• This requirement is critical for payroll registration, a process conducted by Human Resources areas of hiring companies.

• Miranda & Amado has developed EVVA, a platform that streamlines immigration procedures, provides clients with real-time information at each stage, and makes interaction between lawyers and clients user-friendly.

In recent years, the working world has been witnessing the fall of national borders at a rapid pace. Just as many Peruvians have immigrated to other countries in search of better job opportunities, a significant number of foreign professionals, especially from the Americas and Europe, come to Peru to work.

However, obtaining a work visa for foreigners is a cumbersome and slow process, which usually takes up to 4 months. It is also a critical step for foreign worker registration, as this immigration status enables them to live and work legally in Peru. Human Resources areas of hiring companies are responsible for carrying out this procedure.

"The road to the work visa is plagued with obstacles that cause more than one headache to employers and workers themselves, either because of actions by immigration authorities, which raise observations without much detail, or the invisible presence of foreigners whose work and personal future depend on such a sensitive and private procedure," says Carol Villalobos, associate at Miranda & Amado’s Labor practice area.

Faced with this scenario, labor immigration lawyers are key to guide clients through the process of gathering the necessary information and successfully completing each stage of the procedure to obtain a work visa.

To tackle this problem and offer companies a more agile alternative, Miranda & Amado has developed EVVA, a platform that streamlines immigration procedures, provides clients with real-time information at each stage and makes interaction between lawyers and clients user-friendly, resulting in a better service.

A time and cost-effective approach

EVVA’s main benefit, says Villalobos, is reducing response times at the initial and follow-up stages of cases: "Questions that took several days to answer are now replied on the same day. As a result, the process has become both time and cost-effective."

EVVA also helps lawyers and employers to gain more control, as this solution offers access to all relevant documentation from a single point, as well as to a calendar listing relevant activities and deadlines. In addition, the platform is able to set Outlook alerts, while providing a history of past reports and documentation, which can be downloaded to Excel.

"The client has now greater visibility and control over the information at all stages of the process, can make real-time verifications, and receives automated progress reports," adds Villalobos.

Before EVVA implementation, the regular process involved entering the requirements for each procedure in an Excel spreadsheet, which was emailed to the client, and then starting the "search and unearthing" process to collect all background and other information. In addition, on several occasions, the observations raised and document flowcharts were lost in endless chains of emails, leading to constantly engaging in repeated procedures with the client, an approach that proved to be ineffective.