🇳🇵 Nepalese workers now fifth largest group in Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands has seen a significant increase in work permit holders from Nepal over the past six years. As of July 1, there were 1,245 Nepalese workers in the Cayman Islands, making them the fifth largest group of overseas workers, just behind the British and ahead of Canadians. This is a significant increase from the 385 Nepalese work permit holders recorded at the end of 2018. The total number of work permit holders in the Cayman Islands is 37,309, a slight decrease from the record-breaking high of 37,437 in April, likely due to a seasonal slowdown in the hospitality sector. 🌏

Despite the need for the government to understand work permit demographics to improve the permit, residency, and status systems, there is almost no public data available on these trends. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), over 1,600 Nepalese, mostly men, leave their homeland daily to find employment overseas, largely due to the country’s stalled economy since the pandemic. The reasons behind the increase in Nepalese workers in the Cayman Islands are less clear, but it may indicate a new pattern where employers offer work to their existing workers’ friends and family members from their home countries. 📈

The immigration system in the Cayman Islands is designed to make it harder for work permit holders from larger nationality groups to achieve permanent residency. This is done by reducing or eliminating the points awarded on the application to people from those countries. However, if the increase in Nepalese migrant workers continues, the points awarded for nationality will decline. The points system has been heavily criticized and has been the basis for many successful legal challenges by permanent residency applicants. 🏛️