Applying for a BOTC passport
Once a child is born overseas of a marriage between a Caymanian and a non-Caymanian, can you apply for the Cayman passport for the child while overseas? And for Caymanians just generally living overseas, can we apply for a Cayman passport or renew our Cayman passport while overseas? If so, how?
Auntie’s answer: No, you cannot apply for or renew a British Overseas Territories Citizen/Cayman Islands passport while you are off-island. An official with the Passport Office confirmed you must be in Cayman to apply, and explained the process.
In the case of a child born overseas to a Caymanian, the office must first ascertain his or her eligibility. To do that, the parents must scan and email a series of documents which will be reviewed — the child’s birth certificate, the Caymanian parent’s birth certificate if born in the Cayman Islands or the parent’s naturalisation certificate if born overseas, and the parents’ marriage certificate.
Once it is determined that the child or individual (if it is an adult applying) is eligible for the passport, the next step is to get the application processed online by Her Majesty’s Passport Office in the UK through the government website.
The official also to wanted to point out the passport will be a “look alike”, meaning “the cover will be that of a British Citizen passport but the nationality on the data page should read British Overseas Territories Citizen”.
Send questions to auntie@caymannewsservice.com
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Category: Ask Auntie
It is now standard protocol , for most nationalities , to apply via the countries online passport renewal application process for lodging the relevant application request , but you still have to be present in an embassy , foreign affairs trade office , or consulate to take physical possession of the new passport and have the old one that is expiring be in-validated and to prove citizenship , along with other documentation. Cayman is simply complying with those rules that other countries have adopted in recent years , as recently as 2015 in some cases. Gone are the days ( for most citizenships) , where you used to just FedEx off the old passport and an application, then you got it back in a weeks time. Most other countries take seriously the renewal and replacement of its citizens proof of nationality , Cayman is also taking it seriously. I am sure there are exceptions though to this general rule.
To renew or apply for a BOTC/CAYMAN ISLAND passport everything has to be done online so why the dickens do you MUST be in the Cayman Islands to renew/apply? Am a Caymanian living in Southeast Asia half world away from Cayman and have to travel all the way back to Cayman Islands to go online to renew my passport that is really pathetic, I’d really like to know the reasons why? so I would have to take back the word pathetic. Hope an official or someone with authority make it clear why.
There are many Caymanians that we’re not naturalized that received the right to be Caymanian letters of confirmation in instances when they were not born in the Cayman Islands. Can they just provide that letter in lieu of the naturalization?
No. Caymanian and BOTC are two different things. If you are not a BOTC you cannot get a Cayman passport.
Explain?
Being a Caymanian means you possess the Caymanian Status, whether by birth or grant. Caymanian Status is governed by the Cayman Islands Immigration Law.
Passports are governed by different law, the British Nationality Act. That Act identifies and grants persons a type of citizenship, known as British Overseas Territories Citizenship (BOTC). Only persons who have that citizenship can hold BOTC Passports.
The Immigration Law used to require persons to become BOTC’s before they could be granted Caymanian Status. That was intended to ensure that pretty much all Caymanians could have Cayman Passports. However, the Cabinet Status Grants in 2003, and amendments to the Immigration Law in relation to the spouses of Caymanians have created thousands of Caymanians who are not BOTC’s and therefore cannot have Cayman Passports.
To become a BOTC you must make an application known as naturalization. If you are a child the process is known as registration.
There are also many hundreds, possibly thousands, of non Caymanians who are BOTC’s and accordingly hold Cayman Passports even though they are not Caymanian.
Then the right to be Caymanian letter/acknowledgment as a Caymanian or whatever it is called serves what purpose?
Demonstrates that you are Caymanian and allowed to live and work in Cayman without Immigration permission.
Does that mean that Caymanians need to be naturalized to get a passport then?
Only if they are not BOTC’s – although it seems thousands are not. These include many Cabinet status grant recipients and spouses of Caymanians who were allowed to become Caymanian without first crossing the citizenship hurdle.
Caymanians are referred to now as BOTC it is the same. Persons having Caymanian status gives you permission to remain on the islands, come and go at will and gives you the right to work. You can lose it and it doesn’t make a person holding it a BOTC. Naturalization makes one a BOTC and gives you the right to a BOTC passport.
Seriously this must be the only country in the world this is the case. Everywhere else in the world you can apply while overseas.
The requirement to be here is mad and probably unconstitutional. There does not appear to be any legitimate reason for it. Can anyone explain?
Yes. The same applies to British Citizens, i.e. those either born in the UK or naturalized there.
It says on the application instructions that you must be in the UK to renew your passport. Someone else can attend the passport office to turn in the form and collect the passport, but they need a letter from you stating that you are in fact in the country at that time. (You might have a second nationality and be out of the UK on a different passport).
There is an exception for Caymanian holders of BOTC passports who take out a British Citizen passport as well by applying from within the Cayman Islands; you can renew your British Citizen passport by putting the application through the C.I. Passport Office instead of travelling to the U.K.
WRONG. where did you get this info from? You CAN apply for a UK passport from outside the UK
No you can apply at any British embassy wherever they are in the world. Why can’t you do the same for the Cayman passport. The passport is issued by the UK anyway.