s.52Term limits
52
Section 52Part 5 — Gainful Occupation of Non-Caymanians

Term limits

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Subject to subsections (4), (6), (8), (10) and (11) the term limit of a worker shall be nine years, whether or not he is a key employee, in any case commencing with —
the date on which the worker first entered the Islands, if the worker first entered the Islands as a work permit holder; or
the date on which the worker is granted a work permit, if the worker first entered the Islands as a tourist visitor,
whether such permits are granted and held continuously or not, and upon the expiration of his term limit, the worker shall leave the Islands and neither the Board nor the Chief Immigration Officer shall grant or renew a work permit for him until he has ceased to hold a work permit for not less than one year after he has left the Islands.
A worker who leaves the Islands before the expiration of his term limit and who has ceased to hold a work permit for not less than one year, may apply for and be granted a new work permit and shall thereupon have a new term limit as provided for in subsection (1).
Where a worker has left the Islands prior to the expiration of his term limit and has ceased to hold a work permit but either he or his employer wishes to apply for a new work permit prior to his having ceased to hold a work permit for one year or more, then the worker or his employer may apply for and be granted new work permits but his term limit shall remain as if his employment had not been interrupted, save that should he return after the commencement of the Immigration (Amendment) (No. 2) Law, 2013[Law 23 of 2013] his term limit shall be as stated in subsection (1) and, upon the expiration of such term limit, he shall be subject to the provisions of subsection (1) unless he is allowed to remain under some other provision of the Law.
Subject to subsection (5), where a person is eligible to apply and has applied for permission to reside permanently in the Islands under section 30 during the currency of a work permit, a Term Limit Exemption Permit or whilst working by operation of law under section 52A(11) he may apply to the Chief Immigration Officer for permission —
to continue working on the same terms that applied to the work permit, the Term Limit Exemption Permit or those that applied to his working by operation of law; or
to work for a different employer but in the same occupation as that in which he was authorised to work at the time of making the application,
and such permission may be granted or renewed until such time as his application or any appeal arising from it is determined.
Any permission granted under subsection (4) may be varied by the Chief Immigration Officer to add or remove a dependant or may be revoked on any of the grounds listed under section 48(10).
A person who intends to work by operation of law under section 49(2) or 52A (11) shall first submit, or cause to be submitted, his passport to the Immigration Department and his employer shall pay annually all fees that would have been paid in respect of the person had he continued to be employed on a work permit and thereupon his passport shall be endorsed acknowledging him to be working by operation of law.
A person who fails to comply with subsection (6) commits an offence.
A person working under permission granted under subsection (4) shall, in the event that his application for permission to reside permanently in the Islands has been unsuccessful and no appeal has been filed within the time allowed for doing so or having been filed has been unsuccessful and all further appeals have been exhausted and in either event his term limit has expired, be entitled to continue receiving permission under subsection (4) for a period not exceeding ninety days from the date of the communication to him of such refusal or the determination of any appeal or proceedings arising therefrom, whichever shall be the later, and after such period expires he shall leave the Islands and neither the Board nor the Chief Immigration Officer shall issue or renew a work permit for him until he has ceased to hold a work permit for not less than one year thereafter.
A person who, as an approved dependant, accompanies to the Islands a worker or employee —
of the Government of the Islands; or
of the Government of the United Kingdom, in the Islands,
may himself become a worker but his term limit shall be deemed to have commenced on the date on which he was first within the Islands as an approved dependant and he shall be thereafter subject to the provisions of this section as if he had first entered the Islands as a worker.
A person —
who is married to —
a worker;
a person employed by the Government of the Islands;
a person employed by the Government of the United Kingdom, in the Islands;
a person employed by any statutory authority or Government owned company, the employees of which are by law not required to hold work permits; or
a person who is working by operation of law under section 49(2) or 52A(11), or with the permission granted under subsection (4) or (8),
and whose right to work in the Islands will expire before that of his spouse;
whose marriage is in the opinion of the Board or the Chief Immigration Officer not a marriage of convenience;
who is not living apart from his spouse under a decree of a competent court or under a deed of separation; and
who has not lived apart from his spouse for an aggregate period of three months out of the twelve months immediately preceding the application for the grant in circumstances which, in the opinion of the Board or the Chief Immigration Officer, have led it to conclude that the marriage has broken down,
may, during the currency of the spouse’s work permit or contract of employment with the Government of the Islands or with the Government of the United Kingdom in the Islands or in the period during which his spouse is working by operation of law under section 49(2), 52A(12) or with permission granted under subsection (4) or (8), apply for the grant of a work permit or the renewal of an existing work permit; and the Board or the Chief Immigration Officer may grant the application for a period not exceeding that of the spouse’s work permit or any renewal thereof or of his contract of employment as aforesaid or of the period for which his spouse is working by operation of law or under permission granted under subsection (4) or (8).
A person working under subsection (10) whose spouse is granted permanent residence under section 30 and who has applied for a Residency and Employment Rights Certificate as the spouse of a permanent resident under section 30(16) will not lose his right to work and may continue to be granted work permits until the final determination of his application where that application was submitted within ninety days of the grant of his spouse’s permanent residence.
Where a work permit has been granted to a worker under subsection (10) and his spouse ceases to have the right to work and is required to leave the Islands, the work permit granted shall automatically terminate on the date on which his spouse ceases to have the right to work and the worker shall himself leave the Islands and not be entitled to the grant or renewal of any further work permits until he has ceased to hold a work permit for not less than one year after he has left the Islands.
The Board or the Chief Immigration Officer, in calculating under subsection (10)(d), the period of time that an applicant has spent apart from his spouse, shall not take into account those occasions when either spouse’s absences were because of medical, educational, business, vacation or other analogous circumstances.
On the grant or renewal of a work permit, the Board or the Chief Immigration Officer shall notify the worker and his employer of the worker’s term limit and its expiration date for the purposes of this Law.
For the avoidance of doubt, subsection (1) does not apply to a person who had and continues to have, his normal place of work and abode for the time being outside the Islands and who enters the Islands to work on a temporary work permit for a specific purpose or occasion only and leaves the Islands at the conclusion thereof or upon the expiration of the temporary work permit, whichever first occurs, including —
legal counsel acting in any matter whether before a court in the Islands or otherwise;
visiting doctors or other specialists in the medical field;
skilled specialist tradesmen;
travelling salesmen; or
other persons in similar circumstances.
For the avoidance of doubt a worker who was subject to a term limit of seven years and who left the Islands upon the expiry of such term limit prior to the commencement of the Immigration (Amendment)(No. 2) Law, 2013 without applying for any right contained in this Law to remain beyond the expiry of his term limit, shall not be entitled to return to the Islands and hold any further work permits on the basis of the term limit now provided for under subsection (1) until he has completed a break in stay of at least one year from the date of his departure.
Subsection (16) does not apply to a person who, prior to the commencement of the Immigration (Amendment) (No. 2) Law, 2013 was a key employee and who —
ceased to be a key employee after the end of his seventh year but before becoming eligible to apply for the right to reside permanently under section 30; and
at the commencement of that Law was no longer residing in the Islands.

Cross References

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