Further supplementary memorandum submitted
by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
CAYMAN ISLANDS
Letter to the Parliamentary Relations
and Devolution Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office from
the Clerk of Committee, 6 June 2003
Thank you for your letter in response to mine,
offering clarification of the Cayman Islands (Constitution) (Amendment)
Order 2003.[7]
The Committee considered the Order again at
its meeting on 3 June. The Committee has asked me to state that
it has no objection to the Order being submitted to the Privy
Council in its present form. However, it has asked me to raise
with you two further areas of interest, on which you may wish
to offer some reassurance.
First, the Committee is concerned about the
difficulties which some applicants apparently face in obtaining
Caymanian status. Is the Government satisfied that the procedure
for considering applications for Caymanian status is administered
with all due expedition, efficiency and fairness?
Second, the Committee wishes to establish what
is the position of citizens of the Republic of Ireland in relation
to Caymanian status and eligibility as an elector in the Cayman
Islands. In what ways does the treatment of Republic of Ireland
citizens differ in this respect between the Cayman Islands and
other Overseas Territories?
Clerk of Committee
June 2003
Letter to the Clerk of Committee from
the Parliamentary Relations and Devolution Department, Foreign
and Commonwealth Office, 8 July 2003
Thank you for your letter of 6 June 2003 requesting
further information in connection with the Committee's consideration
of the Cayman Islands (Constitution) (Amendment) Order 2003.
You ask whether the Government is satisfied
with the procedures for considering applications for Caymanian
status. Immigration and the determination of Caymanian status
are matters for the Cayman Islands Government. Since 2001 the
Cayman Islands Government has set an annual quota for the granting
of status, increasing the efficiency and fairness of the procedures.
You also ask about the position of citizens
of the Republic of Ireland in relation to Caymanian status and
eligibility as an elector in the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands
Immigration Law (2001 Revision) does not differentiate between
nationalities. Section 17 (1) of that Law states that:
"Any person of not less than eighteen years
of age who has been ordinarily resident in the islands for a period
of ten years immediately preceding his application may apply to
the Board for a grant of Caymanian status."
To qualify as an elector in the Cayman Islands
a person must both possess Caymanian status and be a British Overseas
Territories citizen by virtue of a connection with the Islands.
An Irish citizen with Caymanian status would therefore need to
have or obtain such British overseas territories citizenship to
qualify as an elector.
The position is similar in other Overseas Territories,
where the rules on acquisition of belonger status do not differentiate
between nationalities. However, each Overseas Territory has distinct
franchise qualifications, and some do not include British nationality
as a requirement.
Parliamentary Relations and Devolution Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
July 2003
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