Gainful occupation permits that have expired can now be extended for up to three months to allow for ample time for repatriation arrangements and reopening of the airspace.

With over 5,700 gainful occupation permits (GOPs) set to expire before the end of the year, the Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status has put in place a special framework to address related issues caused by the pandemic.

Principal immigration officer Erica Dufrenne explained that an employer who decides not to renew the GOP of its worker(s) may request for an extension so as to legalise the status of the worker (s) in the country until their departure.

She noted that the framework was developed cognizant of the fact that COVID-19 has made traveling quite difficult, and in some cases impossible.

“It is important for an employer to approach the immigration office to legalise the status of their workers with expired GOPs. If they do not the worker may be considered to have overstayed his/her permit and will be deported as prohibited immigrant,” Mrs Dufrenne noted.

Extension of GOP for that purpose will be free of charge due to force majeure from July 1 to December 31, 2020 and medical certificate of the expatriate worker will not be required for process.

The same avenue will be made available to expatriate workers who have been made redundant but who cannot travel back home because of travel restrictions.

Nonetheless, the employer will remain responsible for providing adequate shelter and food for the expatriates up until their departure.

“There are mechanisms in place to ensure that employers respect these requirements, such as the section that undertakes inspections and monitoring that will investigate any complaints that have to do with expatriate workers,” stated the director general for labour migration Benilda Cupidon.

Additionally, the framework will also allow employers to renew GOPs of their expatriate worker without the usual condition that requires expatriate workers to leave Seychelles during the process. This again is due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

However, all other conditions are to be met including testing the labour market to identify whether there are competent and available locals for a post.

No labour market test will be required for organisations below quota until December 2020.

All immigration fees will also be applicable to renewal.

Meanwhile, employers with expatriate worker on valid GOP who are presently stuck out of the country, must write to the employment department to inform either of their interest to retain the workers or to let them go.

In the case of the latter, the expatriate workers will be allowed to return only to pick up their belongings, and permission to return to Seychelles will be granted based on guidelines from the Public Health Authority.

 

Elsie Pointe