Special Regime for Legal Migration of Honduran Workers to Work in the Agricultural Sector of the United States and Other Countries
Congreso Nacional
- Decree: 69-2010
- Published: June 11, 2010
- Issuing body: Congreso Nacional
- Category: Labor
- Type: Other
Summary
This law creates a special program that allows Honduran workers to legally migrate to work in agriculture in the United States and other countries. Certified civil organizations are responsible for selecting, training, and relocating workers, who receive support throughout the process and earn money legally to send remittances to their families.
Considerations
That the crisis currently affecting the world economy, added to the internal crisis that the country has experienced in recent months, has increased the rates of unemployment and underemployment.
That the economic crisis in the United States of America has equally produced a high rate of unemployment, affecting thousands of compatriots who live in that country and consequently have produced a decrease in the remittances they send to their families.
That thousands of compatriots live in the United States of America illegally, who are subject to immigration persecution and their repatriation.
That legal employment opportunities, particularly in the agricultural sector of the United States of America, can be taken advantage of by thousands of compatriots through legal and expedited immigration, with its consequent benefits for those selected, their families, and for the country.
That the National Association of Industrialists of Honduras has received a formal request from Associations of Agricultural Producers particularly from the San Joaquín Valley Region of the State of California of the United States of America, to use Honduran labor.
That it corresponds to the National Congress to contribute to the implementation of plans, programs, and projects that allow citizens to improve their living conditions and in the face of the current economic situation and while its stabilization is achieved, an exceptional way to achieve this is through the mobilization of economically active labor, taking advantage of the advantages and labor markets abroad.
That it is necessary to create a special regime that facilitates legal immigration to different labor markets, with emphasis on the market of the United States of America, taking advantage of the offers that currently exist. THEREFORE,
Articles
Without prejudice to what is established in the Labor Code regarding work abroad, a Special Legal Migration Regime is hereby created for Honduran workers to work in the agricultural sector of the United States of America and other countries, as an exception mechanism.
Migration shall be managed by Civil Associations of broad national prestige duly registered and certified by the National Association of Industrialists (ANDI), which must register and accredit before the Secretary of Labor and Social Security their relationships and formal agreements with companies or business organizations of the United States of America or other countries interested in hiring Honduran labor. Foreign non-profit Civil Associations that manage recruitment programs for Honduran migrant workers, either directly or through intermediaries, must register with the Secretary of Labor and Social Security and with the National Association of Industrialists (ANDI), and must enter into agreements with this State Department in order to exercise activities in the national territory, and likewise accredit before the Secretary of Labor and Social Security their relationships and formal agreements with companies or business organizations of the countries interested in hiring Honduran labor.
The Civil Associations responsible for migration must provide directly to the migrant workers subject to hiring all the support required for the selection, training and transfer of candidates, either directly or by contracting such services, as well as obtaining the necessary financial assistance and documentation to cover the corresponding travel expenses.
The Civil Associations responsible for migration must provide support to beneficiary workers during the selection process, establish an Office in the Region where the migrants work, to provide them with guidance and support during their stay.
Citizens and female citizens of Honduras enjoying their civil rights shall be subject to or beneficiaries of this special regime.
The duties of migrant workers are: 1. To submit to the laws of the country in which they will provide their services during the validity of the contract. 2. To designate, if they deem it appropriate, the persons in Honduras who will receive the remittances they will send as a result of their work. 3. To comply with the payment of fees established for the protection of health of the migrant worker's family in accordance with what is provided in the Special Services Plan agreed with the Honduran Institute of Social Security. 4. To establish a savings plan for income received, authorizing the respective withholding for purposes of personal investment. 5. To amortize the loans provided to cover the services and costs of the selection, training, transfer and return process.
The responsible Civil Associations must provide to the Secretary of Labor and Social Security the list of migrant persons, indicating the location and name of the contracting company or business organization, as well as ensure that selected workers will enjoy the rights established in the Labor Legislation of the country where they will provide their services, as well as the international agreements adopted by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, adopted by the United Nations and ratified by the State of Honduras.
The National Congress shall promote an advertising campaign to inform the public about this overseas work program in order to prevent abuses and improper charges to persons interested in joining the program.
The Secretary of Labor and Social Security through the General Directorate of Employment shall monitor, supervise and control the recruitment and hiring of migrant workers, and must, with the support of accredited Consulates in the receiving or destination country or with Civil Rights Organizations, ensure compliance and respect for the rights established in the labor legislation of the receiving country and the signed contracts.
The Secretary of Labor and Social Security through the General Directorate of Employment, together with the Honduran Institute of Social Security, shall develop a special program for the provision of illness and maternity services for the worker's family or their dependents, to which they may have access by paying a special contribution to be made by the migrant.
Civil Associations responsible for migration shall present to the State Secretariat in the Office of Labor and Social Security, the breakdown of reimbursable expenses by the migrant worker, incurred and related in Article 3 of this Decree, for purposes of its supervision by the General Labor Office.
State institutions must provide their support to this project by facilitating procedures and the granting of documents required by migrants and requested by organizations responsible for migration, and the following institutions shall especially provide their collaboration: 1. The General Migration Office shall expeditiously facilitate the issuance of passports for selected workers who are part of the project in accordance with the list presented to it. 2. The General Criminal Investigation Office (DGIC) shall expeditiously facilitate criminal background records of workers who are candidates to participate in said project in accordance with the list presented to it. 3. The State Secretariat in the Office of Foreign Relations shall accredit an Ad-honorem Consul in places where the flow of migrants warrants it to facilitate the completion of procedures required for the protection of migrants. 4. Recruited and hired migrant workers who must travel shall enjoy exemption from payment of taxes on airline tickets, as well as exemption from airport exit tax. 5. The migrant worker shall have the right to his permanent return and to enter duty-free his household goods, up to a value of FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (US$ 5,000.00).
In the third year of effectiveness of this Decree, the General Labor Office shall present to the State Secretariat in the Office of Labor and Social Security, a detailed report with statistical data and results produced by the Special Regime regulated in this Decree; the State Secretariat in the Office of Labor and Social Security shall in turn remit this report to the National Congress, with the respective documentation, thirty (30) days after its receipt, for the corresponding legal purposes, accompanied by any report issued in social audit by competent civil organizations regarding compliance with the International Conventions referred to in Article 7 of this Decree.
The provisions of this Special Law are of public order and violations thereof shall be punished with civil, criminal, and administrative liability.
This Decree shall enter into force as of the day of its publication in the Official Gazette "La Gaceta". Given in the city of Tegucigalpa, municipality of the Central District, in the Session Hall of the National Congress, on the tenth day of the month of June of the year two thousand ten. JUAN ORLANDO HERNÁNDEZ ALVARADO PRESIDENT RIGOBERTO CHANG CASTILLO SECRETARY GLADIS AURORA LÓPEZ CALDERÓN SECRETARY To the Executive Power. Therefore: Execute it. Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., June 11, 2010. PORFIRIO LOBO SOSA PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC The State Secretary in the Office of Labor and Social Security. FELÍCITO ÁVILA ORDÓÑEZ
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