Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PEREGRINE NEWS
This month we have added five new immigration processes to Immiguru.
We have also now made it possible for our clients to display their own company logos in
Immigo, a feature already available in Immiguru.
We hope you are able to join us for a webinar on Tuesday 3 February 2015 at 1.30pm (UK
time) to look at the recent changes to Russian immigration regulations.
Peregrine will be attending ERCs Global Workforce Summit on Wednesday 11 and Thursday
12 February, at the Lancaster London Hotel, central London.
Our global immigration software products, Immigo and Immiguru are showcased at
www.peregrine.im, where you can register for a free trial of both products.
Table of Contents
PHILIPPINES ALL FOREIGN NATIONALS WITH ACRS TO REPORT TO IMMIGRATION IN PERSON BEFORE 1 MARCH
2015
2
FRANCE 2015 MINIMUM SALARY INCREASES
3
GREECE TRANSLATION REQUESTS VIA AGENTS REQUIRE POWER OF ATTORNEY
3
SINGAPORE EMPLOYMENT PASS APPLICANTS WILL REQUIRE A NOTIFICATION LETTER TO START WORK
4
VIETNAM BUSINESS VISAS NO LONGER AVAILABLE ON ARRIVAL
4
MALAYSIA HIGHER SALARY THRESHOLD FOR SPONSORING DEPENDENTS, AND POSSIBLE DELAYS DUE TO 2015
EMPLOYMENT PASS PROJECTION PROCESSING
5
THAILAND NEW DOCUMENT CERTIFICATION REGULATIONS
6
LEBANON FOREIGN NATIONALS EXCLUDED FROM SOME PROFESSIONS
7
CHINA BEIJING ISSUES THREE-YEAR WORK PERMITS
8
NETHERLANDS MORE NATIONALITIES EXEMPT FROM TUBERCULOSIS TEST
8
COLOMBIA NEW VISA CATEGORY FOR MERCOSUR NATIONALS AND THEIR DEPENDENTS, AND NEW DEGREE
VALIDATION REQUIREMENTS
9
NETHERLANDS COURT RULES NO WORK PERMIT REQUIRED FOR JAPANESE NATIONALS
10
ROMANIA NEW MINIMUM SALARY FOR WORK PERMITS
11
INDIA PERSON OF INDIAN ORIGIN (PIO) SCHEME MERGED WITH OVERSEAS CITIZENS OF INDIA (OCI) SCHEME 11
AZERBAIJAN WORK PERMITS NOT REQUIRED FOR TRIPS OF UP TO 90 DAYS
12
ISRAEL RENEWAL OF 30 DAY SHORT EMPLOYMENT AUTHORISATION (SEA) PROGRAMME
13
MORE FROM PEREGRINE
13
Exemptions
Foreign nationals in the Philippines in an ACR
I-Card exempt category are not required to
report. Some examples are:
Special Non-immigrant 47(a)(2) Visa
holders;
Multiple-Entry Special Visa holders;
9(a) tourist visa holders.
Since 2014, the annual reporting requirement
cannot generally be completed on behalf of
the foreign national by a third party
representative. However, foreign nationals
How To Report
Foreign nationals who are required to report
should attend either the Board of Immigration
(BI) main office in Intramuros, Manila, or a
regional office in their area of residence,
taking with them their ACR I-Card and/or
paper-based ACR, and a completed annual
report application form (see here), and pay a
fee of Php310.
Action Items
Ensure that your foreign national
employees or assignees in the
Philippines are aware of the
requirement to report in person
(unless exempt see above) by 1
March 2015.
Background
SMIC increases every year in France. It is
calculated as an hourly rate, with the monthly
rate being worked out assuming a 35 hour
week. More information on historical SMIC
rates is available here.
Action Items
Review the salaries of applicants for
upcoming transfers to France,
particularly those following the intra
company transfer route, to ensure
compliance.
GREECE Translation
Requests via Agents
Require Power of Attorney
The Translation Service of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs in Greece has announced that,
from now on, any third party representative
submitting any document for translation on
behalf of an applicant of any nationality must
present a signed legal authorisation form
(power of attorney).
Action Items
Ensure that any third party
representative instructed to deliver
documents to the Translation Service,
pay translation fees or collect
completed translations holds a signed
power of attorney authorising the
representation.
SINGAPORE Employment
Pass Applicants Will
Require a Notification
Letter to Start Work
With effect from 16 March 2015, the InPrinciple Approval (IPA) letter will no longer
allow Employment Pass (EP) applicants to
start work. Instead, an applicant can only start
work once their pass has been issued and they
have received a Notification Letter (NL).
The new rule reflects recent faster EP
issuance times, but is likely to delay the date
that work can be started.
Background
Currently, the In-Principal Approval (IPA)
given to an EP applicant is valid for six
months. The IPA is meant as confirmation that
the work pass application has been approved,
and to allow applicants time to make plans to
come to Singapore to work.
On arrival, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)
needs to be notified before the EP applicant
can start work with their employers.
Employers must notify MOM by requesting
for issuance of the work pass through
Employment Pass Online (EPOL).
In the past, as request for EP issuance
involved multiple steps and could take some
time, EP applicants were allowed to work on
the IPAs while waiting for the issuance of the
work passes. More recently, MOM says it has
streamlined the EP issuance process.
In view of this, from 16 March 2015 MOM will
require that issuance of work passes be
completed before the EP applicant can start
work, and the IPA letters will be amended to
reflect this change.
Action Items
Employers should begin the
Employment Pass issuance process as
soon as possible upon arrival in
Singapore.
EP holders should then proceed for
work pass card registration as soon as
possible, as the Notification Letter is
only valid for one month.
What's Changed?
Previously, for qualifying nationals, it was
possible to obtain a business visa on arrival in
Vietnam, or to convert to a business visa post
arrival.
The new rules may delay entry for all
nationals travelling for business or work, due
to the higher volume of business visa
processing at Vietnamese embassies and
consulates abroad.
How to Apply
The applicants host company in Vietnam
must sponsor the application by applying for a
visa authorisation letter, or pre-approval
letter, in Vietnam, which will be sent directly
to the applicants home country consulate in
support of the application.
Action Items
Allow extra lead time for assignments
to Vietnam, taking into account the
new rules, and the possibility of
delays during implementation.
Who is Affected?
Employment Pass holders at MSC
status companies and ICT companies
who earn less than RM5,000 per
month will not be able to sponsor
Dependant Passes or long term Social
Visit Passes for dependent family
members.
An existing Employment Pass holder
at an ICT company or MSC status
company earning less than RM5,000
per month will face difficulties with
the renewal of any Dependant Passes
for their spouse or children unless his
salary has been increased to at least
RM5,000 by the time of renewal of his
EP. Otherwise, any dependents would
have to leave the country at the
expiry of their current Dependant
Pass.
Employment Pass holders without
dependents at MSC status companies
and those who carry out shared
services at ICT companies are only
required to be paid at least RM2,500
per month. EP holders who are not
sponsored by MSC status companies
or ICT companies are not affected by
this rule change.
Background
The Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) is a
Special Economic Zone in Malaysia designed
to promote development of the Malaysian ICT
industry. The Multimedia Development
Corporation (MDeC) administers Employment
Passes for MSC status Companies and other
ICT companies. Other Employment Passes and
expatriate services are managed by the
Expatriate Services Division (ESD), which
launched its online application services in
2014.
Action Items
Any employer intending to submit
Employment Pass applications for
foreign nationals in Malaysia in 2015,
which has not yet submitted its 2015
projection, should do so as soon as
possible to minimise delays.
ICT companies and MSC status
companies will have to consider the
salaries of Employment Pass holders
with dependent family members if
they want them to extend their EPs,
bearing in mind that the new
minimum salary requirement may
force their family to leave Malaysia.
THAILAND New
Document Certification
Regulations
Effective 19 January 2015, the Immigration
Department at the One Stop Service Center
(OSSC) in Bangkok requires that certain
corporate documents for initial or extension
applications for non-BOI (Board of
Investment) long-term visas or work permits
be officially certified by the relevant
government agency.
Previously, non-certified copies were
acceptable.
The new regulations are expected to cause
considerable inconvenience, expense and
delays in processing work permits and visas.
Who is Affected?
Non-BOI companies which qualify to use the
OSSC for visa and work permit applications
include certain Bangkok-based companies or
branch offices employing managers or
experts, representative or regional offices and
companies operating under the Petroleum Act
or the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand
Act.
Documents to be Certified
Copy of Financial Statement in Thai
containing balance sheet and profit
and loss statement for the previous
year, audited and signed by the
companys CPA (Certified Public
Accountant) and officially certified by
either the Revenue Department or
Ministry of Commerce.
Copy of form and receipt of previous
year corporate income tax return
Background
The new regulations are being implemented
due to the number of fraudulent documents
that have been submitted in the past.
The One Stop Service Centre for Visas and
Work Permits aims to facilitate visa extension
and work permit applications, and enables
considerably reduced processing times for the
work permit and visa extension applications.
Action Items
Ensure that all necessary documents
have been officially certified by the
relevant authorities before
submission in support of non-BOI
long-term visa and work permit
applications at the OSSC.
Allow several additional days of lead
time to obtain certified documents
from the various authorities before
submitting applications.
LEBANON Foreign
Nationals Excluded from
Some Professions
In a decision issued 17 December 2015, the
Lebanese Minister of Labour reserved to
Lebanese nationals the exclusive right to
practice certain careers in Lebanon.
However, foreign nationals may be exempt
from this new rule if they are specialists or
technicians in positions that cannot be filled
by a Lebanese national. Moreover, any foreign
national currently holding a Lebanese work
permit will be allowed to continue to work in
Lebanon until the work permit expires.
Exemptions
The Minister of Labour can decide to exclude
foreign nationals from these provisions, if
they fulfill one of these criteria:
Specialist or technician performing
jobs that cannot be filled by Lebanese
nationals;
Director or representative of a foreign
company registered in Lebanon;
Lebanese resident since birth;
Of Lebanese origin or born to a
Lebanese mother;
The country of residence of the
foreign national allows Lebanese
nationals to perform the job that the
foreign national wants to perform in
Lebanon.
Further Details
The supporting documents which require
sufficient validity include the employment
contract, the applicants passport and the
employers business licence (or Industrial and
Commercial Registration Certificate).
Action Items
Action Items
Who Qualifies?
NETHERLANDS More
Nationalities Exempt from
Tuberculosis Test
Effective immediately, the Netherlands
Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND)
has published a new, expanded list of
nationalities which are exempt from
undergoing a tuberculosis (TB) test when
applying for a residence permit.
Action Items
Ensure that any assignee of a
nationality which doesnt appear on
the exemptions list does undergo TB
testing within three months of
obtaining a residence permit in the
Netherlands.
TP-15 Visa
The Mercosur visa is now categorised as TP-15
and henceforth also allows family members to
accompany the Mercosur national as
dependents, with permission to reside or
study, but not to work.
Previously, non-Mercosur family members of
Mercosur visa holders could not obtain
dependent status and would therefore have
to apply for visas in their own right.
The TP-15 is a temporary residence visa with a
validity of two years and with work and/or
study permission. The visa can be obtained
post-arrival or in Colombian consulates
abroad. It is not tied to a particular employer,
and the holder may be employed locally, on
short-term transfer from an employer abroad
or self-employed.
Who Benefits?
Nationals of Argentina, Brazil,
Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru,
Ecuador and Bolivia may apply for a
TP-15 visa either on arrival, or at the
Colombian consulate in their home
country.
The TP-15 is not currently available to
nationals of Venezuela as, although a
Mercosur associate country, it does
not have any reciprocal immigration
process in place for Colombian
nationals.
Family members of any nationality,
who are economically dependent on
the principal applicant, can now
obtain dependent status under this
new category: This applies to spouses,
unmarried partners, children of 24
years or under and parents.
What is Mercosur?
Mercosur is a full customs union and a trading
bloc which comprises Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. Bolivia,
Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are
associate members, and Guyana and
Suriname have signed a framework
agreement with Mercosur.
Degree Validation
Effective 25 December 2014 the Ministry of
Education added new requirements for all
degree validation applications.
All bachelors degree validation
applications must now include the
bachelors degree diploma and
transcript, duly apostilled or legalized,
and the universitys curriculum for the
specific program for which the
application is being submitted.
More specific requirements were
added to the procedure for validating
degrees in medicine, law, accounting
and education.
The qualifications of engineers and other
technical professions, however, are still
validated by their respective professional
organisations in Colombia.
Action Items
Consider the TP-15 visa for Mercosur
nationals (apart from Venezuelans)
who wish to work in Colombia
accompanied by non-Mercosur
national family members.
Ensure that all bachelor degree
validation applications at the Ministry
of Education meet the new
requirements, and allow additional
lead time to have the degree diploma
and transcript duly apostilled or
legalized.
NETHERLANDS Court
Rules No Work Permit
Required for Japanese
Nationals
The Dutch High Administrative Court in the
Netherlands (Raad van State) has ruled in an
appeal judgement on 24 December 2014 that
Japanese nationals are allowed to work in the
Netherlands without the need to secure
Dutch work authorisation.
Background
The judgement is based on the Treaty of
Commerce and Navigation between
Netherlands and Japan of 1913, which is
similar to the Treaty on Friendship,
Establishment and Commerce between
Netherlands and Switzerland of 1875,
whereby Swiss nationals are allowed to work
in the Netherlands without the need for a
Dutch work permit.
Action Items
If you have Japanese national
assignees going to the Netherlands,
please talk to your Dutch immigration
adviser about the possibility that they
will not require a work permit.
Action Items
Ensure that foreign nationals
employment contracts state that they
are paid at least the minimum salary
according to their work permit type.
Background
The Person of Indian Origin (PIO) Card
The PIO was first issued in 2002 to foreign
nationals who could prove their Indian origin
up to three generations before, and the
spouses of Indian citizens and PIO card
holders, as long as they had never been
citizens of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
China, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan or Sri Lanka.
The PIO was valid for 15 years until 30
September 2014, when its validity was
brought into line with that of the OCI (see
below).
The Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) Card
The OCI was first issued in August 2005, and
may henceforth be held by former Indian
citizens, those who can prove their Indian
origin up to three generations before, and the
spouses of Indian citizens and OCIs (for at
least two continuous years), and their minor
children.
The OCI is valid for the holders lifetime and is
accompanied by a lifelong multiple entry visa
to India, with no requirement to report to the
FRRO, regardless of length of stay.
AZERBAIJAN Work
Permits Not Required for
Trips of Up To 90 Days
Effective November 2014, foreign nationals
sent to work in Azerbaijan for less than 90
cumulative days per year in certain industries
do not need to obtain a work permit.
Who Qualifies?
Assignees in any of the following industries,
who have been sent to fulfill contractual
obligations to an Azeri client company or
assist with a short technical project, may
qualify for the work permit exemption:
Mining;
Manufacturing;
Power/gas/steam supply;
Information and communication;
Finance and insurance;
Education;
Transportation;
Water supply, sewage treatment.
Action Items
For short-term assignments in the
above industries, check with your
adviser whether the assignee qualifies
for this new work permit exemption.
Action Items
PIO applications that are already in
progress should be resubmitted as
OCI applications.
Application Details
The application for the SEA work permit must
be supported by personal and corporate
documentation, including travel information,
a company affidavit and power of attorney,
authenticated in certain circumstances, as
required by the work permit unit and the
MOI. Government processing fees vary,
according to the length of the assignment.
Action Items