Migrants’ vulnerability to financial abuses by corporate permit holders The Immigration Act does not provide any protection against employers, the corporate permit holders, charging migrant workers (including those who are not employed by them) a fee for obtaining the passport (or ETD) and temporary residence permit that they require to be legal. The Act should make it an offense for employers to claim workers on the corporate permit who do not work for them and to charge workers anything other than the actual cost of the ETD for documenting them (see the section on Employment Laws, below). Human Rights Watch learned that a corporate permit holder, who is a farmer as well as a labor contractor and labor consultant, had applied for a work permit for a Zimbabwean migrant who did not work for him, and passed on to the worker almost the full price of a corporate permit application. As noted above, the cost of the application is independent of the number of corporate workers requested, and currently costs R1,520 (US$215); the corporate permit is valid for three years. A Zimbabwean who works in a farm store near Tshipise, told Human Rights Watch: My boss has a farm.… He doesn’t like South Africans. I asked him for a permit. At first he said it’s R2,000 [US$283]. I must pay half. He’ll pay half. Then he said no, and I had to deal for myself. I’ve been working for two years there. I’m staying with [name of labor contractor provided] contract workers on [name of farm supplied].... There are many Zimbabweans there. The Zimbabweans gave me the tip. When I spoke to [name of labor contractor provided], he said he’d speak to my boss. The following morning I told my boss that [name of labor contractor provided] told me he would get me a permit if I could pay R1,000 [US$142]. He got angry with me. He said it’s my own funeral. But when the military come, he’s hiding me. Last year the army was tough, I tell you. He had to hide me a lot. If they caught me working there, he’d have to pay a lot. Now I’m still paying R1,000 for the permit. So far I’ve paid him R500... I got the permit in November 2005.... [Name of labor contractor provided]—that man is very harsh. If he hears about this, he’ll kill me. The permit says the employer is [name of labor contractor provided] and the [worker’s] occupation is farm worker.... I come in and out using it.”133 133 Human Rights Watch interview with a Zimbabwean farm store worker, Tshipise, April 20, 2006. 37 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOLUME 18. NO. 6(A)