Garwin Davis, Gleaner Writer

Amid fresh allegations of some local firms showing a preference for employing foreign nationals, there are reports of an elaborate scam involving local and international con artists.

According to the reports, foreign nationals seeking employment in Jamaica would meet their contacts overseas where a fee is paid over to help them obtain a work permit.

The work permits are usually granted on the understanding or pretext that the persons coming in are specialist workers and would be performing jobs that the average Jamaican worker would be unable to do.

Fake agencies are being listed on applications as the sponsoring bodies for overseas workers as part of a sophisticated scam allowing foreign nationals to enter the country to gain work in different sectors of the economy.

Business persons in the island's north-coast resorts claim that once in Jamaica and fully legitimised with a stamped work permit from the Ministry of Labour, the foreigners would then go to places to work other than those which were originally indicated on their application forms. Among the sectors these people reportedly end up in are tourism, construction and even as household helpers.

Not doing enough

This practice has angered several persons who charge that the scam is being enabled by local companies by-passing suitable Jamaican workers for employment. And they are blaming the Ministry of Labour for not doing enough to protect locals.

But the ministry is reportedly probing the allegations.

An officer in the Labour Ministry told The Sunday Gleaner last Thursday that an investigation had been launched into the allegations.

"We have heard the reports and are checking them. Only last week, three foreigners involved in a work permit scam were ordered deported by a resident magistrate. We are not in the habit of granting work permits to persons to work as an attendant in a supermarket or a salesperson in a jewellery store," the officer said.

Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security and Justice, Dr. Donald Rhodd, said last week's ordered deportation of three foreign nationals who were convicted in connection with what prosecutors have called an elaborate work permit scam is an indication that the security forces were doing their jobs and are on top of what is taking place.

"We just have to keep clamping down on these things," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Not convinced

Lionel Dixon, a St. Mary businessman who recently applied for a licence to set up an employment agency, is not so convinced.

"What is obvious is that a number of employers are abusing the system to get work permits for foreigners," he said. "They are not giving the full story on the applications. They are giving the impression that the persons coming over are specialist workers, knowing fully well that the ministry almost certainly will not do any follow-up once the work permit is granted."

Commenting on the allegations, Kumar Sujanani, owner of the Gem Palace chain of duty stores in Ocho Rios, said while it was obvious that the tourism industry tended to attract a lot of foreign nationals, it should not be readily assumed that everyone was breaking the law as it relates to work permits.

"Speaking for the in-bond sector, we operate strictly within the law," he said. "In our field, we have to use experts in high-end jewellery to assist with our marketing and so we have to bring persons in from overseas. It is also worth pointing out that the duty-free sector is one of the largest employers of Jamaican workers in tourism."

Stafford Burrowes, owner of the popular Dolphin Cove attractions, said his company has no choice but to use specialist trainers from overseas to work with the dolphins.

"These are specialist areas which require expert knowledge," he said. "It is important to note, however, that we have been using some of our local guys as understudy to these trainers with the hope that one day there will be no need to go overseas to look for dolphin trainers."

During his contribution to the 2005-2006 Sectoral Debate, Opposition Spokesman on Labour, Rudyard Spencer, called for an audit into the number of work permits granted to foreigners by the Labour Ministry.

Work permits

Labour Minister Derrick Kellier, while admitting that work permits have been issued to foreigners without the jobs being advertised locally, reported last month that 1,341 work permits were granted to foreign nationals for the building and construction industry between January 2005 and August 2006. Of this number, 880 were granted to persons employed on the Bahía Príncipe Hotel in St. Ann.

Meanwhile, Horace Peterkin, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) has said only a survey of the entire hotel sector could say definitively whether foreigners are employed in jobs for which Jamaicans are readily available.

While stating that the JHTA does not have a policy which speaks to the importation of foreigners for work in the hotel sector, Mr. Peterkin said some hotels have guidelines in place.

He said that Sandals [he is general manager for Sandals Montego Bay] would only employ persons who they cannot find locally.