Businesses seeking permits to hire staff from overseas will face additional scrutiny under a new system aimed at ensuring Caymanians get the first shot at employment opportunities.
Employers will be legally required to advertise all job vacancies through a new national clearing house website similar to the Jobs Board policy that exists in Bermuda, which will allow officials to determine if a Caymanian has the skills for the position before a work permit can be granted.
Rather than advertising vacancies in a local newspaper, employers will be required to post the vacancy on the national clearing house portal and must comply with a process to determine whether there is a Caymanian that has the skills for that position. The option to advertise in the local media will remain but will not be mandatory.
The policy is part of a new system that involves the creation of the Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman (“WORC”) agency which will be responsible for advancing the cause of Caymanians in the workplace. The Immigration (Transition) Bill (the “Bill”) merges some of the functions of the Immigration Department and the old National Workforce Development Agency into one unit and was passed on Monday. The Bill sets out the remit of the new WORC agency and its responsibilities will include training and developing Caymanians for the workforce, helping the unemployed find work and processing work permit and residency applications.
The agency will also be tasked with running programs that help Caymanians find and keep employment. It will also collaborate with the private sector to identify skills and training gaps among Caymanian job-seekers and develop programmes to help fill those gaps. It will also be charged with gathering information on the labor market in the Cayman Islands and providing analysis on this data that will help government direct necessary resources on training and scholarships.
