Week one: audit person by person and build a status table
Before discussing who is to blame, establish each person's situation. New management often makes one of two mistakes: trusting the previous team's assurance that everything was handled, or seeing one or two expired permits and assuming all of them are expired. The right approach is to check every person individually and record the result in a status table.
The table should include at least: name, nationality and position; the 9G type and expiry date, whether a renewal is pending and whether there is a receipt; the AEP expiry and status; the ACR I-Card expiry; passport expiry; whether dependants hold status through the employee; and who handled the original application and through which agency. Every entry should be backed by a document or a verification result, not by someone's recollection.
Where internal records are missing, verify through the proper counter or an accredited agency in the company's capacity as sponsor. Do not use anyone offering a quick informal look in the system. It is a risk in itself and does not produce a written result the company can rely on later.
During the audit, every foreign employee keeps their original documents; the company keeps photocopies. Explain to staff that the company is reviewing everyone's documents and ask for their cooperation in a calm way, so that no one assumes a mass dismissal is coming and starts making decisions of their own.
Set a short, firm deadline for completing the table, typically a matter of days rather than weeks, and assign one person to own it. A clear owner and deadline keep the audit from drifting while the risk continues.
Prioritise by risk: which cases come first
Not every expired permit is equally urgent, so deal with the highest risks first. Cases usually fall into tiers. First, both the visa and the work permit have expired and the person is still working. Second, the visa is valid but the AEP has lapsed, or the reverse. Third, a renewal is in process with a receipt but close to or just past the deadline. Fourth, the documents are valid but the file is incomplete.
The first tier is most urgent. Allowing those employees to keep working as usual while the status is unclear moves new management from having discovered a problem to knowingly continuing it. Whether to pause their work and how should be decided with a lawyer and handled in a way the law allows; see preventive suspension for the general approach and its limits.
For the second tier, how to handle documents that have fallen out of step is covered in AEP expired while the 9G is still valid; the principle is that both sides must be put right, not just one. For the third tier, confirm the receipt status and the counter's current approach to pending applications rather than assuming a receipt solves everything.
The fourth tier is not urgent but should still be scheduled, so the next renewal does not stall. Have the whole ranked table reviewed by a lawyer and by an agency familiar with the process before setting the order of execution.
Review the table again once the first-tier cases are under way. New information often moves people between tiers, and the order should be adjusted as facts come in rather than fixed on day one.
Renew or cancel: decide for each person
For each employee with an expired permit, ask whether the company still needs them and whether they want to stay. The answer decides between renewal and cancellation.
Where the company still needs the person and they want to stay, take the renewal path: deal with the status issue the expiry created, then reapply for or renew the work permit and visa as required. Whether a direct renewal is still possible after expiry, what additional documents are needed and whether an overstay must be addressed first depend on the current approach of the Bureau of Immigration and DOLE counters. It is best to have an accredited agency confirm before filing. The employee's own perspective on a lapsed visa is covered in a 9G that expired by mistake.
Where the company no longer needs the person, or they intend to leave, take the cancellation path: end the employment through due process, cancel promptly and notify the employee in writing that they must arrange their next status. Do not skip the cancellation because the visa has already expired; otherwise the record stays under the company, as described in an ex-employee's 9G never cancelled.
When handling many people, avoid giving them all the same explanation or a single shared letter. Each person's expiry date, reasons and role differ, and each explanation should set out that person's facts on its own.
Communicate the decision to each employee individually and in writing, with the reasons and the next steps for their status. Clear, individual communication reduces anxiety among the remaining staff and lowers the risk of disputes about how decisions were made.
Responsibility: previous management, current management and the company
Externally, the company as sponsor carries the responsibility as a whole, and a change of management does not remove it. Internally, the responsibility of previous managers or staff is handled separately under the handover agreement, the company's constitution and any relevant contracts.
What the company can secure for itself is a clear timeline: the date of handover or completion, the date the problem was discovered and what was done afterwards. The clearer the timeline and the more complete the evidence, the better the company can show that the problem arose before the takeover and was found and addressed promptly once new management was in place.
Where the company was acquired through a share or asset purchase, the transaction documents may contain representations, warranties and indemnities that cover historical compliance problems of this kind. Whether the seller or previous managers can be pursued depends on those documents and is for a lawyer to assess, ideally before any notice period under the agreement runs out.
Whether the authorities impose any penalty, and in what form, is not predicted here, and this article states no amounts. What the company can do is correct the position quickly, explain truthfully and keep a complete record of every step.
Brief the board or shareholders in writing early on, even before every case is resolved. Decision-makers who know the scope of the problem from the start can approve resources and legal advice quickly, which shortens the time the company remains exposed. For your specific case, consult a licensed Philippine lawyer; this article is not legal advice.
Handover evidence: preserve it now
Evidence loses value with time, so fix the position as soon as you take over. Keep: the handover checklist and its date; untouched copies of the foreign-staff files handed over by the previous team, without tidying or filling gaps; the audit table and every verification result; correspondence with the previous team, employees and agencies about the permits; and the date and person responsible for each step taken after discovery.
File these in date order with their sources noted. Keep the previous team's documents exactly as received, even if incomplete or wrong. Do not complete or correct them on the previous team's behalf; an amended file makes it impossible to show at which stage a problem arose, and that weakens the company's own account.
If the audit turns up documents that look forged rather than merely expired, switch to a different process immediately and involve a lawyer; see false documents behind an AEP as well as the fake-visa guidance mentioned above. Forgery and expiry call for very different handling and should not be mixed in the same file.
Once the file is complete, prepare a short written report for the board or shareholders setting out what was found, what has been done and what comes next. The report itself is evidence that the company acted properly and promptly after the takeover.
Store a second copy of the complete file outside the office, for example with the company's lawyer, so that it survives any later staff changes. Restrict access to people who need it, because the file contains personal data about employees and should be handled with the same care as any other personnel record.
Managing it going forward, and how YIXING can help
After the one-off repair, turn foreign-staff permit management into a standing process that does not depend on one person. Keep a register for every foreign employee with visa, AEP, ACR and passport expiry dates and sponsorship status, set early reminders, review the whole register once a year alongside the annual report period, and make the register a required item in any staff handover.
Record the typical problems that arise during employment, such as refusal to cooperate with renewals, side businesses or resignations right after approval, in the register too. See a foreign employee who will not provide renewal documents, a sponsored employee running a side business and an employee who leaves right after the 9G is approved.
For future acquisitions or takeovers, put foreign-staff permit compliance on the due-diligence checklist, verify it before completion, and make sure the transaction documents set out the seller's responsibility for historical problems. Finding the issue before signing is far cheaper than finding it after.
YIXING can help new management audit each foreign employee's permit status, draw up a renewal and cancellation plan, and process renewals or cancellations through the proper channels, via our Visa & HR service. YIXING is a privately owned consultancy registered with the SEC (CS202009551), accredited by the Bureau of Immigration (BI Accreditation No. CA-202624381-1, valid until 2027-06-30) and by DOLE. We are not affiliated with any government office and we do not promise any approval outcome. Allocating responsibility and pursuing previous management or sellers should be handled by a licensed lawyer.
Assign the register to a named owner with a deputy, so that holidays or departures never leave it unattended.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is new management responsible for problems from before the takeover?
Can expired employees keep working until the renewal is done?
Can an expired permit still be renewed directly?
If the employee is leaving anyway, do we still cancel?
Can one standard explanation cover everyone?
The previous team's files contain errors. Should we fix them first?
Can we recover from the seller?
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