A skills transfer plan is a requirement in respect of foreign nationals wishing to apply for an intra-company
“Skills Transfer Plan”
transfer visa. The purpose of the skills plan is ensure that positive skills and influence can be transfered from one country to another and a plan needs to be put in place in order to track the layout of how this would be done.
Recently the labour laws have changed and now states that “ALL” employers of foreign workers need to be in possesion of a skills transfer plan. Although this will not be a requirement upon submission for the general/critical/corporate visa, it will need to be kept in the employee’s/foreign national’s file for record purposes. The same requirements apply to the intra-company transfer visa as it was considered to be a clever way to encourage the “sharing of best practice”.
This is vital information that needs to be shared across the board. The Department of Labour has been authourised to conduct unscheduled visits to the various places of business to ensure that any/all employees currently on a work visa have this plan on record and ready to be displayed. This is now seen as being in compliance with the requirements of the various work visas and anyone found not following protocol will run the risk of facing penalties.
In summary, the skills transfer plan is still a requirement for an intra-company transfer visa application and needs to be evident as part of the submission process. It is “NOT” a requirement for any other work visa applications for submission purposes for the Department of Home affairs, however, all employers/businesses need to ensure that a plan is put in place with regards to the skill set that will be transfered and this needs to be kept on record for each foreign national in employment.
We encourage all business owners to share this information amongst your fellow colleagues far and wide.
