April 2016

PEREGRINE NEWS
Welcome to the Peregrine News digest for April 2016!
Immiguru
In April we added three new immigration processes to Immiguru:

Qatar GCC Nationals;

USA L-1 Intra Company transfer (New Office);
Dominican Republic Short Term Work Permit (Under 11 Months).

We also welcomed new partners in Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Peru and Argentina to our
network.
More News and Events
In April the Peregrine team had a great time at the EuRA conference in Malta this April, successfully
hosting EuRAs first ever Immigration Symposium on Tuesday 19 April and meeting many of our
partners, clients and friends. If you attended, dont forget to complete the EuRA survey here so we
can continue to make this an event everyone looks forward to!
Finally, join us for an Immigo webinar on Tuesday 24 May at 1.30PM GMT (UK time). The webinar
topic is Creating Template Processes and is free to attend for Peregrines Immigo clients. Places
are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, so please contact us at
training@peregrineimmigration.co.uk to book your spot now.

Table of Contents
UNITED STATES FISCAL YEAR 2017 H-1B CAP REACHED ALREADY
2
COLOMBIA ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR TP-4 WORK VISA APPLICATIONS
2
VENEZUELA DELAYS IN DOCUMENT PROCESSING UNTIL JUNE
3
MOZAMBIQUE NEW RULES FOR ANNUAL SUBMISSION OF NOMINAL LIST OF EMPLOYEES
3
SWITZERLAND END OF IMMIGRATION LIMITATIONS FOR BULGARIAN AND ROMANIAN NATIONALS
4
INDIA CHANGES TO POLICE VERIFICATION IN BANGALORE
5
CTE D'IVOIRE BIOMETRIC DATA CAPTURE INTRODUCED FOR RESIDENCE PERMIT APPLICATIONS
6
GHANA PETROLEUM COMMISSION INTRODUCES NEW FEES AND APPLICATION INFORMATION FORM FOR WORK
PERMIT CASES
6
RUSSIA IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES REORGANISED
7
INDONESIA VISA-FREE ENTRY EXTENDED TO 79 MORE NATIONALITIES; NOW APPLIES TO BUSINESS VISITS
7
AUSTRALIA ADDITIONAL SPONSORSHIP OBLIGATION FOR SUBCLASS 457 VISAS
8
MORE FROM PEREGRINE
9

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UNITED STATES Fiscal

Year 2017 H-1B Cap
Reached Already
On April 7, 2016, United States Citizenship
and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced
that it had received sufficient quota-subject
H-1B filings for government fiscal year 2017 (1
October 2016 to 30 September 2017) to meet
both the general H-1B quota (65,000) for
individuals holding a bachelors degree or the
equivalent and the additional quota (20,000)
for individuals holding a U.S. masters or other
advanced degree.

Exemptions
USCIS will continue to accept and process
petitions that are otherwise exempt from the
cap. Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B
workers who have been counted previously
against the cap, and who still retain their cap
number, will also not be counted toward the
Fiscal Year 2017 H-1B cap.
USCIS will continue to accept and process
petitions submitted to:
Extend the amount of time a
current H-1B worker may remain
in the United States;
Change the terms of employment
for current H-1B workers;
Allow current H-1B workers to
change employers; and
Allow current H-1B workers to
work concurrently in a second H1B position.

H-1B Lottery for 2017

Since the USCIS has already received more
than 65,000 petitions and more than 20,000
advanced degree exemption petitions, it will
run a lottery to determine which should
proceed for full review and adjudication.
The lottery is a computer-generated
random selection process of all H-1B petitions
received during the 1-7 April 2016 filing
period. The petitions selected by lottery will
continue for full adjudication.
The first lottery will be run on "advanced
degree" exemption petitions. All "advanced
degree" petitions not selected as part of the
initial quota will then be placed into the
lottery for the 65,000 general category. All
petitions not selected in the lottery will be
returned to the attorney or petitioner.
New H-1B workers will only be eligible to
begin employment on 1 October 2016, with
some limited exceptions, such as students
eligible to extend their stay in the U.S. and
continued work authorization under Optional
Practical Training (OPT) and a cap gap
exception.

Action Items
Note that the H-1B caps for Fiscal
Year 2017 have already been
reached, although bear in mind
that many H-1B petitions are
exempt from the cap.

COLOMBIA Additional
Documents Required for
TP-4 Work Visa
Applications
Since early March 2016, the Colombian
Foreign Ministry has been requesting
additional documents in support of
applications for TP-4 temporary work visas
and beneficiary visas for dependents.

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Which documents are required?

For initial application for TP-4
temporary work visa for local
hires: Employment contract;
For TP-4 visa renewals:
Employment certification issued
by the Colombian company;
For beneficiary visas: Marriage
and birth certificates issued and
legalised within the three months
prior to the visa application.

The standard processing time for a work

permit and transient visa application has
increased from 42 to 61 days.

Why is this happening?

The delays are a consequence of measures
recently implemented by the Venezuelan
government in order to contribute to a
reduction in energy consumption. These
measures are as follows:
Most government offices will
work from Monday to Thursday,
in a reduced schedule from 8:00
a.m. until 1:00 p.m. This reduces
the effective office hours to five
hours per day;
All government entities will not
work on Fridays during the
months of April and May
2016.Please be aware that during
the months of April and May
2016, there will be only 20
working hours per week in most
government offices.

Action Items
Employers in Colombia should be
ready to submit these additional
documents at the time of
application, to avoid delays. If the
documents are requested by the
Ministry at a later stage, it may
take up to 30 calendar days to
finally approve the visa.
At present, the employment
contract is only being requested
in the case of TP-4 visas.
However, it is expected that the
employment contract may also be
requested for applications for TP13 work visas for local hires.

This schedule is expected to end by 31 May

2016, but delays will continue until the end of
June 2016. Processing in Venezuelan
consulates abroad is not affected.

Action Items

VENEZUELA Delays in
Document Processing Until
June
From 7 April until the end of June 2016, delays
are expected in all governmental entities in
Venezuela related to document processing,
including document legalisations, work permit
applications and visa renewals.

Plan for increased processing

times for work permits, visa
renewals and document
legalisations in Venezuela until
the end of June 2016.

MOZAMBIQUE New Rules

for Annual Submission of

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Nominal List of
Employees
The Ministry of Labour, Employment and
Social Security has implemented Decree
number 104/2015, published in November
2015, amending the procedure for the
mandatory annual submission by employers
of the nominal list of their local and foreign
national employees.

What has changed?

All corporate entities in Mozambique are
required to submit a nominal list ("mapa da
relao nominal) annually stating details of
foreign national and local employees.
Since 1 March 2016, this should now be
submitted to the Ministry of Labour,
Employment and Social Security ("MITESS")
online via the MITESS portal, rather than
manually, as previously. Companies that do
not have access to Internet, can still submit a
hard copy of the nominal list and send it to
the local office of the MITESS.
Furthermore, the nominal list must now be
submitted between 1 and 30 April each year,
with data referring to the month of March of
the same year. Previously, the deadline for
submission was 30 June each year.

Action Points
Employers in Mozambique must
ensure that they submit their
nominal list by 30 April via the
new online portal.

SWITZERLAND End of
Immigration Limitations for
Bulgarian and Romanian
Nationals
The Swiss government has confirmed that the
limitations on immigration which are currently
valid for nationals from the European Union
member states Romania and Bulgaria will, as
expected, be lifted as of 1 June 2016. Croatian
nationals will, however, remain subject to
immigration limitations.

What does this mean?

This means that, from 1 June 2016, Romanian
and Bulgarian nationals will be treated the
same as other EU nationals in terms of easy
access to the Swiss labour market. No prior
work permit approval is required for EU
nationals to work in Switzerland with a Swiss
local employment contract. As with other EU
nationals, all that is required, prior to starting
work, is a simple registration at the local
residents office of the municipality of
residence.

Background
According to the safeguard clause (Art. 10
Abs. 4c of the Agreement on free movement
of persons with the EU), the Swiss
government is, until 31 May 2019, entitled to
impose quotas in case immigration from
Bulgaria and Romania surpasses by 10% or
more the median of the previous three years.
Such a decision can be made between 1 June
2017 and 1 June 2018. So far the population
with Bulgarian or Romanian nationality is
relatively small in Switzerland. At the end of
2015 this category made up 0.9% of the
permanent residing population. In the year
2015 the available quotas were not
exhausted.

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 The Form is available at the Police

Commissioners office in
Bangalore, and it must be
completed and submitted to the
local police station under whose
jurisdiction the residence of the
foreigner falls;
Documents to be submitted with
the Annexure to Order Form are:
Passport copy, valid visa copy,
residential permit, passport-sized
photo;
The deadline for submission of
the new form is 15 days from the
commencement of stay.

Action Items
Companies working in Switzerland
should take into account the
forthcoming lifting of immigration
restrictions on Bulgarian and
Romanian nationals.

INDIA Changes to Police

Verification in Bangalore
There have been recent changes in police
verification procedures for foreign nationals in
Bangalore.

What is New?

Form C

The main changes are as follows:

The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs issued a

statement on 18 March 2016, emphasizing
the mandatory requirement for hotels, guest
houses, hostels, and private homes among
others to report the arrival and stay of any
foreign national within 24 hours of arrival at
their premises.

1. The local police is now empowered to visit

(or summon to the police station) any foreign
national at random for status verification, to
check compliance with immigration laws and
to prevent overstay.
This has been triggered by a Karnataka High
Court order in a recent bail matter for a
foreign national, in which the High Court
asked the FRRO (Foreign Regional Registration
Office) and State Police to better coordinate
the tracking of foreign nationals to monitor
overstays.
2. A new tenant verification form, called an
Annexe to Order Form, has been introduced:

This is to be done via the online Form C

application. The statement specifies that the
definition of hotel includes rented
accommodation. Many jurisdictions (including
Chennai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata)
already implement Form C reporting.

Action Items

The order issued by the Bangalore

city police states that all tenants
(irrespective of the visa type or
length of stay) have to file this
form at the local police station.
The responsibility is primarily with
the landlord, hotel owner, or
service apartment owner to
complete this formality;

Employers should ensure that

foreign nationals comply with the
correct Form-C and local police
verification procedures, including
the Annexure to Order Form in
Bangalore.
Foreign national employees who
change residence must update
their residence permit at the

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FRRO, report at the local police

station and update their records.

CTE D'IVOIRE Biometric

Data Capture Introduced
for Residence Permit
Applications
The Ivorian authorities have introduced a new
procedure for temporary residence permit
applications, including biometric data capture.

What to Expect
A temporary residence permit application or
"Titre Provisoire de Sjour (TPS)" should be
filed with the National Office of Identification
(ONI) eleven weeks after entry into Cte
d'Ivoire (i.e. a week before the three months
mark).

GHANA Petroleum
Commission Introduces
New Fees and Application
Information Form for Work
Permit Cases
Effective 4 April 2016 the Petroleum
Commission (PC) of Ghana has introduced an
administrative fee of US$100 for work permit
applications.
Also effective 4 April 2016, all work permit
applications should include a completed
information gathering sheet.

New Fee

The foreign national applicant (including any

dependent family members) must attend in
person, and biometrics (fingerprints; height
measurement; photo) will be taken at the
appointment and a receipt will be issued on
the same day.
The list of required documents for the
residence permit application remains the
same.

Action Points
Ensure that resident permit applicants
(including any dependent family
members) attend the ONI in person to
have their biometric data captured,
eleven weeks after entry to
Cted'Ivoire.

The fee is applicable to both regular

and rotator work permits, and to
initial, renewal and appeal
applications.
The new fees must be paid in bankers
draft drawn on Ghanaian Banks
approved by the PC and in Ghana Cedi
equivalent at the prevailing exchange
rate determined by the bankers of the
Commission.
The new fee is part of a new payment
process whereby the employer (or
their representative) first submits the
work permit application documents,
together with the bankers draft, to
the Localisation Unit of the PC, which
will then check whether the
application documents and the fee
are correct.
Then the employer (or their
representative) will proceed to the PC
Finance Department to pay the fee
using the bankers draft and a cover
letter detailing all applications to be
made. The employer (or their

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representative) will be given two

copies of the receipt, one of which
plus an endorsed copy of the cover
letter should be returned to the
Localisation Unit. The other copy of
the receipt is for the employer.

New Form
The information gathering sheet must be
completed, printed and attached to every
application. Copies of the sheet are available
to download or can be sent to the applicant
by email upon request. An electronic
application is being developed to facilitate the
process.

All organisational and staff arrangements

under the Decree are to be finalized before 1
June 2016.
In recent years, FMS officials have complained
that the service is not an enforcement agency
and is therefore not able to conduct
investigations or arrest suspects. The current
reorganization is intended to solve this
problem.
The FMS has been an independent
government service since 2014, before which
it was part of the MIA.

Action Items

Action Items
Ensure that the new fee is paid
according to the new fee payment
procedure, and that an information
gathering sheet is correctly
completed and submitted in support
of each work permit application at the
Petroleum Commission.

RUSSIA Immigration
Authorities Reorganised
Effective 5 April 2016, the Russian President
has signed a decree reorganising the federal
immigration authorities.

Details of the Reorganisation

Under the decree (No. 156) the Federal
Migration Service (FMS) of Russia has been
abolished, and its functions, responsibilities
and staff (with a reduction of 30%)
transferred to a department of the Ministry of
Internal Affairs (MIA).

Expect some delays in the processing

of immigration applications as the
service is reorganized as a ministerial
department and staff numbers cut.

INDONESIA Visa-Free
Entry Extended to 79 More
Nationalities; Now Applies
to Business Visits
Effective 10 March 2016, visa-free entry to
Indonesia for up to 30 days has been
extended to 79 more nationalities, bringing
the total number of qualifying countries to
169.
The new law also allows visa-free visits for
business meetings for the first time for nonASEAN nationalities.

Who Can Travel Visa Free?

On 21 December 2015, the Indonesian
government announced that 84 additional
countries will be added to the visa-free list.
On 10 March 2016, visa-free entry was
extended to only 79 of these countries,

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including Australia and Brazil, bringing the

total to 169. The full list of countries whose
nationals qualify for visa-free entry to
Indonesia is provided here by our partner in
Indonesia, PNB Immigration Law Firm.
A total of 154 countries have now been added
to the visa-free list in the last year. In June
2015, 30 countries were added to the list, and
in October 2015 another 45 countries were
added.

Purpose of Travel
A major advantage for businesses in
Indonesia, according to PNB Immigration Law
Firm, is that the new Regulation now allows
business meetings without the requirement to
obtain a business visa in Indonesia.
However, it is important that a foreign
national entering Indonesia visa-free only
attends meetings, and does not participate in
any activity which could be construed as
"work", as this can lead to deportation.

Note that any business activity which

is not clearly a meeting is not allowed
under this new law.

AUSTRALIA Additional
Sponsorship Obligation for
Subclass 457 Visas
Effective 19 April 2016, business sponsors
must declare in writing that they do not (and
will not) engage in discriminatory recruitment
practices on the grounds of immigration
status or citizenship.
This is in addition to the existing Sponsorship
Obligations outlined here by our partner in
Australia, Visa Executive.

What exactly is the new sponsorship

obligation?

Previously, most visa-free nationals could only

visit Indonesia without a visa for tourism or
other leisure purposes. Only nationals of
ASEAN countries could visit Indonesia visafree for other purposes, such as business
meetings. Under the new law, the following
purposes of visit are allowed for the 169 visafree countries: 1. Leisure / tourism; 2. Family
visits; 3. Social; 4. Art and cultural; 5.
Government visits; 6. Giving lectures or
attending seminars; 7. Meetings held by the
Head Office or Representative Office; 8. Flight
transfers.

Action Items
Note that nationals of the 169
countries listed here can now travel
to Indonesia visa-free for business
meetings as well as for tourism.

This new sponsorship obligation

applies to a person who is or was a
standard business sponsor; and is
lawfully operating a business in
Australia.
The sponsor must not engage in, or
have engaged in, discriminatory
recruitment practices during the
period of their approval as a sponsor.
This obligation starts to apply on the
day the person is, or was, approved as
a standard business sponsor, and
ends when the person ceases, or
ceased, to be a standard business
sponsor.
Discriminatory recruitment practice
means a recruitment practice that
directly or indirectly discriminates
against a person based on the
immigration status or citizenship of
the person, other than a practice
engaged in to comply with a

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Commonwealth, State or Territory

law.
This new obligation is in addition to
the sponsors existing obligations.

Action Items
Business sponsors should be prepared
to provide a written declaration that
they do not and will not engage in
discriminatory recruitment practices.
Processing times, however, should
not be affected.

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DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this immigration newsletter has been
abridged from laws, court decisions, and administrative rulings and should not be
construed or relied upon as legal advice. If you have specific questions regarding the
applicability of this information, please contact Peregrine 2015 Peregrine
Immigration Management Ltd.

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