Latest news with #workpermit
Times of Oman
15-06-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
Engineering accreditation to be made mandatory for Oman work permits
Muscat: The Ministry of Labour has announced that, effective from 1 August 2025, all engineers working in the Sultanate of Oman will be required to obtain professional engineering accreditation in order to apply for or renew a work permit. The Ministry called on all establishments and engineers currently working in the Sultanate — as well as prospective applicants — to apply for a professional classification certificate through the Oman Society of Engineers. Work permits will only be issued or renewed upon submission of an accreditation certificate granted by the Engineering Sector Skills Unit. The Ministry stressed that, after the implementation date, no work permits will be granted without this certification.
BBC News
09-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Canada work permit rule wey allow foreign workers to change work - wetin e dey about?
Di govment of Canada don introduce option wey go allow foreign workers to change dia job without waiting for work permit approvals. Normally, foreign nationals wey wan work for Canada go need a work permit, wey be di legal document wey fit allow di pesin to get employment and receive pay from employer. Now, Canada govment dey reduce delays for foreign workers wey dey try change dia jobs without dem waiting for work permit approval. Meanwhile, any individual wey dey eligible to work witout a work permit go still need a Temporary Resident Visa to enta Canada. But di new policy na to make am easy for workers to change dia jobs, grow dia careers and support di financial stability of temporary foreign workers for Canada. Categories under which foreigners fit work without approval Foreign nationals wey dey Canada but previously get a valid work permit and apply for a new one bifor di expiry of dia previous permit. Dis dey known as 'Maintained status'. Dem fit kontinu to work under same condition until dia new application get approvals. Maintained status offer temporary residents di opportunity to continue dia work, but get gatz stay for Canada. If dem comot for Canada, dem no go benefit from di opportunity. Meanwhile, foreign nationals wey dey maintained status need to stay for Canada while dia application dey under processing so dem no go lose dia authorization to work. Also, foreigners wey get valid study permit fit work without a permit. Dem fit work off-campus and during academic breaks. International representatives and dia family members and personal staff fit work witout a permit for Canada. Wit dis new public policy, foreigner wey get valid job offer and e don submit a work permit application, di worker dey allowed to begin employment witout delay. Meanwhile, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) dey reduce score of married pipo wey dey enta or wan stay for Canada but declare dia spouse as 'non-accompanying'. Di 'non- accompanying' option dey help married workers choose if dia spouse dey come wit dem or not, if dem wan apply for di permanent residency. How Canada 'non-accompanying' spouse option fit affect married pipo Canada dey give skilled workers pathway to become permanent resident but if dem lie say dia spouse no dey follow dem to gain more points, e fit get serious wahala. Di IRCC go issue one letter especially wen di spouse dey live and work for Canada. If dem find lies for di letter, e fit lead to five-year ban. Canada Express Entry dey score applicants through di Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) for different factors like age, language proficiency, qualifications. Single applicants fit get more points dan dia married applicants if dia spouse qualifications and language scores no dey good enough. But married applicants fit declare dia spouse as "non-accompanying". Dis mean say dem no go relocate to Canada as permanent residents. Di "non-accompanying" declaration go make dem assess di applicants as single and e fit add up to 40 CSR points. Wit Express Entry, candidates dey use di 'non-accompanying' spouse option to increase dia score. Meanwhile, for October 2024, Canada announce say dem go reduce permanent residency targets from 395,000 for 2025, 380,000 for 2026, and 365,000 for 2027. Dis dey make plenti married applicants to declare dia spouses as 'non-accompanying' to give dem more chances, and IRCC consida am as misrepresentation. For Canada, misrepresentation na offence under Section 40 of di Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), wen an applicant provide false information or no provide material facts wey fit affect an immigration decision, weda intentional or not. Although, to declare a non-accompanying spouse dey allowed under immigration law for valid reasons, such as a spouse career abroad or family obligations, but Canada IRCC fit get issue wit am especially wen di spouse don alreadi dey for Canada on temporary status.
Irish Times
26-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
‘I felt like I was his slave': The Irish food industry's exploitation of workers
Hasan, an Asian engineering student who suddenly found he could not pay Irish university fees of more than €10,000 during the Covid pandemic, thought his luck had changed one evening as he waited in a takeaway on a meal and got chatting to someone who, it turned out, was from the same town back home. 'I'm from a poor family and was completely broke, but I was trying to buy food for myself from the takeaway, and he was there too. We were talking, and because we were from the same place he was very friendly. 'He said: 'I'm looking for a guy, and if you're free, if you want to work, I'll help you to get the work permit'. 'He promised me a lot ... 'I'll help you with accommodation, I'll bring your family here, I'll set up your visa.' I thought he was a very good man, but afterwards he treated me very roughly, like he was the boss of my life. For a long time I felt like I was his slave.' READ MORE Hasan, not his real name, recently secured a substantial award against the employer, who he does not want named, for a long list of employment legislation breaches, including a requirement that he worked hugely long hours, was paid far below the minimum wage, and did not get the holidays to which he was entitled. [ Migrants to Ireland hit 'disproportionately' by poverty after housing costs despite being better educated Opens in new window ] Through most of the roughly two years he worked for the company, he slept in a store room above one of his employer's premises on a mattress, surrounded by boxes of stock. He was forced to beg his boss for the equivalent of pocket money while persistently being threatened that his work permit would be cancelled. 'First he said he needed to see his lawyer about it, then he said his accountant, and then he just started to ignore me' — Hasan, upon asking his employer for payslips Eventually, it was. 'I didn't even know he had done it,' Hasan recalls. 'I had to do all his work, getting up at six each morning, working until three most nights,' he claims. 'I didn't get a day off. 'But I was begging him to give me my payslips, some proof I worked for him, because the time for my [permit] extension was approaching. First he said he needed to see his lawyer about it, then he said his accountant, and then he just started to ignore me. 'Then one night, I was sitting outside his takeaway in my car' – by which he means the vehicle his employer provided to him to make deliveries – 'and I was literally crying. One of other drivers came to me, sat next to me and explained about opening my Revenue account. Before that, I had no idea. So I looked at it and it said my work permit was no longer active. That's how a found out what he had done.' Another coworker pointed Hasan in the direction of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland and he met co-director Bill Abom for the first time a few days later. Abom says that while Hasan's case is an extreme one, exploitation of migrant workers in the restaurant sector accounts for about half the employment cases on the organisation's books at any one time. In its recently published annual report, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) said that of 77 successful prosecutions for employment breaches in 2024, about two thirds involved firms operating in the food services sector, with more than 80 per cent of those cases including breaches of the Employment Permits Acts. Recent decisions issued by the WRC include a number of substantial awards to migrant workers in the sector, with one last month involving a Tandoori chef, Masood Ur Rehman, who was awarded €55,000 against his former employer, Indian restaurant operator Roti Panni Ltd, for a variety of breaches. The restaurant had closed, however, and nobody from the employer's side turned up for the WRC hearing. In such cases the award can end up being paid by the State's Insolvency Payment Scheme. In another recent case, Xiafeng Gao was seeking nearly €200,000 in back pay and compensation for multiple alleged breaches of his employment rights by the operator of Eskimo Pizza at Main Street, Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan, between August 1st, 2022, and August 7th, 2024. [ 'Employers can be very creative': exploitation of migrant workers on the rise Opens in new window ] The WRC was told Mr Xiaofeng came to Ireland in July 2022 after signing a promissory note in China agreeing to pay off a 'recruitment fee' of about €30,600 to a businessman, Ming Gao. Such charges are illegal here. Mr Xiaofeng said he was paid €25 a day, or €150 a week for 73-hour weeks, and was 'so afraid' of his employer he simply did what he was told. Abom says exploitation of a worker by someone from their own country of origin is regularly a feature of cases that come to MRCI, with ethnic restaurants often the setting, but, he stresses, there are plenty of other examples too. 'It is a trend, for sure. I know it's something that we worry a little bit about, but it's the truth, it happens in a significant percentage of our cases that are in that zone. 'To be fair, though, we also have mushroom farms where it's not that way. We have horse farms where it's not that way. We have domestic workers where it's not that way. In those cases, it's Irish nationals [who are the employers], but in this sector, in particular, it is a feature to a high degree.' 'One breach tends to tar the entire sector, but the number of businesses failing to observe the rules and treat their staff properly is very small' — Adrian Cummins, Restaurants Association of Ireland The sorts of abuses MRCI commonly sees, he says, include instances of people being paid through the business, but then being obliged to withdraw cash – sometimes most of their wages – from an ATM and return it to the business owner. Other cases involve people being made to work far in excess of the hours they expected, and not given holiday or other entitlements. Threats with regard to the cancelling of permits are common, he says, and many workers see the five-year requirement to apply for longer-term residency as a time during which almost anything must simply be endured. 'They just kind of endure exploitation until they hit the five-year mark, and then they move on.' He says there are probably about 6,000 chefs working in the country on work permits, and suggests several hundred of them are likely being exploited in some way. 'And most of those would have paid an illegal recruitment fee.' [ Migrants group criticises 'pure ignorance' of much social media commentary on asylum seekers Opens in new window ] He says changes to legislation in the past couple of years have improved the landscape, as migrants with a permit are now able to change employer after nine months, subject to various rules. However, the MRCI has been trying to persuade the Government to run an information campaign about the improved rights because, Abom suggests, most of those affected, simply do not know about them. Restaurants Association of Ireland chief executive Adrian Cummins says he happy to see wrongdoing in the sector exposed and says anyone being exploited should report the situation to the WRC. He adds that, 'in the context of a sector that involves 20,000 food businesses ... pubs, hotels, restaurants, coffee shops – these are very isolated incidents'. 'One breach tends to tar the entire sector, but the number of businesses failing to observe the rules and treat their staff properly is very small.' Hasan, meanwhile, is now out of the takeaway business and working in security where, he says, he is very happy – although he would like to finish his studies at some point. He is getting married later this year to a woman from home, and dreams of reuniting with his family in Ireland if he can somehow make it happen. 'They sent me here to get a good life. So it's not easy for me, but I will try my best to bring them here to be with me and my wife.'
Telegraph
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
The Home Office's next big headache? English cricket
County cricket is being undermined by 'bizarre' work permit rules as clubs lobby the Home Office and ECB for change to the 'crazy' system. Players who do not meet playing criteria are restricted to a maximum of 30 days in the country, under the Permitted Paid Engagement visa scheme. It means several leading performers in this year's County Championship have been forced to return home early as they do not meet qualification criteria. The existing rules for overseas players, which were introduced in 2020, mean those without international experience are judged on their T20 pedigree. But counties argue it is wrong to judge players signed for the County Championship based on their prowess in the white-ball game, and want the rules to change for the 2026 domestic season. 'We didn't want him for T20s, we wanted him for four-day cricket' This season, Fergus O'Neill took 21 wickets at an average of 17.9 for Nottinghamshire in Division One, the most of any player during the first five weeks of the season. Yet O'Neill was still forced to leave early. Durham's Brendan Doggett, another Australian, was in a similar situation. 'It is crazy, Mick Newell, the director of cricket at Notts, told Telegraph Sport. 'T20 seems a bizarre format for Fergus to have had to play when we didn't want to sign for that form of the game - we wanted to sign him for four-day cricket. 'If you want to make these competitions the best in the world, you've got a really good player here that could probably have played another three games - and continue to make the competition stronger. I have raised it with the ECB, when they look at the rules and regulations for next season. Could they look at a format-by-format qualification, rather than just using T20? 'If you want to sign a player for red-ball cricket, then they should qualify through what they've done in red-ball cricket in their own country, not T20.' Australians having to play through jet lag To maximise the amount of games that O'Neill played, he only arrived from Australia 72 hours before Notts's first Championship match of the season. Without the 30-day limit, O'Neill would have arrived several days earlier; Australian players typically arrive around a week before their opening game, to give sufficient time to recover from jet lag. Tim Bostock, the Durham chairman, said rules need to be reformed for the good of the county game. He believes the limit of two overseas players per team per match already ensures a high level of quality control. 'It seems bizarre,' Bostock told Telegraph Sport. 'We now have a qualification criteria designed around playing a minimum number of T20 games with zero recognition of those non-international players who are playing high-quality first-class cricket. 'There are some high-quality overseas players who have not played international cricket and who do not go off and play franchise cricket that would enhance the quality of the Championship and also help with season-long planning instead of overseas players coming back and forth. Why would you have T20 cricket as the sole qualification to be allowed to stay longer than 30 days and play in our first-class competition? 'I expect the ECB to lobby government hard on changing the criteria. It's puzzling that there are multiple overseas players playing in the Premier League and Football League - many of whom have not played at the highest level yet we seem to be restricted, particularly when we only have 18 first-class teams.' Home Office rules have Hundred in mind The qualification rules for overseas players are determined by the Home Office, following consultation with the ECB. The last changes to the criteria were made before the 2020 season. The bulk of overseas players qualify for a work permit by dint of playing international cricket. For those without recent international experience, an alternative path is to have played at least 20 domestic T20 games in Full member nations in the preceding three years. Players who miss these criteria are limited to a maximum of 30 days contracted to a domestic team. There is frustration among counties that the criteria priorities short-format experience and is seemingly designed with the Hundred in mind. But players with fine first-class calibre miss out. Cricketers from Australia, where the national talent pool is particularly strong, are especially penalised, as in the case of O'Neill and Doggett. O'Neill, 24, is considered among the most exciting Australian quick bowlers of his generation. He was named Sheffield Shield player of the season for 2024-25 and has taken 133 first-class wickets at just 20 apiece. Doggett has a fine record in the Australian domestic game and has been called up in several Test squads in recent years. Bizarrely, Doggett's Test selection has hindered his ability to meet the criteria to play a full part as an overseas player in county cricket. While with Australia's squad, he missed Big Bash matches that would have helped him meet the threshold of T20 matches. Harry Conway, another Australian pace bowler, was also only eligible to join Northamptonshire on a short-term basis this year. Jordan Buckingham also signed for Yorkshire for only four weeks. Several counties are now planning to urge the ECB to push for the criteria to be reformed to ensure high-quality overseas players are able to play a full part in the County Championship. Ideas that counties are discussing include a new qualification criteria of first-class matches played by a player, or A team internationals being counted. Such proposals must be put forward by the end of the month. The ECB has an annual consultation period with the professional and recreational game each year, which runs until May 31. After the consultation period ends, suggestions are discussed by the ECB committee. Should the suggestions then be deemed worthy of exploring by the committee, they will also assess whether they fall within Home Office parameters. If the suggestions do meet these criteria, they will be discussed by the Professional Game Committee. Should this group then approve of the suggestions, they will advance to the ECB board for sign-off. At this point, finally, the suggestions would then be taken to the Home Office, who ultimately decide what the qualification criteria for overseas players are.
