Kafala Changes

The Advisory Council held Monday its weekly regular session under the chairmanship of HE Deputy Speaker of the Advisory Council Issa bin Rabia Al Kuwari. 
At the outset of the meeting Secretary-General of the Council HE Fahad bin Mubarak Al-Khayreen read out the agenda which has been approved. Afterwards the Council endorsed minutes of its previous session. 
The Council reviewed a draft law regulating the entry and exit of expatriates and their residency, and decided to refer it to the Internal and External Affairs Committee to study it and submit a report thereon to the Council. 
The Council also discussed the following reports: 1- A report by the Services and Public Utilities Committee on a draft law organizing the registration of births and deaths. 
2- A report by the Services and Public Utilities Committee on a draft law on the issuance of a unified guiding regulation for the control of substances that deplete the Ozone Layer in the GCC countries. 
The Council decided to submit its recommendations thereon to the Cabinet. 

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Last May, officials from the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs held a highly anticipated press conference to announce what was billed as “wide-ranging labor market reforms.”

This included a pledge to shift the exit permit process to an automated system run by the Ministry of Interior. Theoretically, this would make it harder for an employer to stop someone from leaving Qatar because he would have to present an argument to a government committee about why the person should be detained.

Officials have also said they plan to relax the no-objection certificate (NOC) requirement that expats currently need to change jobs.

Currently, individuals must leave Qatar for two years before taking another job if their employer does not grant them an NOC.