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Satyendra Pathak
Doha
In a major step to support expatriate communities living in Qatar, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (MADLSA) have jointly proposed three landmark changes in some laws regulating expatriate workers and labour market on Wednesday.
The three proposals to be implemented soon include permission for sons of expatriates to work in the private sector without having to change their sponsorships, temporary work visas for up to six months and 20 percent reduction in the fees of MoI’s services delivered electronically.
The announcements were made at a press conference attended by Director General of Passports Mohammad Ahmed al Ateeq, Assistant Undersecretary of Labour at MDLSA Hasan al Obaidly and Assistant Director of Legal Affairs Department Ahmed Abdullah al Haremi.
Ateeq said the proposal to allow sons of expatriate residents to work in the private sector without having to change their sponsorship was being studied and finally, it has been decided to take legislative measures to implement it.
As per the current system, only daughters are allowed to work without changing sponsorship. As per the new proposal, all members of the family will be allowed to work without changing their family sponsorship.
He said work was underway to develop a legislative tool for this proposal through the amendment of the provision of Article No. 17 of Law No. 21 of 2015 so that this amendment allows all members of the expatriate family to work with any employer in the private sector without being obliged to transfer their residence permit.
The new proposal will bring positive changes in the labour market and benefit Qatari citizens and residents alike, Obaidly said.
“The new proposal will reduce recruitment of surplus workforce, costs of recruitment and housing expenses for the employer. Employers can also take advantage of such workers’ familiarity with the customs and traditions of the Qatari society.”
Obaidli said among conditions for allowing family members to work in accordance with the current proposal will be a written approval by the head of the family and obtaining a work permit from the competent authority at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs after paying the required fees.
In order to simplify MoI services and encourage the public to take advantage of electronic services, a proposal to reduce the fee for electronic transactions were studied and a 20 percent reduction for all online transactions were agreed upon.
Proposal to reduce fees for services rendered and completed electronically comes within MoI’s goal to become ‘ministry without paper’ through the development of electronic systems such as the e-governance system, the MoI’s website and Metrash 2 to obtain the required services with minimal effort and time.
During the press conference, DG of Passports announced the proposal to introduce a new temporary work visa system for some professions and jobs according to the need of the labour market and create a suitable environment for domestic and foreign investment.
These visas will be granted to private companies, commercial establishments and other licensed entities in the country to perform emergency, temporary or seasonal work that requires the workforce for a specific period, season or occasion.
As per the proposal, these visas will be issued by MoI after the approval by the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, while all required procedures will be carried out through Qatar Visa Centres abroad or when such workers arrive in the country.
Temporary work visas valid for one month will be charged QR 300 and for two months QR 500. Visas valid from 3 to 6 months will be charged 200 for each month, the MoI official said.
The officials said that work is underway to prepare and amend the legislation and submit it to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers to complete its legislative procedures.
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10/10/2019
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