by Robbie Ragless
Part of the new process in applying for a South African Work Permit / Visa includes an application made to the Department of Labour in the hopes that you can get an approved labour certificate.
Part of the Department of Labours process includes a visit to your business. This will be confirmed by the Department a couple of weeks before the visit. The inspection on your business is non intrusive and serves to achieve one thing. Are the operational standards of the business sound, have you kept up to speed with basic and standard labour practices and are your health and safety records up to speed.
NEW LABOUR REQUIREMENTS FOR WORK PERMITS IN SOUTH AFRICA - Our detailed blog outlines the new labour requirements for General Work Visas 2014.
What happens during the visit? ( A first hand account from a New World Immigration Client )
"So we had the DoL site visit on Wednesday morning, two people came. The were actually fine, they started off by giving me a form to fill out, with the basic company registrations, SARS numbers etc. He then had a checklist that he went through. Questions like – do you have the EE and Basic Conditions of Employment displayed (but he didn’t check although they are up in the kitchen), he asked about working hours, took copies of one of the perm staff contracts, the proof that we are in the process of registering for UIF and COIDA, and copies of the latest EMP201 and proof of payment so he could see we had paid UIF even if the DoL number hasn’t come out yet.
We were a bit caught out regarding having the Occupational Health and Safety available, and also a first aid kit plus proof that someone is a first aider.
Finally, they wanted to speak to a staff member without me ( the owner of the business ) present. As it was first thing in the morning the only other person there was XXXX (who I explained was employed as a “casual” pending the outcome of the work permit application. Currently he is working legally on an Asylum seeker permit). However, they didn’t have a problem with the fact that he was the person applying for the work permit, so they talked to him. Apparently they asked him much the same about whether he had a contract (yes), working hours etc which they had already asked me.
So I think it went OK and hopefully they have passed it back over to Home Affairs."