Why Should You Look for Jobs in The Cayman Islands?

Have you ever dreamt of the perfect expat location with a glorious all year round climate which offers an excellent standard of living in a safe and secure environment? And on top of that a place where you pay no income tax!

Well such a place does exist in reality and is not something just reserved for your dreams.

I recently had the opportunity to live and work in the Cayman Islands which is located some 450 miles south west of Florida. This British Overseas territory in the form of a Caribbean island provides overseas employment opportunity that few expats are aware.

The Cayman Islands historically has been popular as a tax-exempt destination. Legend has it that in 1788 Caymanian residents rescued the crews of a Jamaican merchant ship convoy which had struck a reef at Gun Bay during a hurricane. Because one of the saved passengers aboard the ship was a member of the English royal family the Caymanians were rewarded with a promise from King George III that Cayman would never again pay any tax. Today the remains of the wrecked hulls from the stricken convey can still be seen on the reef at Gun Bay, and is fondly known as the wreck of the 'Ten Sails'.

Over recent years the Cayman Islands have become widely known, through popular media, for its tax haven status for big businesses from around the world and a place of lawyers and accountants- More than 40,000 companies were registered in the Cayman Islands as of the year 2000, including almost 600 banks and trust companies, with banking assets exceeding $500 billion. Large corporations based in the Cayman Islands include Seagate Technology, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), Garmin Ltd. and Transocean Inc - While this is still true today, what's not realised is that there's a huge community of expat workers that have developed to staff the massive service industry. This has been created partially by the big businesses, world famous dive & hotel resorts and of course the millions of cruise ship passengers that come ashore to spend their money.

The tourist industry is aimed at the luxury market and caters mainly to visitors from North America. Unspoiled beaches, duty-free shopping, scuba diving, and deep-sea fishing draw almost a million visitors to the Cayman islands each year. Due to the well-developed tourist industry, many citizens work in service jobs in that sector.

Even though Caymanians and Cayman Islands companies are not subject to any form of direct taxation, the Cayman Islands Government's primary source of income is indirect taxation. An import duty of 20% is levied against goods imported into the islands. Few goods are exempt; notable examples include books, cameras and baby formula.

Out of an island population on Grand Cayman of 49,000, the largest of the three Cayman Islands, expats account for about 15,000.This consists of 125 different nationalities from around the world. The largest numbers of expats living in the Cayman Islands come from countries such as, the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Jamaica, Philippines, Central and South America. While the government doesn't restrict foreign land ownership, it does strongly enforce its immigration laws. Businesses are required to grant access to job openings to Caymanian citizens first; if none of them are suitable, the business may then seek employees from other countries. In order to work in the Cayman Islands, foreigners must have a job offer before immigrating.

Finding employment therefore for an expat can be time consuming as there are strict immigration rules, but the truth of the matter is that there just aren't enough locals to fill the positions available. The fact that a third of the population is expat workers proves that. Opportunities exit in Hotel, Restaurant and bar work. Other areas such as Construction, Water sports, Retail and Office temping are also popular expat jobs.

The best way by far to get work is to find a jobs in the Cayman Islands by word of mouth and personally network and make contact with the potential employers face to face. Obviously this isn't always practical if you live thousands of miles away.

To help expats overcome this problem I would like to recommend a valuable resource where you can find overseas jobs in the Cayman Islands .

All you need to do is become a member of jobs in the sun website , and you will get an immediate access to a 'Live Job Search' list, which consists of dozens of actual jobs in the Cayman Islands that can be applied for immediately.

There's an invaluable directory of potential employers allowing an applicant to make speculative applications - which by the way is exactly how I got hired.

The article was written by Steve Neville

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