The Cayman Islands Government (CIG) has proposed forming a working group to resolve the immigration status of Caymanians whose families were affected after working in Cuba, addressing an issue that has remained unresolved for generations.

Minister for Education and Training, Finance and Economic Development Rolston Anglin MP said the motion would lead to the mapping of a lawful route forward for people who may be eligible for Caymanian citizenship.

Describing the proposal, Anglin said the government was seeking to correct what he called a "little evil" by regularising the status of people whose families were always intended to be recognised but whose immigration position was never properly resolved.

The government says the working group, which has the backing of Cabinet and caucus, would start by identifying who is affected by what is often termed the "Cuban Caymanian status issue", which has been a problem for generations of families with deep Caymanian roots.

The Minister said the issue dates back a century, when many Caymanians left the islands for work in Cuba, where they found jobs in citrus farming and factory work. After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, some returned to Cayman, but their immigration status was never fully clarified.

According to Minister Anglin, the problem was compounded by the way immigration legislation operated. He said that Cuban Caymanians who remained in Cuba for decades after the revolution often returned with children or grandchildren whose status was not recognised under the law. He said what began as a legal gap has since had a ripple effect across successive generations, with some families still experiencing the consequences today.

Some returning families were issued letters allowing them to live and work in Cayman indefinitely, while others were given temporary status with an expectation of later becoming permanent residents.

The consequences have included difficulty proving status, enrolling children in school, and establishing day-to-day certainty over legal rights and identity, extending to access to basic services.

However, the government has not yet said how many people may be affected, what documents will be accepted, or what criteria the working group will use. It also has not confirmed a timetable for reporting back or explained whether families will be consulted before decisions are made.

The government has framed the motion as a way to close gaps left by earlier migration and repatriation arrangements, so that status questions do not keep following families across generations. Minister Anglin conveyed that the objective was not to create a new category of entitlement but to regularise the status of people who, in the government's view, were always intended to have their position recognised.

The issue draws comparisons to the UK's Windrush scandal, in which members of the Windrush generation and some of their British-born children faced significant hardship after being unable to prove their lawful immigration status or citizenship rights because of incomplete government records and documentation. Despite having the legal right to live and work in the UK, some were wrongly denied employment, healthcare and other services, while others were detained or deported. While the circumstances differ, the CIG hopes to prevent similar uncertainty from continuing to affect Caymanian families.