Control needed on e-work permit approvals

By Fahad Al Ghadani — MUSCAT: Feb 25 - Social media is rife with calls from the public seeking better control on the online approvals granted to establishments, especially vis-à-vis work permits for expatriates. A total of 72,810 electronic work permits for expats were approved by the Ministry of Manpower between June 1, 2016 and February 19, 2017. Since the introduction of mandatory electronic approval, the Muscat Governorate has granted the maximum number of licences of 22,043, followed by Al Batinah North (18,208), Al Sharqiyah South (11,417), Al Dhahira (7,642), Al Dakhiliya (6,630), Dhofar (5,540), Al Wusta (864) and Musandam (466).

The number of permits granted was widely discussed on social media, with many asking the authorities to exercise control over the same.

“Such a number was maybe normal in the past, but now the situation is more sensitive,” Hussein Al Rahbi said said on social media.

“It’s like anyone who is running an establishment gets a number of work permits and stars selling them to bigger companies,” he said.

According to him, stricter regulations should be imposed as there are companies that really need work permits, but don’t get them, while there are companies with no projects but have work permits to sell.

He said the number of labour violations recorded by the Ministry of Manpower every week is a reflection of the existence of a huge “unneeded expat workforce” whose number continues to rise.

The joint inspection team of the ministry caught 503 workers violating labour law between February 12 and 18. These include 423 commercial workers, 34 farm workers and 46 housemaids.

Al Batinah North Governorate witnessed the largest number of violations with 171, followed by Muscat (101). Authorities at the ministry are initiating legal procedures against them. A total of 35 expat workers were deported, according to a ministry report.

The number of migrant workers stood at 1,848,175, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) by the end of December. Of these, 1,504,936 were in the private sector, 60,196 in the government sector and 283,043 domestic workers and drivers.

The number of expats has increased in the past five years, reaching 43 per cent by mid-2015, compared with 29 per cent in 2010 and 38.9 per cent in 2011.