The Advisory Council’s Internal and External Affairs committee is expected to complete its study on the draft law regulating the entry, exist and residence of foreign workers at its meeting today.
The committee met yesterday and discussed the draft law in the presence of the Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani. The Advisory Council in its last session returned the draft law to the committee for further studies, after many members expressed serious concerns over some key provisions, especially those related to exit permit and change of jobs of expatriate workers. The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs H E Dr Abdullah bin Saleh Al Khulaifi will attend today’s meeting, Qatar News Agency reported.
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“The Prime Minister exchanged views with the committee’s members on the draft law regulating the entry and residence of expatriates and discussed it to achieve the public interest," QNA said.
The committee, under its rapporteur Mohamed Abdullah al-Sulaiti, decided to complete study of the draft law at a meeting it will hold on Monday in the presence of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, QNA said, adding that the meeting came "in the context of the constructive co-operation between the legislative authority represented by the Advisory Council and the government".
Last week, the Advisory Council had expressed serious apprehensions about several articles in the draft law and returned it for further study after a majority of the members voted against it.
The Advisory Council also sought to review samples of new job contracts and the procedures for protecting the rights of employers and the needs of citizens and expatriates, local Arabic daily Al Sharq said.
Domestic workers are not included in the draft law which includes 50 articles divided into 10 chapters.
An article related to transfer of employees allows expatriate workers to transfer to another employer after finishing his contract period or after five years of work with the same employer if he has an open contract, but with approval of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
"In all cases the rights of the employer who recruited the worker and the provisions of the work contract between the employer and the worker should not be undermined," says the draft law.
The changes that will be effected to the draft law in view of the committee’s deliberations with the Prime Minister and the Labour Minister on Sunday and Monday respectively will be known only after the Cabinet considers the recommendations of the Advisory Council and the law is decreed.