BRAZIL - Staff Strike at National Immigration Office Affects All Work Permit/Work Permit Renewal Applications
- Brazil
- 11/20/2009
This alert is being sent as a follow up to BAL’s November 11 client alert. A strike by the staff of the Brazilian Regional Department of Labor and Employment (“SRTE”) in the State of São Paulo may have prompted a November 17 national strike by the entire staff of the General Coordination for Immigration – Ministry of Labor (Secretaría de Relaciones del Trabajo – Coordinación General de Immigración) or “Immigration Office” in the national capital of Brasília. The Brazilian Government has advised that this unforeseen strike could adversely impact all immigration processes due to work stoppage at national and regional immigration offices.
All Brazilian assignees with January and February 2010 assignment start dates, pending work permit/work visa applications, or pending work permit renewal applications are strongly advised to strategize with their employers to minimize the impact of possible significant delays in start dates and ability to travel outside Brazil.
Prior to yesterday’s announcement, the national Immigration Office in Brasilia typically processed most uncontested work permit applications within 30 business days. It is estimated that, with a strike announced in advance of the Christmas/New Year holidays, processing times for new work permit applications may take at least 30-50 business days, and possibly longer.
At present, the Immigration Office in Brasília has on-site clerical staff to accept new work permit applications. However, since staff analysts are not reviewing any work permit applications (e.g., Temporary V permits, Permanent work permits and work permit renewals), applications are simply being queued for action (i.e., “last filed/last reviewed”). Processing of applications for foreign nationals with pending work permit renewal applications will be based on the particular stage of adjudication.
Renewal applications are accepted by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice (Ministério da Justiça do Brasil) and referred to the Immigration Office for review and approval. Once the renewal applications are approved by the Immigration Office, the Ministry of Justice will issue the work permit renewals. At present, processing of most uncontested work permit renewal applications is taking between six and eight months. At this time, the Ministry of Justice is not on strike and is processing approved work permit renewals. However, renewal of applications pending with the Immigration Office may be further delayed.
With respect to applicants filing renewal applications with the Ministry of Justice, the Brazilian Federal Police issues temporary residence registration cards (“Protocolo” cards) to confirm that renewal applications have been filed and are awaiting approval. Since processing times are so lengthy, renewal applicants may continue to work and reside in Brazil under their “Protocolo” status. However, renewal applicants should pay careful attention to the validity of their visa endorsements if they intend to travel outside Brazil.
With regard to the likelihood that assignees and their families will travel abroad during the upcoming holiday season, it is especially important that ALL foreign nationals (assignees and accompanying family members) with pending renewal applications be mindful of the following:
a) Foreign nationals requiring visa stamps in their passports to enter Brazil (e.g., U.S., Japanese, and Chinese nationals) must have valid visas to depart and re-enter Brazil.
If a renewal applicant’s current work or residence visa will expire while the foreign national is outside Brazil, he or she must apply for a new, 30-day Tourist Visa (visto de turista) with a Brazilian consular post. (Although there have been some inconsistencies among Brazilian consular posts, all posts are supposed to accept these types of applications from any applicant presenting a valid “Protocolo” card and passport to facilitate the foreign national’s re-entry to Brazil, regardless of whether the foreign national is applying outside his or her country of origin or country of legal residence.)
b) Foreign nationals who do not require visa stamps in their passports to enter Brazil (e.g., most EU nationals) have the privilege of departing and re-entering Brazil with valid passports and “Protocolo” cards.
According to Brazilian law # 7783/89, government agencies are responsible for essential services and are under obligation to have at least 30% capacity to keep a particular agency functioning. Therefore, since the above-described strike occurred with little to no advance warning by the Immigration Office, it is anticipated that the Brazilian Government may not commence negotiation with Immigration Office union representatives until at least 30% of the staff return to work.
This strike has the potential to have significant impact for many important assignments and projects in Brazil. Therefore, BAL Global will be closely monitoring and updating clients on this situation.
