Work Permit Costs in the Cayman Islands

The short answer

• Work permit fees are paid by the employer, by law. Budget the permit as part of the hire.
• The annual fee depends on the occupation: from Nil (teachers, clergy) up to CI$32,400 for the top legal roles. Most trades run CI$1,000 to CI$4,000; most professional roles CI$6,000 to CI$16,250.
• A grant also costs an application fee (CI$150 to CI$500), a CI$250 repatriation fee per person and a CI$50 ID card.
• Example: a qualified accountant costs CI$14,450 in year one and about CI$14,200 per renewal year. A restaurant chef costs CI$2,550 in year one. A domestic helper costs CI$600.
• The occupation fees did not change on 1 May 2026, but the fees around them rose 25% to 400%, and paid express lanes are new.
• Cayman Brac and Little Cayman permits cost 75% of the Grand Cayman fee. Cayman Enterprise City employers pay a flat CI$1,230 instead of the whole stack.

Who pays, and what the money covers

Applying for a work permit and paying every fee attached to it is the legal obligation of the employer under the Caymanian Protection Act. The employee never pays, and a job offer that asks the candidate to cover their own permit is asking them to fund something the law assigns to the business. For an employer, that makes the permit a real line item in the cost of a hire: for senior professional roles it can add the equivalent of a month or more of salary every year.

The total cost of a grant has four to six parts: the application fee (banded CI$150, CI$250 or CI$500 by the size of the permit fee), the annual occupation fee itself, a non-refundable CI$250 repatriation fee for the applicant and each dependant, a CI$50 permit ID card, annual dependant fees where a spouse or children are included, and an optional express determination fee. Renewals repeat the application fee, the occupation fee, any dependant fees and the CI$50 card fee; the repatriation fee applies at grant only.

What a permit actually costs: three worked examples

Every occupation in the schedule is different, and the same job title can carry different fees in different sectors. Use the Work Permit Cost Calculator for your exact case, or browse the full fee table.

What changed on 1 May 2026 (and what did not)

The Caymanian Protection Act framework replaced the old Immigration (Transition) Act on 1 May 2026, and its fee regulations consolidated every immigration fee into one schedule. The headline reported as "massive fee hikes" needs one careful reading: the annual occupation fees did not change. What rose sharply is everything around them, and two paid fast lanes were added.

One change actually cut costs for some employers: the dependant fee used to be a flat CI$500 per dependant, so a helper or gardener adding a dependant now pays CI$350 instead. For permits above CI$10,400 it rose to CI$750.

Temporary, seasonal and express options

Not every hire needs an annual permit. A temporary work permit of up to 90 days costs a flat banded fee between CI$100 and CI$1,500 depending on the occupation, plus the application fee. Between 91 and 180 days the fee is half the annual occupation fee. A seasonal worker permit runs eight months at 66% of the annual fee and cannot be extended or renewed. Dependants on any temporary permit are a flat CI$250 each.

The new express lanes are a genuine service-level promise: pay the express fee and if the decision is not communicated in time (48 hours for temporary permits, 14 business days for annual grants), the express fee is refunded.

The Sister Islands discount and the Enterprise City alternative

Work permits for jobs on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman cost 75% of the Grand Cayman fee, a deliberate incentive for hiring on the Sister Islands. The exception is the separate schedule for hotels with 200 or more rooms, which lists a single fee.

For qualifying businesses, Cayman Enterprise City changes the math entirely: a special economic zone employer pays a flat CI$1,230 per employee per year and is exempt from the occupation fee, application fees and dependant fees. For a role that would otherwise cost CI$13,650 on the open market, that is more than 90% off, which is exactly why the zone exists. The trade-offs are covered in our Enterprise City vs standard work permit guide.

Quick answers