future. With your Business Staffing Plan the BSP Board will have a much better idea of your present and future business staffing needs and you will have a much better idea of the Board's requirements for the education, training and promotion of Caymanians within your business. There are, however, other benefits:

• Under the present system, Part II of the work permit application form requires an employer to provide information on each application concerning the composition of its workforce and its efforts to recruit Caymanians. If a Business Staffing Plan has been approved, all the information required by Part II (and more) will be contained in the Business Staffing Plan and companies will therefore not have to complete this section each time it applies for the grant or renewal of a work permit. In fact, there will be a different, shorter, application form to use when applying for work permits for positions listed in the Business Staffing Plan Certificate.
• Having an approved Business Staffing Plan will ensure that the work permits you require are processed quickly and efficiently.
• In general there will be no more deferrals of applications in order to obtain additional information about the business or its workforce, save for where there are conditions applied to a position or where the employer applies to vary the Business Staffing Plan.
• Quicker renewal of work permits.
• Quicker granting of work permits when new personnel are recruited as replacements in existing positions.

What happens if my business staffing needs are unpredictable and fluctuate from year to year

No business can be absolutely certain of its business staffing needs from year to year. Businesses will know what their needs have been, but many may find it difficult to predict how these needs might change in the future. If staffing needs change from those predicted in a Business Staffing Plan, the business will have a number of options:-

• If there has been a reduction in the number of staff required, a business may choose not to apply for all the positions included in the Business Staffing Plan Certificate.
• If there has been an increase in the number of staff required that was not originally anticipated or included in the Business Staffing Plan Certificate, the business can apply to the BSP Board for those additional staffing needs.
• A business may choose at any time to file an amended Business Staffing Plan to be considered by the BSP Board where there has been a substantial change in its staffing needs.
• Businesses may simply choose to maintain their status quo and predict that their business will not increase or decrease over the next three to five years.

How will the Business Staffing Plan Board assess a proposed Business Staffing Plan?

A quorum of five members of the BSP Board meets weekly to consider proposed Business Staffing Plans and applications for the grant or renewal of work permits approved under a Business Staffing Plan Certificate.

Each industry will be given at least one month's notice of the dates upon which their proposed Plans will be heard and each business or company within the industry will be invited to meet with the BSP Board on the date that their Plan is being heard. Once a Plan has been approved, the BSP Board will issue a Business Staffing Plan Certificate under which work permits may be issued, upon application, in relation to specific positions listed in the Business Staffing Plan Certificate. For certain positions the BSP may waive the requirement to advertise before submitting an application for the grant or renewal of a work permit. In addition, the Business Staffing Plan Certificate will indicate if there are other conditions to be fulfilled such as, if, and by when, a position should be filled by a Caymanian or scholarship requirement. Such conditions will be applicable to the relevant positions.

All positions included in the Business Staffing Plan Certificate will be cross-referenced in the Department of Immigration's database to the name of the current work permit holder. This is to ensure that there is no duplication of work permits for each position granted, and to enable the business or company to apply for replacements when work permit holders leave.

How can we be assured that the Business Staffing Plan structure will not be abused by the businesses or the BSP Board?

The Business Staffing Plan concept requires trust and goodwill on both sides.

• The BSP Board must understand and accept that not every effort to recruit or train a Caymanian for a certain position is going to meet with success.
• For their part, businesses must accept that the BSP Board will pay close attention to any drastic increases in the number of expatriates proposed in any Business Staffing Plan.
• Both parties must accept that this process requires open, honest discussion and negotiation in order to work.

The BSP Board is confident that such a spirit of cooperation exists within the business community and looks forward to working with employers in an efficient, understanding and fair way.

Last Updated: 2008-01-16