Full Work Permit

55. (1) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall carry on gainful occupation in the Islands unless — (a) the person is Caymanian; (b) the person has acquired permanent residence with a right to work under this or any earlier law; (c) the person has acquired the right to reside and to work in the Islands as a result of the issue of a Residency and Employment Rights Certificate; (d) the person is authorised to do so by a work permit granted under this or any earlier law;

(3) A person who seeks to be self-employed or a prospective employer of any person may apply for a work permit

(3) A person who seeks to be self-employed or a prospective employer of any person may apply for a work permit or the renewal thereof — (a) to the Work Permit Board, the Business Staffing Plan Board or the Director of WORC, as the case may be, where the application is for gainful occupation in Grand Cayman; or Page 66 Revised as at 31st December, 2021 c Immigration (Transition) Act (2022 Revision) Section 56 (b) to the Cayman Brac and Little Cayman Immigration Board where the application is for gainful occupation in Cayman Brac or Little Cayman. (4) An application for the grant or renewal of a work permit shall be in the prescribed form and accompanied by — (a) the administrative filing fee, the work permit fee and where applicable the dependant fee and repatriation fee and such documentary evidence as may be prescribed; (b) a written undertaking by the worker to submit to being fingerprinted and to the fingerprints being recorded electronically; and (c) any of the following documents, as applicable — (i) a vaccination certificate relating to the person

Prior to submitting a work permit on or after 1 May permit; 2026, an employer must demonstrate that the position has been advertised for a minimum of • Domestic Helpers, who may continue working as twenty-one (21) days in both of the following a domestic helper for a different employer; prescribed media: Specified exemption circumstances, include: • the WORC electronic Jobs Portal; and • regular unpaid overtime, or work outside the job • a locally printed newspaper. description without compensation • Discrimination, bullying, retaliation or harassment However, a three-week grace period will apply where (including sexual, physical, or verbal) permit applications submitted up to 21 May 2026 • other circumstances that the Director of WORC may still rely on advertisements that met the previous considers sufficient 14-day requirement. The application must be: After 21 May 2026, the grace period will end, and all work permit applications must be supported by • made in writing within 3 working days after advertisements that meet the new 21-day termination of employment requirement. • supported by proof of the circumstance relied on • accompanied by proof that a complaint was While employers may choose to advertise vacancies made to an appropriate authority on additional platforms, this does not replace the mandatory requirement to advertise in both the The Director of WORC will notify the person of the electronic Jobs Portal and a local newspaper for determination within 30 working days after receiving work permit purposes. When advertising in a local a complete application. newspaper, employers are required to show proof of Employer duty to notify WORC when employment 3 consecutive weeks of advertising for the post with ends a minimum of one advertisement per week.

First-time holders of a work permit cannot change civil partner where applications are filed pursuant to employers within the first two (2) years of Section 58(3)(d) relative to work permits and Section employment. For the purpose of this provision, a “first- 38(3)(g) relative to applications for Residency time holder” refers to a person who has never Employment Rights Certificate as the spouse or civil previously been issued a work permit in the Cayman partner of a Caymanian. Islands.

(2) Subject to section 66, on the grant or renewal of an application under section 56, the work permit applied for shall be issued in the prescribed form for such period of up to three years generally, as the Board or the Director of WORC may determine, save that the Board or the Director of WORC, may grant a work permit for a period of up to — (a) one year for temporary workers or seasonal workers; (b) five years to domestic helpers, teachers, doctors, nurses and ministers of religion; (c) five years to workers for positions authorised by the Board in a Business Staffing Plan Certificate; and (d) five years to a director, officer or employee of a special economic zone developer or special economic zone enterprise operating in a special economic zone for which a career development bureau has been established, and the work permit shall be endorsed with particulars of the conditions and limitations, if any, imposed by the Board or the Director of WORC on the grant or renewal.

66. (1) Subject to subsections (4), (6), (8), (10) and (11), the term limit of a worker shall be nine years, in any case commencing with — (a) the date on which the worker first entered the Islands, if the worker first entered the Islands as a work permit holder; or (b) 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 the worker’s term limit, the worker shall leave the Islands and neither the Board nor the Director of WORC shall grant or renew a work permit for the worker until the worker has ceased to hold a work permit for not less than one year after the worker has left the Islands.

(4) Where a person is eligible to apply and has applied for permission to reside permanently in the Islands under section 37 during the currency of a work permit, the person may apply to the Director of WORC for permission — (a) to continue working on the same terms that applied to the work permit or those that applied to that person working by operation of law; or (b) to work for a different employer but in the same occupation as that in which that person was authorised to work at the time of making the application; and (c) to add or delete a dependant, as applicable, and such permission may be granted or renewed by the Director of WORC until such time as that person’s application or any appeal arising from it is determined.