I am a Caymanian married to a non-Caymanian. She has permanent residency with the right to work and it expires in September (seven years). She went to immigration and was told she should apply for status, but she cannot do that until after seven years. Can PR be extended to allow for the status application to process? She got both yes and no answers from immigration.
Ask Auntie sponsor
Auntie’s answer: I contacted the Department of Immigration and an official explained that your wife’s Residency and Employment Rights Certificate may be renewed after the seven years, a decision which is at the discretion of the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board.
The official also pointed out that if an applicant has been married to his or her Caymanian spouse for at least seven years immediately before the application, and the marriage occurred on or after 1 January 2004, the person may apply to the board for the right to be Caymanian on the grounds of marriage.
She needs to apply for “Spouse of a Caymanian with Rights to Work” I think the Form is called RERC. And then once you have been married for seven years that is when she applies for status in her own right.
But she needs to be a legal and ordinary resident when she applies and while it is pending, and so may need to renew her RERC first.
My understanding is that one of the recent changes to the Immigration Law is to remove the 7-year term limit on the RERC. If my understanding is correct then there will be no need to renew the RERC once the amendment comes into effect.
Still needs renewal if status not granted before the expiry of the old one.
No, it doesn’t. As long as the status application is submitted at reaching 7 years married, there is no need to renew RERC. That is the process I followed only 2 years ago and received the same information from multiple immigration sources. The only thing I had to do was get a stamp in my passport from immigration that allowed me to travel. That was quick and easy to get.
How does your spouse work while they have a pending status application but after an RERC has expired? A person with a pending status application has no right to live and work in the Cayman Islands unless and until they have an alternative permission, hence the requirement to renew the RERC if it is going to expire before the status is granted.