Working foreigners without permits to be sent home

ONLY  19,000 of the 70,000  foreigners whose immigration status was regularized during the previous administration have formalized their labor status in the Ministry of Labor.

The rest remain in Panama  illegaly, said the Minister of Labor and Labor Development (Mitradel), Luis Ernesto Carles, on TVN News.

He  said that Mitradel is not the entity that formalizes the employment situation of foreigners. Mitradel’s func function of the institution is to evaluate whether or not the person meets the requirements for a work permit.

According to Carles, through  2016 and so far in 2017, more than 4,000 work visas have been denied.

Anyone  who has no permit, has to return to his country,” said Carles.

Mitradel said recently that it will publish a list of companies that were fined for using  migrant workers without work permit and that, have failed to pay the fine.

A bill  has been submitted to the National Assembly to raise fines for employers who insist on hiring foreign workers without permission.

The Association of Naturalized Residents (Arena) expressed its agreement with the proposal to increase the penalties for companies that hire foreigners without work permits.

Rafael Rodríguez, president of Arena, said that there is an imbalance between the regularization cards issued by the National Migration Service and the permits issued by the Ministry of Labor.

Social insurance fraud
Rodríguez says that a sanction should be included for companies that, having foreigners with documents up to date, deduct the payment of social insurance and do not report it , as this causes serious problems for foreigners in future immigration procedures.