A second year for 22 operators: extending permits without missing a single window

01 / The decision

The plant keeps everyone, and more has changed in a year than it seems

A year ago we brought twenty-two workers from India to the plant: profiling line operators, packers and slingers. The first wave of fourteen arrived a month before the second wave of eight, so their permits also end a month apart. In August the HR director wrote to us briefly: the plant wants to keep everyone for a second year.

For the plant it's one decision. For us it's twenty-two sets of documents, any of which could have changed over the year. Nataliia, head of our documents department, started not with applications but with an inventory: what's currently in each person's permit, contract, passport and residence permit.

We keep the control-date register from day one of every project, so the permit end dates were known well in advance. But the register shows dates, not the changes that have happened at the company. We only learn about those when we cross-check with HR.

Keeping people for a second year is better for the plant than bringing new ones: no new recruitment, D visas, consulates or first weeks of processing. But that advantage disappears if even one extension window closes unnoticed. For that person everything starts again: a new permit, a new fee, a new entry. That's why we run extensions as a separate project with its own plan, not as a routine application.

An extension doesn't start with an application. It starts with the question: what has changed in a year?

02 / The inventory

Twenty-two sets of documents on a single sheet

The cross-check took a week: HR provided the staffing schedule, transfer orders and contracts, and the workers provided passports and residence cards. We recorded every discrepancy on a separate line, because discrepancies are exactly what gets an application left without motion or refused.

The findings fell into four groups. Most people were extending with no changes. But two operators had a new job title, one packer had a new passport, and all twenty-two had been living in the plant's new dormitory since March.

Vikram, a packer, got a new passport at the consulate in winter. The permit update was filed on time then, and in the cross-check we confirmed that the extension application already carried his new passport details. How we handle a new passport mid-contract is covered in the scenario about a trip home. One more detail: two workers from the first wave agreed to a two-year contract, the rest to one year. On extension the permit term follows the new contract, so their applications differed.

03 / The window

Why the application goes in on the first day, not the last

The Employment Law allows a permit extension application no earlier than 50 and no later than 20 calendar days before the term ends. An application outside that window is a separate ground for refusal, and it can't be fixed: a new permit would have to be obtained from scratch.

So each wave has not one date in the register but three: the window opening, our internal deadline on day five of the window, and the window closing. We prepare applications in advance and file in the first days. If an application is left without motion, the law gives three working days to correct it, and filing on day one means we can fix everything long before the window closes.

An extension needs an application, a photo and documents on any changes. The company pays the extension fee from its own account, and it's one subsistence minimum less than the fee for issuing a permit for the same term. We sent the invoices to the plant's accounts department a week before the window opened so payment wouldn't delay filing. For the two workers on two-year contracts the fee is higher, and we showed the plant that on a separate line before the contracts were signed.

1. 60 days before end

   Request to HR: second-year contracts, photos, orders on any changes.

2. 55 days

   Fee invoices to accounts, applications ready to file.

3. 50 days

   The window opens. We file for the first wave.

4. Within 3 working days

   Decision. The plant and each worker receive copies.

5. 20 days

   The window closes. By then every decision is already in hand.

04 / Job titles

Two operators promoted mid-year

In spring the plant moved two packers up to line operator. For the plant it's an ordinary HR decision; for the documents it means a mandatory update to the work permit. The law requires filing it within 30 days of the transfer, with a new version of the contract or a supplementary agreement.

In the cross-check we saw the transfer order had been signed but no permit update filed: HR assumed it would be done with the extension. There was a week left of the 30 days. We prepared the update applications in two days, the plant signed supplementary agreements, and the updates were filed on time. A decision is made within three working days, and updates are free.

Only then did we file extensions for those two. Had we extended on the old job title, the permit would describe work the person no longer does, and working on terms other than those in the permit means a fine for the employer for each worker.

05 / The address

A new dormitory and documents that didn't exist yet

In March the plant moved all workers from a rented dormitory into its own renovated building. People moved over a weekend, but HR hadn't yet gathered documents for the new address for registration of residence or for residence permit extensions.

We checked the new building the way we check any address before filing: the plant's ownership, the building's designated use, and whether the company can provide documents to register twenty-two people. One document was missing, and the plant obtained it in three weeks. That's exactly why we started the cross-check two months ahead rather than a week before the window.

Once the address documents were ready, we updated the registration of residence for all twenty-two and only then set dates for residence permit extension filings. That way the applications carried the address where people actually live.

1. 01

   Ownership

   A document showing the building belongs to the plant or the plant has the right to house people in it.

2. 02

   Designated use

   The building is fit for living in, not registered as a warehouse or office.

3. 03

   Capacity

   The documents allow all workers to be registered at the address.

4. 04

   Term

   The right of use covers the whole term of the extended permit.

06 / Residence permits

Twenty-two in-person filings without queues or downtime

After the permits are extended, each worker must file in person to extend their temporary residence permit. Twenty-two people on one day means a full day of queuing and half the shop without operators. So we split the filings into groups of four or five and agreed with the plant on the days their absence would be least noticeable.

Rajesh, our manager for workers from India, went with every group: he checked documents on the bus, explained in Hindi what would happen during filing, and made sure nobody forgot a passport or old card. Each group was back at the plant by lunchtime. Before the first group we re-checked the old cards' dates: none expired before the person could file, so the lines, not the deadlines, set the order of the groups. Whoever's card expired soonest went in the first group.

• each group is made up of people from one line, so no line loses more than two operators in a day;
• the day before filing, everyone gets a document list in their own language;
• Rajesh carries copies of the whole group's documents in case of questions;
• we enter the new cards' issue date in the register and inform the plant;
• the new residence permit end date goes into the register the same day.

07 / The register

What's in the register now for year three

After the extensions, the date register was updated for all twenty-two: new permit end dates, new residence permits, the dates of the next extension windows. WORKIN's documents department and the plant's HR both have access, so dates don't depend on any single person. Once a month Nataliia sends the plant a short report: what's changed and which deadlines are approaching. How we keep such a register through migration support is described on the service page, and what's the company's own responsibility is on the employer duties page.

Together with the plant we agreed on three signals that HR reports to us the same day: a transfer order, a worker's new passport and any change of address. Each starts its own deadline, and missing one costs more than an email. What to do when an application does get left without motion is covered in the scenario about an application left without motion, and how to update permits after a company is renamed in the scenario about updates after a reorganisation.

08 / Outcome

The second year began without a single day of work without documents

Extensions

22 permits extended, applications filed in the first week of the window

Job titles

Updates for two operators filed within 30 days, before the extension

Passport

Update after the new passport checked, permit details current

Address

Documents for the new dormitory gathered, registration updated for everyone

Residence permits

In-person filings in groups, with no lines stopped

There's nothing in second-year documents that WORKIN can't solve: we see windows, transfers, new passports and new addresses coming and deal with them before they become a problem. If any worker decides not to stay, the WORKIN replacement guarantee applies: at least 6 months from the worker's first shift, provided the agreed working, pay and housing conditions are kept. You can estimate permit and extension costs for your headcount in the calculator. More on such projects on our pages about workers for manufacturing and workers from India.

09 / FAQ

Questions and answers