Immigration compliance blockages left a huge contract in limbo. Here’s how we convinced authorities to let the project go ahead.
Offshore engineering is one of the world’s most internationally-minded sectors. Firms scour the world for big projects to bid on. But if their bid is successful, they need to be sure they can get their workforce across borders on time to fulfil it. That’s why Global Mobility is such a critical function for this industry.
Our client is a leading provider of engineering and construction services to the energy sector. They build the infrastructure for the most critical and ambitious oil, gas and renewables projects worldwide.
As part of a consortium with a household name in heavy equipment manufacture, our client was awarded a multibillion-dollar engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) contract to expand a major oil field.
Their plan hinged on transferring a large team of employees to work in their consortium partner’s yard. But what happens when that partner is based in a jurisdiction famous for some of the world’s strictest rules on foreign workers?
A Megaproject in Jeopardy
The host country authorities require a high bar of documentation, proving both meticulous compliance and a positive local impact, before any foreign staff can enter for assignments.
This is testing for even the simplest deals. But when these extra requirements are diffused across a three-party contractual arrangement, with three separate corporate domiciles, the potential points of failure grow.
A communication breakdown was brewing. The end customer wasn’t complying in providing the right documentation to authorities, delegating responsibility for this to the consortium. All the while, the clock was ticking on the scheduled timescale.
Faced with a huge project left in limbo, our client asked Centuro Global to help push through the compliance barriers and get the work back on track.
Breaking the Impasse
To rescue the project, we decided to do what most legal service companies won’t: become a strategic partner. Rather than simply accepting an official ‘no’ from immigration authorities, we wanted to construct an unarguable case for the project.
That’s why the first thing our team did was to immerse themselves in the client’s operational and commercial objectives. We consulted extensively with them on the full parameters of the project, building up a deeper picture of the value it could create. Our findings helped us create a tailored roadmap for action, matching tactics to overcome immigration compliance blockers with wider business goals in the following series of steps.
- We set up meetings with the client’s end customer to inform them how important it was that they release the needed documentation to get the project back to schedule. Our intervention unblocked this particular snag.
- With all the documentation in hand, it was time to make our case to the government. Our consultations with the client allowed us to develop an extensive business case for allowing the needed foreign workers into the country. Rather than going through the previous bureaucratic channel to receive a binary yes/no answer, we organised liaisons with government officials. We presented them with the project’s dramatic benefits for the country’s economy and local labour market.
- This watertight proof of the investment’s benefits overcame administrative resistance. With official buy-in secured, all that was left was to send supporting letters on behalf of all stakeholders.
Unleashing Investment
Thanks to our work up to the eleventh hour, the client was given the green light to relocate a large volume of their employees into the host country and commence the project.
Because of our intervention, the client avoided suffering penalties for late timelines. They can now proceed with their reputation intact with their own partners and their standing enhanced with the host country’s officials.
The host country can now boast of a multibillion-dollar investment, with employment opportunities for local people.
That’s because we transformed a traditionally transactional process into a partnership. Instead of stopping at roadblocks, we think commercially and move strategically to guide our clients to positive solutions. We’re proud of the difference our approach can make.
