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Term Limits amd Term Limit Exemption Permits

Term Limits amd Term Limit Exemption Permits

The following section has information on Term Limits as laid down in Immigration Law

The following are the rules in relation to term limits (Section 52 of the Immigration Law, (2010 Revision)

  1. Subject to subsections (4), (6), (7), (9) and (11), the term limit of a worker who is a key employee is nine years and the term limit of a worker who is not a key employee is seven years save that in the case of a worker employed in a prescribed occupation and industry his term limit shall be ten years, whether or not he is a key employee, in any case commencing with 
    1. the date on which the worker first entered the Islands, if the worker first entered the Islands as a work permit holder; or
    2. the date on which the worker is granted a work permit, if the worker first entered the Islands as a tourist visitor,

    whether such permits are granted and held continuously or not; and upon the expiration of his term limit, the worker shall leave the Islands and neither the Board nor the Chief Immigration Officer shall grant or renew a work permit for him until he has ceased to hold a work permit for not less than one year after he has left the Islands.

    2.  

  2. A worker who leaves the Islands before the expiration of his term limit and who has ceased to hold a work permit for not less than one year, may apply for and be granted a new work permit and shall thereupon have a new term limit as provided for in subsection (1).

    3.  

  3. Where a worker has left the Islands prior to the expiration of his term limit and has ceased to hold a work permit but either he or his employer wishes to apply for a new work permit prior to his having ceased to hold a work permit for a year or more, then the worker or his employer may apply for and be granted a new work permit for the unexpired period only of his term limit that remained on the date he left the Islands and, upon the expiration of his term limit, he shall be subject to the provisions of subsection (1).

    4.  

  4. Where at 1st January, 2004 a worker has worked in the Islands continuously for any of the periods referred to in this subsection or did subsequently complete such period after 1st January, 2004 taking into account the last work permit granted to him prior to that date to the extent not cancelled or otherwise determined and any period of time he may have spent as an employee of the Government of the Islands, then he may, if application is made for the grant or renewal of further work permits for or by him, and at the discretion of the Board or the Chief Immigration Officer, be granted work permits for the following additional periods to commence immediately upon the expiration or other determination of the work permit in force on 1st January, 2004:
    1. where the period was five years or more but less than six years, a period not exceeding three years;
    2. where the period was six years or more but less than seven, a period not exceeding two years;
    3. where the period was seven years or more but less than eight years, a period not exceeding one year;
    4. where the period was eight years or more, a period expiring no later than 31st December, 2006.

    5.  

  5. For the purposes of determining the length of time a worker has worked continuously in the Islands under subsection (4), he shall be treated as having so worked notwithstanding any break in his employment or absence from the Islands for any reason prior to 1st January, 2004 if such break or absence did not exceed six consecutive months at any one time in the period.

    6.  

  6. Subject to subsection (9) where a worker either falls within subsection (4) or has been designated as a key employee and in either event has applied for permission to reside permanently in the Islands under section 30 prior to, or within ninety days of, the expiration of his final work permit he shall be entitled either-
    1. to continue working upon the same terms and conditions as applied to his final work permit; or
    2. to work for a different employer

    7.  

  7. Subject to subsection (9), where a worker has been granted a fixed-term work permit and prior to such grant had been qualified to apply for permission to reside permanently in the Islands under section 30 but had either not done so or had applied subsequent to the expiration of his final work permit, then he may prior to the expiration of his fixed-term work permit apply for the said permission under section 30 and in either event he shall be entitled upon the expiration of his fixed-term work permit, to work-
    1. on the same terms and conditions as applied to his fixed-term work permit; or
    2. for any other employer;

    save that time spent working thereon shall not be taken into account by the Board when considering his application under section 30.

    8.  

  8. A person who intends to work by operation of law under subsection (6) or (7) or section 49(1) shall first submit, or cause to be submitted, his passport to the Immigration Department and his employer shall pay annually all fees that would have been paid in respect of the person had he continued to be employed on a work permit and thereupon his passport shall be endorsed acknowledging him to be working by operation of law.

    9.  

  9. A person working by operation of law under subsection (6) or (7) shall, in the event that his application for permission to reside permanently in the Islands has been unsuccessful and no appeal has been filed within the time allowed for doing so or having been filed has been unsuccessful and all further appeals have been exhausted, be entitled to one additional final non-renewable work permit with any employer not exceeding twelve months in duration from the date of the communication to him of such refusal or the determination of any appeal or proceedings arising therefrom, whichever shall be the later, and after such work permit expires he shall leave the Islands and neither the Board nor the Chief Immigration Officer shall grant or renew a work permit for him until he has ceased to hold a work permit for not less than one year thereafter.

    10.  

  10. A person who, as an approved dependant, accompanies to the Islands a worker or an employee -
    1. of the Government of the Islands; or
    2. of the Government of the United Kingdom, in the Islands,

    may himself become a worker but his term limit shall be deemed to have commenced on the date on which he was first within the Islands as an approved dependant and he shall be thereafter subject to the provisions of this section as if he had first entered the Islands as a worker.

    11.  

  11. A person-
    1. who is married to -
      1. a worker;
      2. a person employed by the Government of the Islands;
      3. a person employed by the Government of the United Kingdom, in the Islands;
      4. a person employed by any statutory authority or Government owned company, the employees of which are by law not required to hold work permits; or
      5. a person who is working by operation of law under subsection (6) or (7),

      2. and whose right to work in the Islands will expire before that of his spouse;

    2. whose marriage is in the opinion of the Board not a marriage of convenience;
    3. who is not living apart from his spouse under a decree of a competent court or under a deed of separation; and
    4. who has not lived apart from his spouse for an aggregate period of three months out of the twelve months immediately preceding the application for the grant in circumstances which, in the opinion of the Board, have led it to conclude that the marriage has broken down,

      5. may, during the currency of his spouse's work permit, Term Limit Exemption Permit or contract of employment with the Government of the Islands or with the Government of the United Kingdom in the Islands or in the period during which his spouse is working by operation of law under subsection (6) or (7), apply for the grant of a work permit or the renewal of an existing work permit; and the Board may grant the application -

      1. other than in respect of a person to whom subparagraph (ii) below applies, for a period not exceeding that of the spouse's work permit or any renewal thereof or of his contract of employment as aforesaid or of the period for which his spouse is working by operation of law; or
      2. in the case of a person whose spouse's right to be granted work permits is subject to a term limit of seven years as provided for in subsection (1), for a period not exceeding nine years from the commencement of his term limit;

        3. but the period of any work permit granted or renewed under this subsection shall not be taken into account by the Board in considering an application under section 30 for permission to reside permanently in the Islands.

  12. Where a work permit has been granted to a worker under subsection (11) and his spouse ceases to have the right to work and is required to leave the Islands under the provisions of this section, the work permit granted shall automatically terminate on the date on which his spouse ceases to have the right to work and the worker shall himself leave the Islands and not be entitled to the grant or renewal of any further work permits until he has ceased to hold a work permit for not less than one year after he has left the Islands.

    13.  

  13. The Board, in calculating under subsection (11)(d), the period of time that an applicant has spent apart from his spouse, shall not take into account those occasions when either spouse's absences were because of medical, educational, business, vacation or other analogous circumstances.

    14.  

  14. Where a person appeals against the decision of the Board in respect of this section, the relevant Board having determined that by virtue of the expiration of his term limit, it had no power to grant or renew his work permit, any period that he spends in the Islands thereafter while awaiting the outcome of his appeal shall not be taken into account by the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board in determining the length of time for which he is considered to have been legally and ordinarily resident in the Islands for the purposes of an application under section 30 for permission to reside permanently in the Islands save and except to the extent that his appeal is wholly or partially successful.

    15.  

  15. A fixed-term work permit granted under subsection (15)-
    1. shall be non-renewable and non-extendable; and
    2. shall confer upon the worker the right to have reside with him in the Islands for the duration thereof such of his dependants as were previously approved under the last work permit held by him.

    16.  

  16. The Chief Immigration Officer's decision in relation to the grant or refusal of the application for, or the revocation of, a fixed-term work permit is final and binding.

    17.  

  17. Section 56(3) shall not apply to a grantee of a fixed-term work permit.

    18.  

  18. No worker who has applied for a grant of permanent residence upon or prior to the expiration of a work permit granted pursuant to subsection (4) shall be entitled to apply for or obtain a fixed-term work permit.

    19.  

  19. On the grant or renewal of a work permit, the Board or the Chief Immigration Officer shall notify the worker and his employer of the worker's term limit and its expiration date for the purposes of this Law.

    20.  

  20. For the avoidance of doubt subsection (1) does not apply to a person

      who acquired permanent residence prior to 21st December 2006 and at such date had not obtained a Residency & Employment Rights Certificated; or

    1. who before the 21st December 2006, had, and continues to have, his normal place of work and abode for the time being outside the Islands and who enters the Islands to work on a temporary work permit for a specific purpose or occasion only and leaves the Islands at the conclusion thereof or upon the expiration of the temporary work permit, whichever first occurs, including-
      1. legal counsel acting in any matter whether before a court in the Islands or otherwise;
      2. visiting doctors or other specialists in the medical field;
      3. skilled specialist tradesmen;
      4. travelling salesmen; or
      5. other persons in similar circumstances.

Last Updated: 2011-11-01