(CNS): Immigration Minister Michael Myles told the public in August that more work permits were being refused than were being granted, but that appears to be far from the case. Less than 13% of permit applications were declined over the last year, according to statistics released by WORC this month.
This is in stark contrast to the picture presented by the minister during a radio interview just a few weeks ago about current permit numbers, and when he appeared in parliament earlier this month, he admitted the suggestion he made about refusals was wrong.
As of 9 September, there were almost 35,000 foreign workers on permits, a figure likely among the lowest of the year, since it was still low season.
In response to a question from Deputy Opposition Leader Kenneth Bryan about the statistics for the last twelve months, Myles said Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman processed a total of 44,540 work permit applications. Of those, 39,079 (87.7%) were approved, and just 5,461 (12.3%) were refused.
Those refusals were concentrated in a small number of categories. Temporary permits were declined the most often, with 3,817 of 15,595 applications (24.5%) refused. Just 3% of work permit renewals were refused.
As Bryan attempted to probe the honesty of comments made on the radio show and why the minister would say what he did, Speaker Ezzard Miller stepped in and prevented him from implying that the minister had been untruthful, despite the clear contrast in the claims made in August and the answer he was giving in parliament.
Myles said the comments he made on the radio were based on information he had at the time, which came from day‑to‑day and weekly reports, and that he routinely signs off on large volumes of refunds, refusals, withdrawals and cancellations. On the document he had just before going on the radio, there were “more refusals”, but in parliament, he had shared the current figures.
“I receive weekly reports that are generated oftentimes four or five years out on refusals, cancellations, and the reports have come from WORC. The reports are put together by WORC, and they were provided to me. As I’ve said, the reports that we have just put together today are the current figures of our work permit approvals and refusals,” Myles said.
However, he did not explain the significant discrepancies between his comment in August and the figure he was presenting to parliament on 2 October.
Bryan pointed out that the current figures show that “there are more approvals than there are refusals”. He asked whether the same individual had provided the information on the day the minister told the country there were fewer approvals than refusals.
But Myles dismissed his probing, stating that “an entire department… provides all this information. It’s not boiled down to one person. And again, I just want to make sure that we’re clear on what we presented today. We, the team, have worked hard in ensuring that the member got the answers. I believe going forward, my goal is to make sure that the current information is presented.”
Myles went on to praise WORC, stating that staff were “doing a fantastic job in ensuring that we are screening applications better”, as he continued to claim there is now “a higher refusal rate because we’re doing a much better job in making sure that cheating applications are no longer getting through”, and that the boards are making sure applications are screened based on the law.
It’s unclear how the numbers reflect a higher refusal rate, but revenue has declined. As the minister revealed the current revenue collected, he said that it was down around CI$2.6 million on the budgeted target.
“The total year-to-date revenue collected during the period ending 31 August 2026 was $103 million as compared to the budgeted total year-to-date of CI$105.6 million. This represents a negative variance of CI$2.6 million, 2% below the year-to-date budget,” he said.