You've done amazingly well in the interview process... your prospective line manager, the Board and HR execs alike have been wowed by your track record, competency, communication style and 'culture fit,' and you're already dreaming about your new life on island. However, there are one issue that may stand in your way if you're not a good communicator:

One of of the caveats in the contract you've just signed, i.e. 'subject to work permit formalities:'

   Now, your prospective employer is reasonable, and they are happy to wait for you as long as you are showing the requisite urgency and responsiveness when they ask for documentation.

    Here's how you can avoid falling foul of the the 'subject to work permit formalities' caveat in your contract

1. Gather all relevant documentation (eg police reports, educational certificates, signed and dated reference letters) in good time. A good time saving hack is to apply for copies of the above at the start of the interview process, since you're most likely planning to relocate anyway, regardless of whether you succeed in your current interview process or not
2. Ask for help. If its proving difficult to obtain a replacement certificate from your former university, please do not hesitate to alert your HR Rep and/or the recruiter who recommended you for the job. Sometimes people show more urgency when the reminder is coming from a 3rd party.
3. Respond to your HR Rep and or agency recruiter in a timely fashion. Your prospective employer is very much aware that some countries (e.g. the Philippines) have longer delays and tougher bottlenecks in obtaining exit documentation than others, and they are usually more than happy to wait for you as long as you show some proactivity and respond to their queries in good time. A recent example of how effective communication can reassure a future employer was with one of our candidates who comes from a country that requires additional emigration formalities before working abroad. Although he obtained his work permit fairly quickly, he still needed extra documentation from his homeland's Ministry of Overseas Workers before leaving the country. He tackled this delay by responding to all of his future employer's immigration enquiries within 1 - 2 days and gave them a weekly update on the steps he was taking to expedite the final piece of documentation

        The client was so impressed by his proactive nature that they were happy to wait for several months after his contractually agreed start date. He has now been with this employer for 3 years and by all accounts is doing an amazing job