South Africa October 2006 |
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| Law on foreign workers not final, (Business Day, 2006-10-06):-Businesses have been cautioned against implementing any provisions of the new immigration amendment bill as the legislation is not yet formalised, says Deloitte director Jean Cooper. The bill proposes changes to a number of business-related immigration regulations. These include proposals to increase the limit for intra-company transfers from two years to five years. This would cater for the rotation of top executives in multinationals who were usually assigned to a country for longer than two years. “However, the legislation is not yet in its final form and still requires a number of stakeholders to give their final input,” Cooper said. “The changes for the most part are positive but the regulations that will underpin the law are the key points. The document is not in its final form.” The amendments represent a slight relaxation of the tight controls placed on the import of foreign skilled labour by the Immigration Act. The act provides that work permits for foreigners will be granted only if there are shortages of specific skills in the domestic economy. Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula had been accommodating towards business in past few months and would not introduce a system without the proper checks and balances, Cooper said. Cooper said there would be some control mechanism to ensure South Africans received priority — this would be contained in the regulations rather than in the act — and that skills transfer did take place.The home affairs department has consulted with parties such as accounting firms Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the departments of agriculture and labour, and other stakeholders. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |