The Chair of the Immigration Board Fanene Edda Wyberski recommends a review of business licensing laws as a way to control the number of foreigners taking up jobs that can be performed by locals.
Testifying at a hearing of the House Government Operations Committee Monday, Fanene said when its been a practice of Asian owned businesses to list several business activities in their articles of incorporation. And these articles of incorporation are presented as proof when the businesses apply for employees from their countries to work for their various businesses. She suggested that a law be drafted to limit the types of businesses that foreigners can own. Here’s how she explained the issue.
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Fanene said in contrast a locally owned business would just list one business activity in their articles of incorporation.
She told the hearing that the Immigration Board will not approve a foreigner to be a business owner unless they have resided in the territory for 8 to 10 years, to show they are of good standing.
Further if a foreigner is allowed in to the territory under the special provision they can not be employed anywhere else but the business that brought them in.
Representative Manavaalofa Manase brought up that so many Asians are now operating farms in his district and he found it hard to believe that they were allowed in under the special provision because of a special skill.
Attorney General Gwen Tauiliili-Langkilde said her office would be responsible for monitoring to ensure that foreigners brought in under the special provision are employed In the jobs they were specifically hired for. She has tasked the IT division of including the special skill of the foreigner in their ID card. This would help immigration agents know if the foreigner is doing the job for which they were hired.
