Newsroom

Announcement

Cayman Islands Announce Adoption of CommonCheck™, Allowing Incoming Travelers to Easily Verify Health Status Pre-Departure

Dec 20, 2021

PRESS RELEASE: Cayman Islands Announce Adoption of CommonCheck™, Allowing Incoming Travelers to Easily Verify Health Status Pre-Departure

Dec 20, 2021

NEW YORK, NY, December 20, 2021 - The Cayman Islands, in partnership with The Commons Project and Affinidi, today announced its adoption of CommonCheck™, a digital service that will streamline entry into the territory by instantly verifying the health status of incoming travelers pre-departure.

The new service is integrated into the existing Travel Cayman Portal, allowing travelers to easily upload their digital health credentials and receive instant verification for entry into the Cayman Islands. The milestone follows a successful pilot of  CommonCheck™ beginning on November 11th to facilitate the November 20th reopening of the Cayman Islands to vaccinated travelers, including visitors who meet specific criteria. Since the launch of the pilot, over 11,000 travelers have been successfully verified by CommonCheck™. With the adoption of  CommonCheck™, the Cayman Islands becomes the first government to use the service at scale and make it easier for incoming travelers to share and verify their health credentials.

“The ongoing pandemic has created the need for streamlined solutions that allow destinations to reopen for travel, while also ensuring that they can accurately verify the health status of those entering at scale,” said Zhenya Lindgardt, Chief Executive Officer at The Commons Project. “CommonCheck™ is designed to automate the border-entry process and easily confirm whether or not an individual meets the requirements of a destination before departure, taking the burden off personnel on the ground.”

To use CommonCheck™, travelers will upload  COVID-19 vaccine health credentials for approval. The CommonCheck™ solution digitally reads and verifies the validity of health credentials, and matches them against Cayman Island entry rules. The traveler is notified of the vaccination certificate verification results within seconds. The service currently verifies SMART® Health Cards, EU Digital Covid Credentials, and UK NHS certificates,  and there are plans to expand the list of accepted credentials in the near future.

“Our priority focus continues to be the safe and efficient reopening of The Cayman Islands for Caymanians, residents and visitors,” said Wesley Howell, Chief Officer of the Ministry of Border Control & Labour for the Cayman Islands. “With the launch of services like CommonCheck™, we’ll continue to streamline the process to make it easier for travelers to return to their favorite destinations.”

HOW IT WORKS

  1. Travelers must first register with the Travel Cayman web portal pre-departure and select “Apply for Travel Declarations.”
  2. Travelers fill out the required information and are prompted to verify their credentials with CommonCheck™.
  3. Travelers can scan their vaccination QR Code or upload the file directly using CommonCheck™.
  4. CommonCheck™ digitally reads and verifies the validity of health credentials, and matches credentials against the Cayman Island entry rules.
  5. Travelers are notified of verification results within seconds and can enjoy a quarantine-free stay in the Cayman Islands.

About CommonCheck™

CommonCheck™ is a digital service that enables governments to verify the health credentials of incoming travelers before they begin their journey.  CommonCheck™ is equipped to verify a wide range of verifiable digital health credentials from across the globe. Designed to increase the trustworthiness of the health screening process, CommonCheck™ reduces the burden placed on governments and airlines as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and promotes the smooth return to efficient and safe travel. CommonCheck™ is a non-profit service of The Commons Project Foundation, built in collaboration with Affinidi.

About The Commons Project Foundation

The Commons Project Foundation (“TCP”) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that builds and operates digital platforms and services for the common good. TCP was established in 2019 to create digital public infrastructure to fill the void left by tech companies and to reduce the burdens of governments. Since its founding, TCP has built a suite of digital products that operationalize the infrastructure of interoperable data standards (i.e., SMART Health Card Verifier App) and empower users with access to their health data (i.e., CommonHealth). TCP also co-created VCI, a broad coalition of public and private organizations dedicated to providing access to verifiable health records to people around the globe.

To learn more about The Commons Project Foundation, visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter (@commons_prjct). For general inquiries, email info@thecommonsproject.org.

About Affinidi

Based in Singapore with a hub in Berlin, Affinidi is a core technology company that enables the creation, sharing and verification of digital credentials that are portable and verifiable. Affinidi’s solutions empower trusted institutions and individuals to access valuable products and services across platforms and geographies in a trusted, privacy-preserving, and interoperable manner.

Media Contact:

Alex Newby

120/80 MKTG on behalf of The Commons Project Foundation

alexn@120over80mktg.com

press@thecommonsproject.org