Sections 15 to 17 of the Employment of Non-Citizens Act 2007 set three personal requirements a non-citizen must satisfy before a work permit is granted. They sit alongside the reserved and advertised occupation rules, which are about the job rather than the person.
Section 15 — qualifications, skills and experience
(1) Where, in the opinion of the Secretary, it is necessary for an employee to possess certain qualifications, skills and experience for a particular type of occupation, the Secretary may direct that the employee give evidence of them prior to the granting of a work permit.
(2) The Regulation may prescribe requirements as to qualifications, skills and experience for occupations.
Two routes, then: a case-by-case direction by the Secretary, and prescribed requirements by occupation in the Regulation. Both operate before the grant.
The Act’s stated purpose in section 1 is to attract qualified, skilled and experienced non-citizens while creating training and skills-acquisition opportunities for Papua New Guineans. Section 15 is the gate that keeps the first half honest: a permit is for skills the country needs, not for work a citizen could do — which is separately tested under section 13 where the occupation must be advertised.
- Degree, diploma and trade certificates — originals or certified copies.
- Transcripts where the qualification is unusual or foreign.
- Employment references establishing years and content of experience, not just dates.
- Licences and tickets for regulated trades and plant.
- A position description matching the qualifications relied on.
Under section 60, the Secretary may require any application, statement, representation or information to be certified by a Justice of the Peace or Commissioner for Oaths, or verified by statutory declaration. And under section 31(1)(a), a permit may be cancelled where the application contained information false or misleading in any material particular.
Section 16 — professional registration
Where it is necessary by law for an employee to register with a professional body in order to be employed in a particular occupation, the Secretary shall not grant a work permit in respect of that employee and that occupation until written proof of registration has been provided.
“Shall not” — there is no discretion. Where registration is a legal precondition to practising the occupation, the permit cannot precede it. This affects, among others, medical practitioners and nurses registered under the Medical Registration Act, lawyers admitted and holding a practising certificate under the Lawyers Act, accountants, engineers, architects, teachers, valuers and surveyors, each under their own registration legislation.
Professional registration usually takes longer than the work permit, and often has its own requirements about qualifications, experience and good character. Start the registration first, and lodge the permit application once the registration certificate is in hand — remembering that under section 21 the application is only made when the Secretary accepts it as complete and correct, and that the 42-day decision period runs from then.
Section 17 — language proficiency
(1) The Secretary may not grant a work permit unless satisfied that the non-citizen is proficient in English, Pisin or Hiri Motu.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Secretary may grant a permit to a non-citizen without the required proficiency if, in the Secretary’s opinion, there is good cause or it is in the national interest.
(3) The Regulation may prescribe further matters in relation to language requirements.
The threshold is set by the section 3 definition: “proficient” means able to speak and understand sufficiently for normal conversational purposes. That is a conversational standard, not a professional or written one, and it is satisfied by any one of the three languages.
Section 17(2) requires good cause or the national interest. An employer relying on it should say expressly what the good cause is — a short-term specialist installation, a technical expert supported by interpreters, a project of national significance — and how the workplace will function safely without the language.
Safety is a real consideration here. Under the Employment Act (Chapter 373), section 51(3) prohibits requiring or permitting work on dangerous machinery in conditions that may cause carelessness, and section 127 makes it an offence to knowingly require an employee to perform work for which he is not physically fit. Instructions that cannot be understood are a safety problem for everyone on site.
How the requirements fit together
| Test | About | Discretion? |
|---|---|---|
| s 12 — reserved occupation | The job | None — no permit may be granted |
| s 13 — advertised occupation | The labour market | Secretary must be satisfied no suitable citizen exists |
| s 15 — skills and experience | The person | Secretary’s opinion; Regulation may prescribe |
| s 16 — professional registration | The person | None — written proof required first |
| s 17 — language | The person | Waiver for good cause or national interest |
| s 19 — outside the country | Location | Exception where a valid permit already exists |
All of them are preconditions to the grant. On a renewal, section 26(1) directs the Secretary to a different set of considerations — the conduct of the parties, the employer’s commitment to training and development of Papua New Guineans, and any other relevant matter.
Checklist
- Match the qualifications to the occupation in the position description.
- Gather certified copies of qualifications and detailed references.
- Obtain professional registration first where the law requires it, and get the written proof.
- Assess language against the conversational standard in one of the three languages.
- If seeking a waiver, state the good cause or national interest expressly, and address safety.
- Do not overstate anything — false or misleading material is a ground for cancellation under section 31(1)(a).
- Expect verification — the Secretary may require a statutory declaration under section 60.
Sources
- Employment of Non-Citizens Act 2007 — ss 1, 3, 12–17, 19, 21, 22, 26, 31, 60
- Employment Act (Chapter 373) — ss 51, 127
- Medical Registration Act — PacLII 1986 Revised Edition
- Lawyers Act
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the Employment Act (Chapter 373) and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.