Maintaining Caymanian status if off-island
Please can you check on how long you are allowed to be away if you have status and are naturalised with a Cayman passport?
Auntie’s answer: As suggested by your question, there is normally a time constraint on living overseas if you hold Caymanian status. Section 27(1) of the Immigration Law (2015 Revision) says, “The right to be Caymanian granted by the Board may be lost – (b) where the holder has ordinarily resided outside the Islands for a period of five years and can no longer be said to be settled in the Islands.”
However, an official at the Department of Immigration clarified the meaning of “may be lost” since to me that also implies it “may not be lost”. The Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board under that same section will consider whether the person will be allowed to continue to maintain the right to be Caymanian or lose that status. “This will depend on whether the evidence/response provided to the board has been satisfactory,” the official explained.
I cannot say what evidence will be acceptable as I believe that will have to be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Send questions to auntie@caymannewsservice.com
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Category: Ask Auntie, Immigration Questions
Cayman is full of fake Caymanians
Arbitrary and opaque. Thought they fixed it. Oh well, perhaps not.
Not even close.
No accountability. What else do you expect would happen?
Do you need to be present on island for at least one week a year? One month a year? 6 months? 6 months every 2 years? At least 365 over a period of 5 years? It’s quite unclear and unnerving if they ever enforce it.
Or can I live off island more than 5 years call my work ‘education’ like Tara Rivers did and get an exemption?
If status was granted by cabinet (rather than the board) does this still apply?
No. You can move away never intending to return, have lots of children who will all be Caymanian, pretend to own businesses in Cayman and facilitate fronting and generally do whatever the hell you want forever with no issue.
The only risk is that cabinet could revoke your status, but you would have to commit a crime, they would have to know about it, and then they would have to act.
From the response here lays the major problem of the whole immigration system.
And there are many, many others.