Non-Caymanians now pay CI$750 for a 10-year licence. Caymanians pay CI$200

Eight times, as the regulations were written

The Traffic (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 were made by Cabinet on 1 July and published in the Gazette on 7 July, to take effect on 1 September. For the first time, they set one fee for Caymanians and another for everyone else. The Caymanian column kept the old flat fees. The new non-Caymanian column was eight times higher for an ordinary licence: CI$200 instead of CI$25 for one year, and CI$2,000 instead of CI$250 for ten years.

Licences that include heavy trucks and large buses rose 6.25 times. Both driving tests rose four times, and the learner’s licence doubled to CI$120. The annual licence for a private car rose about 11%, from CI$180 to CI$200. One exception was written into the regulations: a non-Caymanian who is the spouse or civil partner of a Caymanian pays the Caymanian fee.

The fees were first announced in November 2025 as part of the 2026-27 budget. Finance Minister Rolston Anglin said they would raise an extra CI$9.6 million in both 2026 and 2027, the Cayman Compass reported in July. The figures don’t agree: a Compass report in August put the expected revenue at CI$9.8 million a year, and we found no budget document that settles it. Their start had already been delayed, because there was no simple way for the licensing department to check who is Caymanian.

Cut the evening before they started

On Monday 31 August, with the licensing offices closed for staff training, the government announced revised fees for the next morning. Non-Caymanian full licences fell to three times the old flat fee: CI$75 for one year, CI$225 for three, CI$375 for five and CI$750 for ten. At the same time, Caymanians got new discounts of 10%, 15% and 20% on three-, five- and ten-year licences. Cabinet made the change law the same day: the Traffic (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations, 2026 were published in the Gazette that evening and took effect alongside the July rules on 1 September.

Because the discounts apply only to Caymanians, the gap grows with the length of the licence. The government called it “approximately three times”. On a 10-year licence it is 3.75 times.

For someone starting from scratch, the tests matter most. A non-Caymanian who needs a learner’s licence, both tests and a 10-year licence pays CI$1,170. A Caymanian pays CI$335. The revision gave no new revenue estimate. Anglin said only that revenue had beaten expectations in the first six months of the year, so a reduction “would not negatively impact Government revenues”.

Who counts as Caymanian

The licensing department now checks every customer against government records and sorts them into three groups: eligible for the Caymanian fee, not eligible, or undetermined. A missing or mismatched record does not make someone non-Caymanian; the transaction goes to an officer for a manual check instead. Documents that prove eligibility include a voter’s ID card, a Cayman status certificate, a birth certificate or passport for someone Caymanian by birth, and a My eID card showing the holder as Caymanian.

The department’s guidance lists who pays the higher fee: work-permit holders, students, permanent residents, and people with naturalisation or British Overseas Territories citizenship but not Caymanian status. A spouse or civil partner of a Caymanian keeps the lower fee only while the marriage or partnership lasts. Everyone aged 65 or over is eligible for the reduced fee, whatever their nationality. Anyone who thinks they were overcharged can take their receipt and documents to an office and apply for a refund.

If you renewed before September

A non-Caymanian who renewed a 10-year licence in August paid the old CI$250. Under the July figures it would have cost CI$2,000 from September; under the revised fees it costs CI$750. Renewing early still saved CI$500, not the CI$1,750 the July figures implied. Caymanians who renewed early paid CI$250 for a licence that now costs them CI$200.

Where the official fee lists disagree

The revision covered driving licences and tests only. The department’s guidance says vehicle inspection and licence fees are unchanged, so the July car licence prices still apply. So do several fees the July regulations raised for everyone, Caymanians included: a duplicate vehicle licence coupon went from CI$10 to CI$50, and a copy of a vehicle’s register entry from CI$100 to CI$150.

The department’s own fee page has not fully caught up. On 23 October it still listed renewals of Group 4 licences, the group that covers trucks over 33,000 lb and buses with more than 40 passengers, at the July prices: CI$750, CI$1,250 and CI$2,500 for non-Caymanians, and CI$120, CI$200 and CI$400 for Caymanians. The government’s revised table, and the same web page’s rows for a first Group 4 licence, give CI$360, CI$600 and CI$1,200, and CI$108, CI$170 and CI$320. Anyone renewing a heavy-vehicle licence should check which price they are charged.