REVIEW OF THE AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES FOR ISSUANCE OF WORK PERMITS

In order to minimize an employer's contact with the employment department, provision of hard copies of documents is now prohibited.

Documents for issuing work permit are submitted by an employer to the employment department at the place of employment of a foreign employee in electronic form via the portal egov.kz or elicense.kz.

When issuing work permits of 4^th category, an employer carries out replacement the foreign employees in identical positions with the Kazakhstan citizens for a period of 6 months to 1 year.

Obligations on replacement of a foreign employee shall be agreed with an employer in accordance with the Annex 5 to the Rules for issuance of work permits.

Electronic copy of a letter confirming the conformity of the qualification and professional experience of a foreign employee with the proposed position should be submitted by an employer to the employment department instead of a work experience letter.

Similar letter will be required for obtainment of work permit under intra-corporate transfer.

According to the amendments, extension of work permit is allowed not earlier than 60 calendar days and not later than 30 calendar days prior to the expiry date of work permit.

Decision on renewal of work permit or refusal to extend work permit is taken by the employment department within 3 business days since documents acceptance.

Consideration of an employer's application is rejected in case of incomplete submission and/or failure to complete the required documents, as well as establishing the inaccuracy of the submitted documents and/or the data (information) contained therein.

In addition, work permit is not granted in the following cases:

• failure to comply with the obligations on replacement of the foreign employees of 4^th category;
• establishing the fact of employing the foreign specialists without work permits, as well as attracting of a foreign employee by the profession or specialty that does not correspond to the profession or specialty specified in work permit. In these cases, new permits shall not be issued within 12 months from the date of establishing such fact.

Employers who obtained work permits should provide a report on the attracted foreign labor force in accordance with the Annex 11 to the Rules for issuance of work permits.

Report is provided not later than the 30^th day of each month and includes information on the number of:

• working citizens of Kazakhstan;
• created jobs for the RoK citizens;
• employed foreign specialists at the end of the month by category and type of economic activity;
• as well as information about replacement of the foreign employees (fulfillment of special conditions).

Video recording of consideration of the employers' WP applications is carried out during each session of the Committee. At the same time, as before, an employer or its legal representative can personally participate in the Committee session at their own initiative.

Complaint against the decision, action (omission) of the employment department and/or its officials should be submitted for consideration of the department head. Average time taken to review a complaint is 5 business days since its registration.

In cases of disagreement with the decision of the employment department, an employer has the right to duly apply to the RoK Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population or to the court in accordance with the legislation of the RoK.