General Updates
France
Effective 28 September 2022, citizens of the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland can submit new and renewal residence permit applications online.
This non-mandatory residence permit is intended for salaried workers who are citizens of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland. Online applications for students, the self-employed, retirees and EU/EEA/Swiss family members of an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen will be available at the end of October 2022
To create an account on the ANEF portal, a user who does not already have a residence permit or visa must follow a specific procedure, including an appointment at the prefectural office to register their fingerprints.
Italy
The deadline for submitting an application to convert a residence permit issued for non-work reasons into a work permit has been extended from 30 September to 31 December 2022.
Malaysia
Permission to Work under the Social Visit Pass
Effective 3 October 2022, a new Permission to Work under the Social Visit Pass (PTW-SVP) is available for companies which require foreign nationals to carry out short-term assignments for up to 30 days in Malaysia.
The new process applies to the following sectors:
- Education
- Technology & Communications
- Commodity
- Security & Defence
- Financial & Banking
- Agriculture & Farming
- Tourism
- Factory & Manufacturing
- Services
- Wholesale & Retail
- Petroleum & Energy.
The applicant must be outside Malaysia on application, and the PTW-SVP may be processed in 3 working days. This compares favourably to the several weeks required to process an application for a Professional Visit Pass, valid for work projects of up to 12 months).
However, no extension of the period of work beyond 30 days is possible. Visa required nationals still need to obtain an entry visa before arrival.
2023 ESD Projection for Foreign Workers
Effective 7 October 2022, the 2023 Projection for Expatriates is open for submission at the Expatriate Services Division (ESD).
- Companies who are registered with ESD can start to apply for their 2023 projections for new or renewal, long-term or short-term assignments (Employment Pass and Professional Visit Pass).
- The processing time is 5 – 10 working days.
- Applications must be made online at the ESD portal.
- The application requires details of the identified applicants i.e. passport bio page and their estimated monthly basic salary (unlike previous years where an estimated headcount could be applied for).
- Companies should start planning for the 2023 Quota Projection applications for any new expatriates starting assignments in Malaysia in 2023 and any renewals that are due in 2023.
- If the projection is not applied for in advance, up to 4 weeks will be added onto the processing time of a work permit application (which now stands at 1 -2 weeks), bringing the total processing time to 5 – 6 weeks.
- Any unutilized projection approved for 2022 will not be carried forward for 2023.
Poland
The Polish government has announced a larger increase of the national minimum salary than was previously proposed.
Effective 1 January 2023, the minimum salary will increase by PLN 480, from PLN 3010 to PLN 3490. A further increase of PLN 110 from PLN 3490 to PLN 3600 will take effect from 1 July 2023.
At the same time, the minimum hourly rate (currently PLN 19.70) will increase to PLN 22.80 from 1 January 2023 and to PLN 23.50 from 1 July 2023.
Applications for type A work permits for local hire in Poland are affected by this change as they require a salary above the national minimum wage and not lower than the average for a comparable position.
Applications for EU Blue cards, however, re not affected by this change, as they require at least 150% of the national average salary for the previous year.
Russia
Salary notifications for Highly Qualified Specialists (HQS) are due by 31 October 2022. Employers have until this date to report to the migration authorities the salaries of HQS foreign national employees for the third quarter of 2022.
Quarterly notifications must be submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) within 30 days of the end of each quarter, and the reported salary should be at least RUB 167,000 per calendar month or RUB 501,000 per quarter.
Violation of the established notification procedure may lead to administrative fines on the employer. Failure to pay the salary in the minimum amount established for HQS may lead to the company being banned from employing new HQS employees for two years.
The Highly Qualified Specialist (HQS) program allows companies in Russia to employ foreign national workers for up to three years (renewable) with various benefits including a simplified application process and exemption from quotas.
COVID-19 Updates
Germany
- The government has extended the relaxation of COVID entry rules until 31 January 2023. The rules were previously due to expire on 30 September 2022.
- All COVID-19 entry restrictions are provisionally lifted.
- Entry is permitted for all purposes, including tourism.
- Proof of vaccination, recovery or testing is no longer required.
- Travellers who have stayed in an area of variant of concern (currently no states are designated as virus variant areas) within ten days prior to their entry to Germany must observe special regulations. A travel ban applies for these areas. Transport companies may not transport any persons from these countries to Germany unless exceptions apply. Travellers are required to register before entry, provide a negative PCR-test result and quarantine for 14 days.
