Jamesy5008

As I said earlier, the 'efficiency' of the civil service means that this will take a while to go anywhere. Surely it must have to go to the LA for debate and any subsequent legislation would have to be enacted. And wouldn't the UK have some say also? I'll be long gone from here before ANY of that happens.

Gordon Barlow

Well, the first thing the politicians would have to do is set up a whole new Portfolio, and there's nothing politicians love better than adding to their little empires. Cayman is grossly over-governed already: the Civil Service is swollen far beyond what is necessary. It is far and away our largest voting-bloc.

The UK's FCO wouldn't care. It didn't care back in 1987 when a government monopoly Pension Plan almost got passed; it even sent out a pensions expert to help things along. We at the Chamber of Commerce mobilised the general public, who shouted the proposal down with such vigour that the pollies have never dared to revive it. Until now, when they have a half-decent excuse. (That 1987 mobilisation was what got me on the deportation list for the next twenty years! It was touch and go there for all that time. As a Work Permit expat, I was the man they came after.)

Whether or not you'll be "long gone" depends on how long you'll be staying! I expect to see it happen in my short life-time.

Gordon Barlow

Global Citizen Concierge Program
This is our politicians' latest wheeze: tempting wealthy, tax-shy, persons (and/or their minions) to come and buy property here and live in it while operating some kind of business on the internet. I have only a vague idea of how the thing works, and it's in its very early days; but it has promise. Other islands are doing it too; it's quite the coming "industry", it seems. If you Google the four words above you can find full details.

(Note to BE moderators... I am not advertising, and have no financial interest in the venture. If you doubt me, check it out yourselves.)

bs_wave

I am sorry but you are miscategorising what it is and who it is targeting. It is a special type of visa/permit that allows you to live in the Cayman Islands for up to 2 years while you work for a company outside the Cayman Islands.

It is designed to help the distraught tourism market and to bring in foreign exchange. Other territories have similar remote work visas, including Barbados (1 year, visa fee from US$ 2,000), Bermuda (1 year, visa fee from US$ 263), Montserrat (1 year, visa fee from US$ 500), Antigua and Barbuda (2 years, visa fee from US$ 1,500) and Dubai (1 year, visa fee from US$ 287).

There are some income requirements with these visas/permits:

• Dubai requires you to earn at least US$ 60,000
• Barbados and Antigua requires you to earn at least US$ 50,000
• Bermuda requires you to have a "substantial means and/or have a continuous source of annual income"
• Cayman Islands requires you to earn at least US$ 100,000 if you are applying on your own, or at least US$ 150,000 if you are applying with your spouse, or at least US$ 180,000 if you are applying with your spouse and dependents

Gordon Barlow

Well, that sounds about right. You said "...allows you..." and I said "... minions" - not much difference. I didn't know about the two years limit.

As for helping tourism - it's not going to help much. We had 500,000 stopover tourists in 2019 and something like two million cruise visitors, and this new wheeze is going to bring in a few dozen. Maybe even a hundred, if all goes to plan. It will help the construction industry a bit, and government's revenue a bit, and even a hundred additional rich residents is not to be sniffed at.

As for foreign exchange - well, since our local Cayman Islands dollar is a "coupon" currency that has no value outside the territory, every other currency unit brought in here involves foreign exchange, by definition.

Gordon Barlow

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-century.html
This is a recent headline reporting the latest OECD attempt to put the offshore havens out of business. I very much doubt the gambit will work, because - as a general statement - mega-companies' lawyers are a lot smarter than lawyers in the civil service. Still, you never know!

For those who don't know what offshore tax-havens actually do... Eight years ago I posted a brief explanation on my personal online journal that was discontinued a few years later. I'm not allowed to give a direct link, which is a bit of a nuisance, but if you check my archives on the right-hand side of any article at the site below, and go to January 2013, you will find it among the six titles there. It's a very short piece, but it does give a clue to the kind of stuff we do here.