EMPLOYERS who recruit foreign workers could be fined for not ensuring their work visa permits are up to date.
In Parliament this week, Immigration Minister Viliame Naupoto said they hoped to put this provision into the reviewed version of the Immigration Act 2003.
“We are towards the end of the review of the Immigration Act 2003, and one of the changes we are putting into that Act is sharpening this idea of issuing infringement notices,” Mr Naupoto said.
“If you are employing foreigners and you are not, for example, extending their permits on time, you will get issued with an infringement notice – both the employer and to the employee (the foreign worker themselves).”
Mr Naupoto said this could also be a deterrent for the exploitation of foreign workers.
“The idea of them being exploited is something that we hope we can stop, it is very much in the Ministry of Labour area.
“However, the message we want to send out to these foreign workers is, please, do not just get to the Ministry of Labour, tell anyone if you are being abused and we can come in and help you.”
The Immigration Minister said the same would be done to institutions allowing foreign students to study without proper permits.
“Let me say that, those institutions also, if you allow students to come and study without a permit, you will get issued also with an infringement notice if we find out.
“However, one thing we find is when these students come into Fiji, they give their documents to the administration people in the institutions they study in, and those people are supposed to lodge their applications with the ministry.
“It is because they are not doing their job, those people in those administration sections in those universities or colleges.
“When they leave the country, we find out that their study permit was not issued, so they have been in the country illegally.”
