The Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) has called for an urgent review of immigration processes to address a crippling skills gap that might stifle the nation’s economic growth.
Speaking at the NCCI Business Symposium at the Tanoa Skylodge Hotel in Nadi on Friday, chamber president Lawrence Kumar highlighted the frustration of local employers who face wait times of up to 10 months for work visa approvals.
Mr Kumar said the symposium provided a vital platform for members to engage directly with the Ministry of Employment and the deputy director of the Immigration Department to find a solution to these protracted timelines.
“If you look at certain work visas, it takes eight months, 10 months, so we’re trying to find a solution as to how those timelines could be reduced and what the employers could do to ensure they meet the compliance documentation that the Immigration Department is looking at,” Mr Kumar said.
While the economy in Nadi is booming each day, Mr Kumar said lack of a decent workforce remained a significant hurdle, particularly within the construction sector.
He said the current surge in building activity required a level of skilled labour that the local market could not currently sustain, making foreign recruitment a necessity.
“Now a decent workforce obviously means that we need to bring in decent workers from abroad who can supplement the skilled gap that we currently have in the market,” he said.
“Not only in Nadi but the whole of Fiji. There’s a huge amount of skill gap that is currently faced in the whole country. So, in order for the economy to do well….to thrive, you need to have the right skilled people to be in the workforce.”
Mr Kumar said the construction industry was increasingly looking toward international labour markets to fill these vacancies, with a significant number of workers arriving from Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka but the bureaucratic hurdles remained the main concern for the business community.
“So that is the area that the members have raised concern on, in terms of dealing with the immigration office, the process around it, dealing with the approvals.”
