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IMPACT – MEDIUM
What is the change? The Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which will begin next week, will close offices and delay processing of applications in countries across the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia, and at consular missions around the world.
What does the change mean? Offices will close for one to seven business days, depending on the country. Applicants should expect delays in processing of visas and work permits.
Background: Eid al-Fitr (Festival of Breaking the Fast) marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan and is celebrated with three or more days of festivities. The holiday is also known as Ramazan Bayrami in Turkey, Hari Raya Puasa in a number of Asian countries, and Korité or Tabaski in West Africa. Offices will be closed on the following business days:
Analysis & Comments: Employers should anticipate delays because of the holiday and may need to adjust time lines and start dates. Companies may wish to contact their immigration provider for individual country and consular schedules.
Source: Deloitte LLP. Deloitte LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC303675 and its registered office at 1 New Street Square, London EC4A 3HQ, United Kingdom.
BAL again is ranked as a top firm in the Global-wide category in the newly released Chambers Global Guide, an annual ranking of the best international law firms based on independent research and interviews with lawyers and clients worldwide.
Chambers recognizes BAL as an “acclaimed group of immigration specialists evoking praise for its deep experience in corporate global mobility.” According to research by Chambers, the firm offers a broad spectrum of services from application support and immigration programme management to strategic advice on compliance and government relations. The firm’s impressive client base benefits from its ever-expanding US footprint and recent alliance with Deloitte UK, combining centralised global mobility advice with on-the-ground expertise in more than 135 countries. BAL’s innovative case management technology and recent launch of its Cobalt mobile application innovate and distinguish client service.
The firm earns strong praise from clients, who report, “They are extremely responsive to our needs and proactive in their thinking,” adding, “Their Cobalt technology and reporting capabilities are excellent.” Others describe the team as “top quality, knowledgeable, prompt, and personable” and particularly appreciate its “eye for detail.”
Many distinguished attorneys lead BAL, and Chambers’ notable practitioners included Founding Partner David Berry, based in San Francisco, and Managing Partner, Jeremy Fudge, in Dallas.
About Chambers GlobalSince 1990, Chambers has published an annual guide ranking the world’s best lawyers based on technical expertise, business acumen, prompt delivery, and value for money. A team of over 200 researchers conducts thousands of interviews worldwide to produce the rankings. Lawyers cannot buy their way into Chamber’s rankings; as a result, its annual directories are considered among the most accurate and reliable.
All employers who send employees across international borders—whether to engage in business activities, carry out short-term assignments, or for long-term relocation—benefit from having a written immigration policy that covers the legal and practical issues of global travel and international relocation.
A written policy helps companies meet duty-of-care obligations, prevents border issues and detainments, and ensures that employees have the right to work when they arrive in their destination country. Additionally, a policy sets uniform expectations and guidelines to prevent managers and employees from running afoul of local labor laws or other sponsorship requirements. With a written immigration and business travel policy, employees benefit from having clear expectations from the offset and Global Mobility staff can reference uniform policies to inform their management of compliance requirements and other legal obligations.
This backgrounder by Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP (BAL) provides high-level suggestions on key issues related to mobility and immigration that should be part of every global company’s policy manual. With the backgrounder, BAL hopes to encourage Global Mobility professionals to think about how to create a best-in-class internal policy around immigration and international travel that promotes business needs while mitigating the many immigration risks that follow international travel assignments and long-term relocation. Topics covered in the document are described below in brief. For full explanations and key information, download the full BAL backgrounder here.
Around the world, governments, regardless of political persuasion, are stepping up compliance by more strictly enforcing their existing immigration laws. Increased fines, penalties, and criminalization of unauthorized working and expanded audit activities are more often focusing on companies—rather than workers—for illegal hiring, improper or invalid documentation, failure to complete mandatory procedures and other immigration infractions.
While immigration noncompliance can severely impact a multinational company’s reputation, until recently, fines and legal ramifications for noncompliance had not possessed much regulatory “bite.” Now, however, governments are revising regulations, scrutinizing work authorization for foreign nationals, and enforcing rules and regulations with new rigor to ensure that laws have “teeth.”
In this issue of the Global Trends Report, we take a closer look at immigration enforcement and how noncompliant employers face substantial financial and legal consequences.
Read the full report by completing the form below.
Travelers are being warned of two separate scams involving fraudulent websites.
The Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority is warning that a fake website posing as the border authority is fraudulently obtaining visitors’ visa reference numbers and passport/travel document numbers. The police have been notified and the ICA is working to have the fake website taken down. Travelers are being warned to make sure that they are using the official ICA website.
Australian authorities are warning about a website that is charging Australian citizens thousands of dollars for the visa waiver fee to visit the United States and putting travelers’ personal information at risk without providing the visa waiver. The Queensland Police is discouraging travelers from using third-party sites and advising that they only use the official U.S. government’s Electronic System for Travel Authorization registration site to apply for the visa waiver, which only costs US$14.
Analysis & Comments: Scams that target immigrants and international travelers have become quite common. Individuals should make sure that they are using official government websites and never submit to telephone calls or emails demanding payment. Suspicious emails, calls or websites should be reported to authorities.
MARN: 0101248
Immigration policies can help countries enhance or restrict the flow of foreign labor, depending on local needs. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, countries are finding creative ways to regulate immigration according to their individual economies and varying local labor demands across different industry sectors and geographical regions. The strategic use of these policies enables countries to encourage companies to hire local workers while continuing to attract foreign talent where needed. In this quarter’s Global Trends Report, BAL looks at this trend in greater detail and provides a country-by-country analysis that illustrates the wide variety of policy tools currently in use around the world.
What is the change? Australia has launched the Global Talent Scheme—a one-year pilot program under the Temporary Skill Shortage (Subclass 482) visa scheme aimed at attracting foreign talent with cutting-edge skills to bring innovation to Australia.
What does the change mean? The two streams of the Global Talent Scheme will allow established accredited sponsors or new start-up companies to benefit from a simplified application process, faster processing, and four-year TSS visas. Companies must meet financial eligibility criteria, salary minimums, and conduct labour market testing before being invited to enter an agreement with the Government. They must also demonstrate throughout the life of the agreement that they are bringing opportunities to Australian workers by creating new jobs and transferring skills and knowledge to Australians.
Background: Following the elimination of the subclass 457 visa and introduction of the stricter TSS visa in its place in March, the Australian Government announced the launch of the Global Talent Scheme, recognizing the global competition for tech talent and the need to provide fast-track processing for a subset of TSS applicants in cutting-edge fields. To be considered under the scheme, companies must first demonstrate that they are unable to fill the position with an Australian worker and that they cannot fill the position through other visa routes. Foreign employees in the Global Talent Scheme will be issued four-year TSS visas and are eligible to apply for permanent residence after three years. If the position ends, the worker will have 60 days to find a new sponsor and new visa or depart Australia.
The qualifying criteria for the two streams of the Global Talent Scheme are summarized as follows.
Additional information is available on the Government’s Global Talent Scheme Fact Sheet here.
BAL Analysis: Companies that meet the eligibility criteria for sponsorship should consider the Global Talent Scheme for niche roles that are restricted under the occupation lists for other visa routes such as the short- and medium-term streams of the TSS visa.
This alert has been provided by BAL Australia. For additional information, please contact australia@bal.com.
Copyright © 2018 Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. All rights reserved. Reprinting or digital redistribution to the public is permitted only with the express written permission of Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP. For inquiries please contact copyright@bal.com.
What is the change? The Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, expected to begin around June 14 at sunset, will close offices and delay processing of applications in countries across the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia, and at their consular missions around the world.
What does the change mean? Offices will close for three to 10 days, depending on the country. Applicants should expect delays in processing of visas and work permits.
Background: Eid al-Fitr (Festival of Breaking the Fast) marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan and is celebrated with three or more days of festivities. The holiday is also known as Ramazan Bayrami in Turkey, Hari Raya Puasa in Singapore, and Korité or Tabaski in West Africa.
The office closures are expected to begin June 15 or 16, depending on the length of the lunar month. Some countries will announce their holiday schedules closer to the end of Ramadan or when a new moon is sighted. Others have set public holiday schedules. June 15 and 16 fall on the weekend for some Persian Gulf countries.
Malaysia’s MYXpats Centre will close for a half day June 14 and a full day June 15. Malaysia’s eXpats Service Centre will close June 14-17, with filing decision cutoff dates before the holidays of June 1 for Stage 1 applications and June 8 for Stage 2 applications.
Across most of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, government offices are expected to close June 14-17, with Saudi Arabia likely to close for the entire week.
BAL Analysis: Time-sensitive filings should be submitted as early as possible before the holiday break. Companies may wish to contact their BAL representative for individual country and consular schedules.
This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group. For additional information, please contact your BAL attorney.
Alliance supports global businesses in staying ahead in a rapidly-changing global immigration environment
DALLAS, June 6, 2018 – Berry Appleman & Leiden (BAL) LLP, one of the world’s largest immigration law firms, today announced a first-of-its-kind strategic alliance with Deloitte UK. The alliance represents an industry first offering, combining the best of Deloitte’s scale, expertise and breadth outside of the US with BAL’s legal expertise and high quality immigration services in the US.
In an increasingly complex environment, today’s multinational businesses are struggling to gain the right level of market insights, make the most of big data and integrate their mobility services to advance their immigration programs. It can be particularly tough to find service providers with large enough footprints to effectively address global challenges and to stay ahead of ever-increasing requirements for secure, innovative technologies. This alliance addresses those needs, bringing BAL’s technology and innovation leadership together with the global acumen and scale of Deloitte Global. It gives multinational organizations the global perspectives and footprint and continuous innovation they need to stay ahead in today’s rapidly-changing immigration market.
“Immigration is now a C-Suite priority and the landscape is more complex than ever before. Today’s global businesses need innovative thinking, global scale and deep expertise,” said Jeremy Fudge, BAL Managing Partner. “We’re offering clients the very best of two leading organizations, delivering a level of expertise, scale, control and accountability they can’t get anywhere else.”
BAL’s global clients can continue to expect the high-level of technology innovation reflected in products like BAL’s Cobalt® digital immigration services platform, top-notch information security and unmatched immigration expertise they’ve come to know. When served through this alliance, BAL clients will now experience the added benefit of:
“With the increased need for cross-border business travel, global organizations are recognizing the value of a firm that can bring a global footprint to help support the challenges of delivery and corporate compliance,” said Kalvinder Dhillon, Deloitte Global Immigration Lead. “Our ability to provide a fully global, end-to-end service will help employers move talent where it’s needed and enhance their compliance.”
Under this alliance, BAL will remain an independent entity in the US. Deloitte Global will acquire BAL’s non-US operations and assets in the UK, Singapore, Australia, Dubai, China, South Africa, Mozambique and Brazil. Deloitte US does not provide immigration or legal services and is not a party to the alliance with Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP, nor is it a party to the acquisition of BAL’s non-US assets. References to Deloitte Global are references to the member firms of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”). Deloitte UK is the sponsor of the alliance. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL does not provide services to clients.
About BAL
BAL is singularly focused on meeting the immigration challenges of corporate clients around the world in ways that make immigration more strategic and clients more successful. Established in 1980, the firm provides unmatched immigration expertise, top-notch information security and leading technology innovation like its Cobalt® digital immigration services platform. BAL and its leaders are highly ranked in every major legal publication, including Best Lawyers, Chambers, The Legal 500, and Who’s Who Legal. See website for details: www.bal.com.
Media Contact:
Constance Pegushin Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP cpegushin@bal.com 415-617-4534
About BAL Established in 1980, BAL powers human achievement through immigration expertise, people-centered client services and innovative technology. BAL, with 13 offices across the United States and global coverage in more than 185 countries around the world, operates as a single entity through its oneBAL culture — a uniquely holistic approach, intentionally structured as one team, one brand, one P&L, one standard of excellence and one unifying technology. This united approach enables the firm to deliver the highest level of knowledge, insights and resources from across the entire organization.
At BAL, we pursue the exceptional. To learn more visit bal.com.
Media Contact: Emily Albrecht Senior Director — Marketing & Communications ealbrecht@bal.com 469-559-0174