Global immigration
News: Work
Permits
19 October 2021
As we enter the last quarter of 2021, businesses worldwide are beginning to look ahead to 2022 and develop plans for growth following the return of international travel.
If part of your 2022 business strategy involves sending employees overseas, you may need to factor in obtaining work permits for your international assignees.
With this in mind, the SSW Global Immigration Team would like to highlight the following recent changes to work permit rules in three key destinations.
Israel: Changes to SEA B1 work visa route
The Israeli government has increased the permitted period of work for holders of a Short Employment Authorization (SEA) B1 work visa from 45 days to 90 days per calendar year.
The SEA B1 work visa route can now be used for limited, urgent work for up to 90 days in a calendar year but cannot be renewed or extended. This fast-track process is applicable to visa-exempt nationals only and consists of an application to the work permit authorities in Israel, followed by travel to Israel without any consular visa processing and, finally, post-arrival issuance of a work visa. The usual high prevailing wage requirement does not apply.
Russia: HQS salary notifications
Salary notifications for Highly Qualified Specialists (HQS) are due by 29 October 2021. Employers have until this date to report to the migration authorities the salaries of HQS foreign national employees for the third quarter of 2021.
Quarterly notifications must be submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) within 30 days of the end of each quarter, and the reported salary should be at least RUB 167,000 per calendar month or RUB 501,000 per quarter.
Violation of the established notification procedure may lead to administrative fines on the employer. Failure to pay the salary in the minimum amount established for HQS may lead to the company being banned from employing new HQS employees for two years.
The Highly Qualified Specialist (HQS) program allows companies in Russia to employ foreign national workers for up to three years (renewable) with various benefits including a simplified application process and exemption from quotas.
Malaysia: 2022 FKW applications
MSC Malaysia status and ICT companies that are registered with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) can submit their applications for the 2022 Projection of Foreign Knowledge Workers (FKW) from 1 November 2021.
Companies intending to employ foreign nationals in Malaysia in 2022 must have the FKW projection approved and available before any Employment Pass (EP) applications (new and renewal) can be submitted.
Applications must be made online via MDEC’s eXpats portal with the company’s respective login ID. Estimates are acceptable but employers must have information on the intended job title and job descriptions.
Processing time can be anywhere from two to four weeks. If the projection is not applied for in advance, an additional two to four weeks will be added onto the processing time of the EP application, which is about two to three weeks.
MDEC advises that only companies who need the FKW headcount requirement for Q1 2022 should submit first. Projection applications for Q2 onwards can be applied for anytime during 2022.
FKW projection applications for 2021 are still open until 14 Nov 2021. Any unused projection approved for 2021 will be forfeited by 31 Dec 2021 and will not be carried forward to 2022.
The Expatriate Services Division (ESD) has not yet announced its 2022 quota projection applications.
Moving employees globally?
If your business is planning to send employees overseas for work, Smith Stone Walters can offer up to date advice and practical support with all aspects of global immigration.
From preparing and submitting work permit applications in your destination countries, to providing post-arrival assistance, our team and global network of partners are on hand to help ensure your cross-border moves run as smoothly as possible.
To find out how we can help, please contact the SSW global immigration team.
Share story
