Employment Permits (Amendment) Act 2014

3.

Amendment of section 2 of Act of 2003

3. Section 2 of the Act of 2003 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1A), by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (a):

“(aa) the foreign national being employed outside the State by a foreign employer and being required by the foreign employer to carry out duties for, or participate in a training programme provided by, a person in the State who is connected to the foreign employer,”,

(b) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (2B):

“(2C) A person shall not permit a foreign national who is employed outside the State by a foreign employer to carry out duties for, or participate in a training programme provided by, that person where that person is connected to the foreign employer, except in accordance with an employment permit granted by the Minister under section 8 of the Employment Permits Act 2006 that is in force.”,

(c) in subsection (3) —

(i) by substituting “, (2) or (2C)” for “or (2) ”, and

(ii) in paragraph (b), by substituting “(2) or (2C)” for “(2) ”,

(d) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (3):

“(3A) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (3) consisting of a contravention of subsection (1) to show that he or she took all such steps as were reasonably open to him or her to ensure compliance with subsection (1).”,

(e) in subsection (4), by substituting “subsection (2) or (2C)” for “subsection (2) ” in each place where it occurs,

(f) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (10A):

“(10B) Without prejudice to any other provision of this Act, this section does not apply—

(a) to a foreign national who is in the State pursuant to the Diplomatic Relations and Immunities Act 1967, and

(b) where the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade has certified in writing that the foreign national referred to in paragraph (a) falls within a reciprocal arrangement that permits a foreign national who is a member of the family of an assigned person, forming part of his or her household, to be in employment in the State.

(10C) A foreign national referred to in subsection (10B) shall be entitled to be in employment in the State without an employment permit for the duration of the assignment to official duties in the State of the assigned person concerned.

(10D) In subsections (10B) and (10C)—

‘assigned person’ means a person who is assigned, by a government of another state, to carry out official duty in the State on behalf of the government of that other state;

‘reciprocal arrangement’ means an arrangement (whether in the form of a memorandum of understanding or otherwise) that is entered into by the Government with another state.”,

and

(g) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (15):

“(15) In this section—

‘connected’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Employment Permits Act 2006;

‘foreign employer’ has the meaning assigned to it by the Employment Permits Act 2006;

‘place’ includes any dwelling or any building or part of a building.”.