What Changed for Cayman Permanent Residence on 1 May 2026, and What Did Not

On 1 May 2026 two Acts came into force in the Cayman Islands: the Immigration (Transition) (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2025 (Act 14 of 2025) and the Immigration (Transition) (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2026. Neither changes the permanent-residence points system, the 110-point pass mark, or the eight-year residence requirement in section 37(1) of the Immigration (Transition) Act (2022 Revision). The widely reported move from eight to nine years, and from a nine-year to a ten-year worker term limit, was in the February 2025 draft Bill and was not enacted. What the Acts did change sits on either side of the PR application: the path from PR to Caymanian status, the spouse's certificate, an annual declaration, new revocation grounds and higher fees.

This page sets out, section by section, what changed and what did not, with the provision cited for each item. It exists because secondary sources still repeat the draft figures, and an applicant planning around a nine-year wait that does not exist is planning around the wrong date. It is a spoke of the complete points guide.

What did not change

The eight-year residence requirement

Section 37(1) of the principal Act requires a person to have been "legally and ordinarily resident in the Islands for a period of at least eight years" before applying for permanent residence. Section 14 of Act 14 of 2025 is headed "Amendment of section 37". It amends subsection (4) and inserts subsection (5A), both dealing with non-Caymanian civil servants; substitutes subsections (12) and (12A), introducing the annual declaration; and substitutes subsections (16) to (16B), dealing with the spouse of a permanent resident. It does not touch subsection (1) or the words "eight years". The 2026 Act does not amend section 37(1) either, and its substituted section 83A(4) expressly refers to permanent residence "after ... at least eight years".

The Government's immigration-reform page on gov.ky states that "the amendments do not introduce changes to the Permanent Residency points-based framework at this time" and nowhere states that the residence period has changed. The roll-over calculator continues to compute the eight-year date from a work-permit start date, with section 37(1) cited beside it.

The nine-year term limit

Section 66(1) provides that "the term limit of a worker shall be nine years". Section 30 of Act 14 of 2025, "Amendment of section 66", inserts paragraphs (c) and (d) into subsection (1) for civil servants who become workers, and substitutes subsections (2), (9) and (10). The nine-year period is not amended. A new section 66B gives non-Caymanian civil servants a separate nine-year term limit of their own.

Schedule 2 and the points

Neither Act amends Schedule 2 of the Immigration Regulations (2025 Revision). The nine factors, their point values, the 20-point cap on community involvement and its eight-year lookback, the half-point-per-question History and Culture test, and the 110-point threshold all stand as before. The rubric encoded in this site's PR points calculator keeps its version tag v2026-01, re-reviewed on 30 August 2026 against both Acts, with a record of that review stored alongside the values.

What changed

Caymanian status: twenty years and ten years as PR

Section 10 of Act 14 of 2025 amends section 28 of the principal Act. In section 28(3), "fifteen years" becomes "twenty years" and "five years" becomes "ten years". A permanent resident seeking the right to be Caymanian on grounds of naturalisation now needs twenty years of legal and ordinary residence, of which ten years must have been spent holding permanent residence. Before 1 May 2026 the figures were fifteen and five. Section 28(4) is amended in the same way from fifteen to twenty.

For a person who arrives on a work permit, obtains PR at year eight and then waits, the status horizon moves from year fifteen to year twenty. The roll-over calculator shows this as a third date after the eight-year and nine-year dates.

The spouse of a permanent resident: a fifteen-year certificate

Section 14(e) of Act 14 of 2025 substitutes section 37(16) to (16B). The spouse of a permanent resident now receives a Residency and Employment Rights Certificate for a fixed period of fifteen years, where previously the certificate was granted without a fixed term. The holder files an annual declaration with the prescribed fee under the substituted section 37(12).

The annual declaration and a new revocation ground

Section 14(d) of Act 14 of 2025 substitutes section 37(12) and (12A). Every holder of permanent residence files an annual declaration with a prescribed fee, set at CI$250 by the Caymanian Protection (Fees) Regulations, 2026. Failure to file is an offence and a ground for revocation under section 37(12A). This is a new recurring obligation for every existing and future permanent resident, not only for new grants.

New grounds of revocation

Act 14 of 2025 adds grounds on which permanent residence may be revoked. The one that is quantified on this page is the failure to file the annual declaration under section 37(12A). The remaining grounds concern conduct and the circumstances of the original grant; their section references have not yet been reconciled against the gazetted text on this site and are on the statute-review list. They turn on individual facts, which is a matter for a licensed Cayman Islands immigration attorney.

Civil servants

Sections 14 and 30 of Act 14 of 2025 create a distinct regime for non-Caymanian civil servants: a separate nine-year term limit under new section 66B(1), and specific provisions in section 37(4) and (5A) for their PR applications. Civil servants who move into the private sector become workers under the inserted section 66(1)(c) and (d).

Caymanian as of right for those born on or before 26 March 1977

Section 2 of the 2026 Act provides that a person born on or before 26 March 1977 in the circumstances the section describes is Caymanian as of right. This is a status provision rather than a PR provision, but it removes some long-resident people from the PR system altogether.

Fees

Section 3 of the 2026 Act deals with express fees, and the Caymanian Protection (Fees) Regulations, 2026 commenced on the same day. The PR application fee moved from a flat CI$1,000 to CI$1,500, CI$2,500 or CI$5,000 depending on the work-permit fee band of the applicant's occupation; the permission-to-continue-working application from CI$100 to CI$150 to CI$500; the annual dependant fee from CI$500 to CI$350 to CI$750 by band; and the right-to-be-Caymanian application and grant fees from CI$250 and CI$1,000 to CI$1,000 and CI$5,000. The fees and timeline spoke lists every line with its page in the Reform Guide.

Transitional protection: section 83A

Section 5 of the 2026 Act substitutes section 83A(4) to (5A) of the principal Act. Applications submitted before 1 May 2026 are determined under the rules in force when they were made. The substituted subsection (4) refers expressly to permanent residence "after ... at least eight years", which is itself confirmation that the eight-year period was never changed. The Cayman Compass reported on 26 February 2026 that the grandfather clause had been expanded before the Act was passed; the enacted text is the one that governs. A person whose application or grant straddles the commencement date has a specific question about which provisions apply, and that is a question for an attorney with the file in front of them.

Where the nine-year figure came from

The February 2025 draft Bill, published for consultation, contained a clause amending section 37(1)(a) "by deleting the words 'eight years' and substituting the words 'nine years'", and corresponding clauses moving the term limit from nine to ten years. Those clauses were reported widely and were carried into summaries on several Cayman websites with the words "as of May 1st 2026". They did not survive into Act 14 of 2025 as passed. A reader who finds "nine years" in a secondary source is reading a description of the draft.

The verification behind this page compared the enacted text of both Acts, as gazetted and published on gov.ky, against the principal Act at sections 28, 37, 66 and 83A, and is recorded in the site's public decision log dated 30 August 2026. If a later instrument does enact a change to the residence period, the single timeline constant in this site's code will be updated, the tests that pin the current value will fail on purpose, and subscribers to the statute notices below will be told.

What this means for planning

• The eligibility date is unchanged. Eight years from the start of legal and ordinary residence, section 37(1).
• The term-limit date is unchanged. Nine years, section 66(1), with permission to continue working under section 66(4) available to an applicant whose PR application is pending.
• The points are unchanged. The complete guide and the calculator apply Schedule 2 as it stood before 1 May 2026, because that is how it still stands.
• The status horizon moved. Twenty years and ten years as PR, section 28(3).
• A new annual obligation exists. The CI$250 declaration under section 37(12), with revocation as the consequence of not filing.
• Fees are higher and banded. The cost calculator applies the band on the applicant's permit.

Watch list

The Ministry has said that future amendments "may address the points system". Three places are worth watching, and the quarterly statute review behind this site watches them: the gov.ky immigration-reform page for any commencement order or further amendment touching section 37(1) or 66(1); the Cayman Gazette's legislation supplements for any title beginning "Immigration (Transition) (Amendment"; and any Regulations amending Schedule 2. A change to any of them produces a new rubric version in the calculator and a notice to newsletter subscribers, rather than a silent edit.

Nothing on this page is legal advice. Sources: Immigration (Transition) Act (2022 Revision) sections 28, 37, 66 and 83A; Immigration (Transition) (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2025 (Act 14 of 2025) sections 10, 14 and 30; Immigration (Transition) (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2026 sections 2 to 5; Caymanian Protection (Fees) Regulations, 2026 (Reform Guide fee tables); gov.ky/web/mcei/immigrationreform as read on 30 August 2026.