Filenews 30 April 2024
The access of foreign students to the labour market is expanded.
The Minister of Labour said today that expanded access can combine university education with professional development, help upgrade the services provided, staff part of the seasonal needs and create additional quality jobs in higher education that are attractive for domestic human resources.
Speaking after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the Minister said that the further utilization in the labour market formed by the Ministries of Finance, Interior, Education and Labour includes the strengthening of the supervisory framework, the updating of the access provided, the expansion of accessible professions, the extension of the permitted working hours and the provision of the possibility of remaining for work after the completion of undergraduate studies.
He said that the Ministries of Labour and Education "have planned increased inspections to check the student status of working foreign students to check that they actively participate in their academic programs of study, while at the same time promoting the tightening of penalties for themselves and the institutions they attend, in order to deal with cases of abuses and violations by example."
Panayiotou also said that it has been decided to renew the decree on the access of foreign students to the labour market, issued by his Ministry and entitled to work until March 2024, as well as to expand the professions to which access is allowed to include retail sellers, following labour market checks on the availability of locals.
He added that the Ministry of Interior is working on amending the legislative framework to increase the maximum allowed number of working hours per week during course attendance periods from 20 to 25 and to provide the possibility to stay in the country for work for 12 months after the completion of undergraduate studies.
The Minister of Labour stressed that it is expected that "the rational utilization of the expanded access to the market for third-country nationals will have a positive effect on the development prospects of Cyprus through the legal and transparent staffing of businesses and organizations and the further expansion of Cypriot higher education".
Replying to a question, he said that the numbers of foreigners working are about 1,500, and students who are third-country nationals are about 5,000.
In another question, he said that in order to be able to meet the staffing needs of the market, we are implementing an integrated policy with various parameters and the priority is the full utilization of domestic staff, employees from EU member states.
"It is known that there is a procedure through the Ministry of Labour for the issuance of work permits and the provision of additional access possibilities for foreigners to the labour market we believe will have a positive effect because these are people who are already in Cyprus, who have acclimatized to the Cypriot culture, many can communicate in Greek, have already been evaluated by our universities to go here to study, Therefore, we believe that in a way that does not deprive locals of access to the labour market, their further utilization will be very useful and essential," he said.
