DOHA: Some 31 companies charged with selling work visas to foreigners have been referred to Public Prosecution.
In previous cases referred to the court, the owners of several companies found guilty of visa sale had faced three-year jail terms. Many other erring companies have been fined between QR50,000 and QR450,000, according to a senior Ministry of Interior official.
The Search and Follow-Up Department (SFD) of the ministry said it received 705 complaints of alleged visa sale by companies last year. “We changed the sponsorship of 454 complainants and referred 31 companies accused of visa sale to Public Prosecution,” said the Director of SFD, Brigadier Nasser Mohamed Al Sayed.
He said a dozen people running five gangs involved in enticing maids to escape their sponsors were arrested. The gangs were sheltering 32 maids. They lured maids into fleeing their sponsors and supplied them to other households for illegal employment.
He told Al Sharq in an interview published yesterday that his department had a legal section that received complaints from aggrieved maids and other domestic workers against their sponsors. “In 2013, we received 753 complaints and launched investigations, along with the Human Rights Department of the ministry. Some 53 complainants were allowed permanent sponsorship change, and 30 were permitted to switch sponsorship temporarily.”
The official cited three main reasons for maids fleeing their sponsors — long working hours, the nature of work, and better job offers.
It is illegal to provide shelter or employment to a runaway maid, therefore those harbouring such workers are also liable for legal action.
Talking of illegal vendors, Al Sayed said their activity was in breach of law for which their sponsors were to mainly blame.
If a deportee pays a fine he is allowed to travel home and can come back to Qatar to take a job only after two years, according to rules.
However, if he doesn’t pay the fine he is deported nonetheless, but isn’t permitted to ever return to Qatar.
Al Sayed said that many companies repatriating workers sent them to the airport escorted by their representatives (mandoob).
But a number of such workers fled after the mandoob dropped them off at the airport. Companies, he said, must make sure that the worker being repatriated has boarded the plane. The SFD, he said, has plans to allow Indian and Nepalese airlines to set up their offices within its premises to make sure that workers from these countries being repatriated are able to book their seats conveniently.
The official pointed out that it becomes difficult for the deportees to get confirmed bookings, particularly during holidays. The Peninsula
