JCCI and Fragomen recently hosted an immigration seminar on Inspections and Compliance, which was open to both members and non-members of the Chamber. The impetus for organising this seminar was the looming implementation of the Employment Services Act, which is expected to be finalised in the 2018/2019 financial year and is set to impact companies that have foreign national employees. The event offered a rare opportunity for attendees to interact with representatives from the Department of Labour (DoL) and Department of Home Affairs (DHA) on a number of immigration related issues.

The presentation from DoL focused on the Department’s mandate where it overlaps with the immigration space. While the Immigration Act makes provision for a number of visa types, the DoL’s involvement is limited to three visa types: Own Business visas, General Work Visas and Corporate Visas. An application
for either of these visas requires a positive recommendation from DoL in order for DHA to issue the visa.

The DoL presentation touched on the issue of the Skills Transfer Plan, which is highly contested, in that currently there is no formal mandate from either department providing guidelines on the formulation, content and implementation of such skills transfer plans. DoL representatives clarified that the Department is working on a strategy to address this and that the appropriate training will be provided once the Regulations are approved.

The DHA presentation for the day centred on issues of immigration compliance and interpretation of the immigration Act. One of the key topics that arose during discussions is the question of an employer’s responsibility regarding an employee whose visa has expired and is awaiting a renewal.

The Immigration Regulations stipulate that a person may apply for a renewal of their visa no less than 60 days prior to expiry of their visa. Currently, DHA has no transitional provisions for individuals awaiting an outcome of a visa, therefore it is strongly recommended that applications for visa renewals be filed well
in advance.

Overall the seminar was a success, not only for the companies present but also for the government representatives.

With Labour having indicated that plans are in place to provide relevant training on how employers can remain compliant with the requirements of the Employment Services Act, we anticipate that a follow up seminar will be arranged.