AmCham Board of Directors met Mr Teymur Mehdiyev, the first Deputy Chair of the State Migration Service of Azerbaijan
To express AmCham's views on critical practical issues faced by companies, seek clarity and improve efficiency of the process, troubleshoot some logistical steps and suggest a number of policy changes, the following issues were discussed: consulting companies, delays in receiving work/residency permits, rejections, validity of residency permits, quarterly meetings of AmCham and State Migration Service on a management level.
1) Consulting Companies:
State Migration Service (SMS) confirmed that the decision to resume accepting applications via consulting firms has been taken by the SMS and will be enforced within 3-4 weeks, subject to final agreement with the Cabinet of Ministers. A list of SMS approved consulting firms will be generated and made public on SMS website. AmCham was invited to provide the list of member companies interested in providing the services along with their charters. This list has been compiled by us at the beginning of April since the first indication of this development, by inviting all consulting firms within the membership, and will be provided to SMS next week. It’s been agreed that once the use of the consulting companies resumes, SMS will also accept (as it is the case now) individual applications directly from individuals and companies/entrepreneurs applying for very small number of(work permits;
2) Delays in receiving work/residency permits:
To solve the problem of delays in issuing the permits SMS accepted the proposal of AmCham to allow applications for renewals of work permits 60 days in advance. Mr Mehtiyev was hesitant to extend these timeframes to the residence permits as well, and did not give a firm commitment to that. We will reiterate this issue in the letter that will be sent to SMS next week. He once again expressed strong discontent with the fact that some companies submit documents for renewal of the permits later than 22 days prior to expiry, which results in delays in issuing the permits. We would like to once again urge the membership to submit applications at least 22 days before the expiry of the permit card;
3) Rejections:
- SMS once again referred to the established quota on foreign labor force, which amounts to the total of 11,900 for 2012. SMS and AmCham agreed to join forces in attempts to increase the quota for 2013 and possibly review the one for the current year based on mid-year statistics. SMS agreed to involve AmCham into the work of the Commission establishing these quotas.
- Rejections due to the availability of local manpower: SMS proposed to organize a tripartite meeting between AmCham, SMS and Ministry of Labor and Social Protection to discuss the issue, since it is the Employment Placement Service (EPS) of the Ministry that SMS must use as a resource on availability of local manpower. We made a strong point that EPS cannot be the ultimate resource on the country’s labor market as the level of qualification of the persons in the database of the Employment Service does not usually correspond to the high requirements of our member companies. Further to the tripartite meeting we will consider policy initiative on amending the legislation that limits labor market assessment to EPS only .
- Requirement to leave the country within 48 hours after the rejection: AmCham proposed to reconsider the 48 hour requirement in case of renewals as this period is unacceptably short for the people who have settled in the country in terms of logistics (children at school, rent of apartment, etc.). Moreover, person should be provided with the reasonable time to appropriate hand over. AmCham and SMS agreed to research the international best practice on the matter and discuss amending the requirement;
4) Validity of residency permits:
- SMS insisted on issuing the residency permits with varied validity (corresponding to the one of the lease agreement, passport validity, Power of Attorney, etc.) as they consider it the most efficient way to keep the most updated information on applicant’s address and status within the company. We will pursue this issue further in the future discussions;
5) Regular/Structured Dialogue between the SMS and AmCham: AmCham and SMS agreed to structure the dialogue in the form of:
- Quarterly meetings on a management level
- Maintaining the Q&A initiative: SMS is ready to maintain the exchange of written Q&A documents for clarification of legal and practical question about the issues of interest to AmCham membership. Updates of such documents will be placed on AmCham web-page
- Legislative dialogue to improve the legal framework related to migration issues: SMS invited AmCham to join the group established within the SMS to improve the existing migration legislation.
- Cooperation on the preparation of the 2013-2015 State Program on Migration Policy of Azerbaijan: SMS proposed AmCham to join the works on preparation of the 2013-2015 State Program on Migration Policy of Azerbaijan, which AmCham gladly accepted.
More information is available from the AmCham's office.
1) Consulting Companies:
State Migration Service (SMS) confirmed that the decision to resume accepting applications via consulting firms has been taken by the SMS and will be enforced within 3-4 weeks, subject to final agreement with the Cabinet of Ministers. A list of SMS approved consulting firms will be generated and made public on SMS website. AmCham was invited to provide the list of member companies interested in providing the services along with their charters. This list has been compiled by us at the beginning of April since the first indication of this development, by inviting all consulting firms within the membership, and will be provided to SMS next week. It’s been agreed that once the use of the consulting companies resumes, SMS will also accept (as it is the case now) individual applications directly from individuals and companies/entrepreneurs applying for very small number of(work permits;
2) Delays in receiving work/residency permits:
To solve the problem of delays in issuing the permits SMS accepted the proposal of AmCham to allow applications for renewals of work permits 60 days in advance. Mr Mehtiyev was hesitant to extend these timeframes to the residence permits as well, and did not give a firm commitment to that. We will reiterate this issue in the letter that will be sent to SMS next week. He once again expressed strong discontent with the fact that some companies submit documents for renewal of the permits later than 22 days prior to expiry, which results in delays in issuing the permits. We would like to once again urge the membership to submit applications at least 22 days before the expiry of the permit card;
3) Rejections:
- SMS once again referred to the established quota on foreign labor force, which amounts to the total of 11,900 for 2012. SMS and AmCham agreed to join forces in attempts to increase the quota for 2013 and possibly review the one for the current year based on mid-year statistics. SMS agreed to involve AmCham into the work of the Commission establishing these quotas.
- Rejections due to the availability of local manpower: SMS proposed to organize a tripartite meeting between AmCham, SMS and Ministry of Labor and Social Protection to discuss the issue, since it is the Employment Placement Service (EPS) of the Ministry that SMS must use as a resource on availability of local manpower. We made a strong point that EPS cannot be the ultimate resource on the country’s labor market as the level of qualification of the persons in the database of the Employment Service does not usually correspond to the high requirements of our member companies. Further to the tripartite meeting we will consider policy initiative on amending the legislation that limits labor market assessment to EPS only .
- Requirement to leave the country within 48 hours after the rejection: AmCham proposed to reconsider the 48 hour requirement in case of renewals as this period is unacceptably short for the people who have settled in the country in terms of logistics (children at school, rent of apartment, etc.). Moreover, person should be provided with the reasonable time to appropriate hand over. AmCham and SMS agreed to research the international best practice on the matter and discuss amending the requirement;
4) Validity of residency permits:
- SMS insisted on issuing the residency permits with varied validity (corresponding to the one of the lease agreement, passport validity, Power of Attorney, etc.) as they consider it the most efficient way to keep the most updated information on applicant’s address and status within the company. We will pursue this issue further in the future discussions;
5) Regular/Structured Dialogue between the SMS and AmCham: AmCham and SMS agreed to structure the dialogue in the form of:
- Quarterly meetings on a management level
- Maintaining the Q&A initiative: SMS is ready to maintain the exchange of written Q&A documents for clarification of legal and practical question about the issues of interest to AmCham membership. Updates of such documents will be placed on AmCham web-page
- Legislative dialogue to improve the legal framework related to migration issues: SMS invited AmCham to join the group established within the SMS to improve the existing migration legislation.
- Cooperation on the preparation of the 2013-2015 State Program on Migration Policy of Azerbaijan: SMS proposed AmCham to join the works on preparation of the 2013-2015 State Program on Migration Policy of Azerbaijan, which AmCham gladly accepted.
More information is available from the AmCham's office.