Expert: Drew Wilmoth - 11/26/2008

Question
Hi,

Im Gina, Im a Filipino Citizen and I got a bachelor degree in Management accounting. My partner is already working in Cayman Island for a 6 months temporary work permit visa and he is a british citizen, he is working for a month now. Can you suggest what should we do for me to get a work permit visa? or is it much better for me to go there first get a tourist visa and find a job there. Is there any website or agency that can inform me what to do.

Thanks for your time...

Sincerely yours,

Gina

Answer
Gina,

Unless you are married to your partner, your only official course of action is to seek employment prior to arrival in the Cayman Islands. You should not come to Cayman first on a tourist visa to seek work. You cannot have a work permit application processed for you if you are in the Cayman Islands on a tourist visa. Please note, employers are quite accustomed to conducting recruitment and interviewing of overseas candidates without the candidate traveling to the Cayman Islands!

It is, however, fairly common for a person to submit résumés, have interviews, or otherwise seek work while in Cayman on a tourist visa. If successful, you must leave the islands for the entire time your work permit is in process. This may be anywhere from two weeks to four months. This strategy allows greater contact with potential employers at the expense of higher travel costs.

If you are married to your partner you might be able to come to Cayman first as a dependent on your partner's work visa. You are not able to work without first receiving a work visa of your own. You may seek employment while in Cayman as an authorized dependent on another person's work visa. You would not be required to leave the islands while a work permit application is processed.

To be added as a dependent on another person's work visa, you must be legally married or a dependent child of that worker. That worker must show sufficient income to support you without you working. As a matter of practice this is an income of about CI$3000 to CI$3500 per month to support one dependent. Higher income levels are required to support more dependents.

To find employment of your own, you may reply to advertisements in the Caymanian Compass or Cayman Net News newspapers or any other paper advertising the position. You may wish to seek assistance of a recruitment agency such as CML, Baraud, or the like. You may chose to do some research and then submit your résumé unsolicited to firms where you might wish to work.

Once a prospective employer offers you a job, they will take you through the application process to obtain a work visa. You cannot obtain a work visa on your own - an employer must do so for you.