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Parliament in session

Bahrain set to probe 'free visa' labour

MANAMA, March 4, 2015

A probe into Bahrain's increasing dependence on so-called ‘free visa’ workers is set to be launched by parliament.

More than 60,000 foreign nationals are working illegally in Bahrain, according to the latest Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) figures, with many having illegally bought employment permits to get into the country before accepting whatever job they can find upon arrival, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

They are referred to as ‘free visa’ workers and often take up jobs as labourers, cleaners and housemaids for very low pay.

Citizens and residents alike take advantage of this cheap labour, a practice Labour Minister and LMRA chairman Jameel Humaidan wants to stop once and for all.

During an open discussion on the issue at parliament's weekly session yesterday, he said a new system was being considered that would allow companies to legally compete with such free visa labour, by hiring out their workers "per job".

"Companies that offer housemaids per hour, for example, are illegal at the moment," he said.

"Through new companies that do the jobs currently done by illegal workers, public need will be fulfilled with proper licensed and monitored companies, reducing dependence on free visa workers."

However, parliament was not impressed by this solution and voted to form its own probe committee into free visa labour, similar to that launched last week by the Cabinet.

Humaidan said parliament should stop "blaming the government for the escalation of the problem".

"Parliament should stop throwing accusations and criticism around," he said.

"The problem of free visa workers exists and it is alarming, but it is also complicated - we have held meetings with our GCC counterparts on the issue and in the government we have taken several decisions to tackle it wherever possible."

Harsher punishments of up to two years' imprisonment and a BD4,000 ($10,544) fine have been introduced for those found guilty of illegally selling visas, said Humaidan, while 39,000 former free visa workers had been found new sponsors, effectively legalising their stay in Bahrain.

Industry and Commerce Minister Zayed Al Zayani denied that an increase in commercial registrations (CRs) to 85,000 was behind the problem - despite a CR being required to hire any expatriate who is not a domestic worker.

"We can't stop anyone from getting a CR if they fulfil the conditions set out in the constitution," he said.

"The issue of free visa workers is caused by a lack of awareness among the public, as these workers are dependent upon money from local people's pockets."

LMRA chief executive Ausamah Al Absi also blamed Bahraini sponsors, who stood to make "BD1,000 to BD1,700 from selling visas".

"There are currently 60,700 free visa workers in Bahrain, a number we have reduced from 64,600 last April," he said, adding that "90 per cent of labourers" came to Bahrain with the intention of becoming free visa workers.

‘Around 89 per cent’ of violators bringing in workers to be released on the market illegally were small businesses, according to Al Absi - information the LMRA had gleaned from ‘around 20,000 inspections a year’.

Deported

Meanwhile, Interior Ministry assistant under-secretary for legal affairs Brigadier Mohammed Buhamood said a total of 62,721 workers who were in Bahrain illegally had been deported between 2011 and the end of last year, including 19,130 last year alone.

However, he said that ‘only six per cent of illegal labourers’ had been involved in crime.

"Most of those facing legal action are here legally as free visa workers keep a low profile," he said.

Comments made by some MPs that senior officials at the heart of the government were making profits from the visa black market were described as "completely unacceptable" by Parliament and Shura Council Affairs Minister Ghanim Al Buainain, who ordered that they be struck from the record. - TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Bahrain | Visa | Illegal | Probe | Free |

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