I am a non-Caymanian that has been married to a Caymanian for a couple of years and we are both living abroad at the moment. My wife has decided to move back to her Caymanian home to live. I have read the immigration requirements to apply for a Residency and Employment Rights Certificate (RERC) and it may take a few months to be approved. What I would like to enquire is what would be my status while I have to wait for the approval if I come under a tourist visa since it states for a 30-day stay?
Ask Auntie sponsor
Auntie’s answer: The answer is actually very straightforward. A Department of Immigration official explained that upon your arrival in Cayman you would be considered a visitor pending the outcome of your application for an RERC.
While that process is ongoing, you will need to go to immigration headquarters on Elgin Avenue to get extensions on your stay until the department makes a decision.
How long does it take to get RERC approved?
They say 6 weeks but mine took twice that
What do you do in the meantime? Get an express work permit?
We were staying with family and my spouse was working so I took the time to brush up my qualifications at UCCI and get my driving license.
Hope you had a student visa!
Is it possible to apply for RERC while off island? Eg got married to a foreigner while off island. Both want to stay employed until RERC gets approved. Move to the island once RERC is approved. No break in working.
If this is not possible, then it seems disadvantageous for Caymanians to bring their foreign spouses home. While it is nice to take a break in working, not everyone can afford to take that break.
More discrimination against Caymanians. If only the spouse had married an expat instead of a Caymanian. Then they could be resident in Cayman within days.
Not really. First, either they would both need work permits, or the spouse would have to enter as a visitor in exactly the same way, with the difference that they would then have to leave before being granted a work permit. Second, they would always be vulnerable to one of them having to leave if they lost their work permit, which wouldn’t apply to the Caymanian or their expat spouse. Last, the Caymanian spouse can arrive immediately as a visitor, so your comment that if only they were both expats they could be resident in days and the Caymanian s spsiuse is disadvantaged is simply wrong- no difference at all on arrival time. So basically no discrimination at all against the Caymanians spouse – quite the opposite.
Ummm…. if you are not married to a Caymanian Immigration will give you a work permit in days.
Fred. The spouse of a work permit holder is treated much more expeditiously than the spouse of a Caymanian. It really is that simple.
Just be aware that you and your spouse need to be present at immigration to get an extension, I went by myself and was turned away after queuing for half an hour.
Aunties answer illustrates the failing of the current immigration laws. Here is the spouse of a Caymanian , who wont even be considered the courtesy of being given permission to stay ( and not work) while his application is processed , in order to allow him to stay with his family , exempt from a restriction. The ruling cant be considered anything else, except to make a person feel unwanted.
And EVERY extension will cost the poor chap $$$$! Government strikes again!
Yup. Immigration is incompetently slow and then fines people for its own failures.
Extensions for people waiting for an RERC are free.
How so? Not according to the regulations.
That’s what the lady behind the counter told me when I got my extension.
Ah, so it is made up Law. Cool.
Please explain how this true?
When I was waiting for my RERC to be approved and needed to get my visitor’s visa extended the lady behind the counter at Immigration said there was no charge as my spouse was Caymanian.
And yet someone not married to a Caymanian could get a work permit in less than 48 hours. Madness.
Or just become a dependant on the work permit and have every right to stay on island as long as that work permit is valid.
What is the process to obtain RERC? Do you have to go through a lawyer?
Ask Alden. He is a lawyer. He is in charge of this and a great many other screw ups.
Only if you want to be ripped off.
Download the form, fill it in, get your references, then take it all to immigration. We didn’t need the services of a lawyer.