DOHA: Qatar yesterday announced plans to remove the sponsorship system for foreign workers and said exit permit rules would be reformed.
But the government did not give any time frame to make the above changes, which are being eagerly awaited by expatriate communities for long.
The proposal to change the sponsorship and exit permit regulations would be referred to businessmen’s representative body, the Qatar Chamber, and the Advisory Council for their views and suggestions.
Senior interior ministry officials said at a news conference that under the new system being proposed, the government planned to be the sponsor of all foreign workers.
A foreign worker would get a job offer from a Qatari company or individual, and the government would issue an entry visa.
It is the company or an individual that would need to apply for the worker’s visa.
The worker would then sign a contract with the employer and his relationship with him or the company would be decided based on this contract.
A probation period of three months is to be given to the worker, after which he has to go back or be retained.
The employer would not be allowed to change the terms and conditions agreed to in the initial offer letter, and these terms and conditions would be incorporated into the job contract.
Salary, allowances, annual and other leave, and other terms and conditions are to be decided between the employee and employer and put in writing in the contract.
The contract would then need to be approved by the Ministry of Interior (since the government would be the sponsor of a foreign worker) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
The contract, whose format is to be provided to Qatari companies and individuals, would be the basis of the relationship between the two parties.
In fixed duration contracts (for a fixed period), a foreign worker would be allowed to change job at the end of the period. In open-ended contracts (contracts of unlimited period), a worker would be permitted to change job after five years.
The condition that a foreign worker can return to take up job with another sponsor only after two years would be removed.
The officials who addressed the press briefing included Brigadier Muhammad Ahmed Al Atiq, Assistant Director-General of General Directorate of Border, Passports and Expatriate Affairs, at the Ministry of Interior.
Colonel Abdullah Saqr Al Mohannadi, Director of Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Interior, Salih Saeed Al Sahwi, Manager, Labour Relations Department, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and Ali Ahmed Al Khulaifi, Director of Planning and Quality Department, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, were present.
The exit permit system, whereby a foreign worker needs permission of his employer to leave Qatar, would be replaced with an “automated system through the Ministry of Interior”.
The ‘Matrash 2’ e-government system will automatically grant an exit permit to an employee after a 72-hour grace period prior to departure.
There was some confusion as replying to questions, the officials said whether an employee would need exit permit or not would depend on the contract he has inked with his employer.
“When you want to leave, inform the sponsor. If there is no response the sponsor would be given 72 hours by the interior ministry to respond. If there is no word from him in those 72 hours, a worker can leave,” said an official. Asked what happens in emergency, officials said the proposed law would have provisions for that as well.
Executive regulations will be put in place after the new law is passed. The draft law has already been initially approved by the State Cabinet. After executive regulations or bye-laws are passed, a committee will be set up which will hear disputes between the employee and employer over exit permit and other issues.
The committee would check if the contract of the worker has a clause on exit permit and what it says. This committee will have members from the interior and labour ministries.
Keeping the passport of a foreign worker by an employer would attract a fine of QR50,000 ($13,730) under the proposed law. The fine currently per passport is QR10,000 ($2,746).
The new law, once enforced, would apply to all workers, irrespective of which sector and what occupations they are in, whether they are professionals, semi-skilled or unskilled or domestic.
Asked if the suggestions given by Qatar Chamber, representative body of private sector, about the proposed changes would be legally binding, the officials replied in the negative, but added that the Advisory Council could take those suggestions seriously.
Officials denied when asked if they are changing sponsorship and exit permit rules under international pressure and said it was the initiative of the Qatari government.
Asked why they were discussing these changes at this stage when they were just proposal, the official said their intention was to be transparent with the people.
Asked what happens to the job contracts of existing foreign workers, the officials said that companies and individuals would be given some time after the new law comes into force to rectify their situation and comply with its provisions.
About wages, the officials said that would be decided by the contracts signed by the workers and their employers. However, with certain countries Qatar has bilateral labour agreements so they would be taken into account.
The Peninsula
