What the government charges
The Caymanian Protection (Fees) Regulations, 2026 took effect on 2026-05-01 alongside the two Immigration (Transition) Amendment Acts. They replaced the flat CI$1,000 permanent-residence application fee with three tiers keyed to the annual work-permit fee for the applicant’s occupation: CI$1,500 where that fee is CI$2,100 or less, CI$2,500 between CI$2,101 and CI$10,400, and CI$5,000 above CI$10,400. The application fee is paid with the form and is not refunded on refusal. The same three bands run through the rest of the schedule — permission to continue working, dependant fees, work-permit grants — so the band on your current permit is the single input that sets most of the numbers.
Section 37(1) of the Immigration (Transition) Act lists what accompanies an application: the application fee, the issue fee, the dependant fee and the annual fee for the first year. Two of those are quantified here from the Regulations; two are not. The issue fee is set by annual-earnings band in the consolidated schedule the 2026 Regulations left untouched, and the annual fee for PR with the right to work equals the annual work-permit fee for the holder’s occupation. Neither has been reconciled against a primary copy on this site yet, so the calculator lists them as unquantified rather than print a guess. They fall due on grant, not at filing.
Fee table (2026-05-01)
| Fee | Amount | Before | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application for Permanent Residence (Residency and Employment Rights Certificate) after eight years | CI$1,500 / CI$2,500 / CI$5,000 | CI$1,000 | Caymanian Protection (Fees) Regulations, 2026 (MCEI Immigration Reform Guide, fee tables, 29 Apr 2026), "Permanent Residence — Eight Year Residence", p. 17 |
| Annual dependant fee where the dependant is included in, or added to, the permanent residence grant | CI$350 / CI$525 / CI$750 | CI$500 | Caymanian Protection (Fees) Regulations, 2026 (MCEI Immigration Reform Guide, fee tables, 29 Apr 2026), "Permanent Residence — Eight Year Residence", p. 17 |
| Filing fee for the annual declaration by the holder of permanent residence | CI$250 | new | Caymanian Protection (Fees) Regulations, 2026 (MCEI Immigration Reform Guide, fee tables, 29 Apr 2026), "Permanent Residence — Eight Year Residence", p. 17 |
| Annual fee for permanent residence with the right to work | per schedule | — | Immigration (Transition) Act (2022 Revision) s.37(1), (5); work-permit fee schedule (not amended by the 2026 Fees Regulations) — not yet reconciled |
| Issue fee on the grant of permanent residence | per schedule | — | Immigration (Transition) Act (2022 Revision) s.37(1) ("issue fee"); consolidated fee schedule — not yet reconciled |
| Application to the Director of WORC for permission to continue in employment whilst awaiting the determination of a permanent residence application | CI$150 / CI$250 / CI$500 | CI$100 | Caymanian Protection (Fees) Regulations, 2026 (MCEI Immigration Reform Guide, fee tables, 29 Apr 2026), "Permission granted by Director of WORC to remain in employment", p. 23 |
Tiered amounts read lowest / middle / highest band. CI$1 = US$1.20 at the fixed rate.
The costs that recur
Permanent residence is not a one-off purchase. From the grant onwards the holder files an annual declaration under s.37(12), with a CI$250 filing fee that is new in 2026; failing to file is an offence and a ground for revocation under s.37(12A). Each dependant included in the grant carries an annual dependant fee in the same three bands, and PR with the right to work carries the annual fee equal to the occupation’s work-permit fee. The calculator’s “recurring, first year after grant” figure adds the declaration and dependant fees; the occupation-based annual fee sits in the unquantified list until the schedule is reconciled.
Keeping the job while the Board decides
A work-permit holder who has applied for PR during the currency of the permit can ask the Director of WORC for permission to continue working on the same terms, or for a new employer in the same occupation, until the application and any appeal are determined — s.66(4). That permission is what carries an applicant across the nine-year term limit while the decision is pending. The application for it is tiered like everything else, and WORC guidance describes the permission itself as attracting a fee equivalent to a six-month work permit. The calculator includes the application fee by default and lets you switch it off if the term limit is comfortably later than the expected decision; the roll-over calculator gives both dates.
The History & Culture test
Factor 6 of the points assessment is a written test on Cayman history and culture: forty questions, half a point each, twenty points available. No separate test fee appears in the 2026 Regulations, which is why the line shows “no fee”. It is still a cost in time — the twenty points are among the cheapest in the rubric to secure, and free practice questions are on this site.
Professional fees
There is no prescribed scale for immigration attorneys, and arrangements range from a single consultation to full representation with the Board. Rather than publish an unsourced “typical range”, the calculator takes the quote you were given and marks the line as your estimate, so that every other figure on the page stays traceable to the Regulations. The contact page passes referral requests to a licensed Cayman Islands immigration attorney.
Reading the timeline
The timeline dates five steps from the planned application date: the History & Culture sitting, the filing itself with the application fee, the permission-to-work application, the Board’s decision — placed at the number of months you enter, because no statutory deadline is published — and the first annual declaration a year after grant. Steps that rest on an assumption are marked as such. On grant the issue fee and the first annual fee fall due together.
Before the fees: the eight years and the 110 points
The fees only matter once two gates are passed. The first is time: eight years of legal and ordinary residence under s.37(1), unchanged by the 2026 amendments despite reports to the contrary — the roll-over calculator gives the date. The second is the points: 110 across nine factors in Schedule 2, with annual caps on donations and community service that reward planning several years ahead. The PR points calculator shows today’s score and, with a free account, tracks the annual entries; Cayman Costs Plus adds the projection to the application date, the cap tracker, the evidence vault and the application pack for a small fraction of the application fee shown above.