HR professionals gen up on Immigration technology
Information Analyst Phillip Pace conducts a training session
(CNS Business): Thirty people from Chamber of Commerce member companies recently took advantage of a free workshop delivered by immigration officials. The HR personnel were walked through the Immigration On-Line (IOL) facility offered by the government department.
IOL was described as a powerful tool that business owners and HR staff can use to efficiently manage their immigration needs. It allows businesses to use a meetings calendar to monitor applications scheduled to be heard by the various immigration boards and check the results on-line.
“Users will be able to ‘drill-down’ to see the full details of each application, including status history, meeting and decision detail, financial transactions and dependents. As a result, there is no need to contact the department since decisions are posted within 24 hours,†immigration officials explained.
A comprehensive search, filter and sort functionality allows instant access to current or historical applications. IOL also makes available business staffing plans, details of mail received by the immigration department and cancelled permit information. Content can be exported to the firm’s own spreadsheets, reducing the amount of paper generated by transactions.
Acting Chief Immigration Officer Bruce Smith explained the need for the information and training session: “Serving our customers is one of our primary business strategic goals. We can only serve them better if they are empowered. This is a step in the right direction.â€
The sessions were tailored for both potential IOL customers and existing IOL customers and seminar leaders were Senior Business Analyst Sherilyn Eden and Information Analyst Phillip Pace from the immigration department.
Wil Pineau, CEO of the local Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the free training at the Governor’s Square offices, thanked the department for the workshops.
“Immigration online is a useful tool for business. The workshops enabled new businesses to sign up and also provided existing users with tips on how to best use the system. We are planning additional workshops in 2015 and encourage more businesses to register,” he said.
Anyone interested in becoming a member or training can email to IMM_IS@gov.ky  after which they will be contacted.
Category: Education & Training, Government, Local Business
