Exit permit: No major complaints against firms

Brig. Salim Saqr Al Muraikhi, the Head of the Exit Permit Grievances Committee, has said that there are no collective grievances against particular companies and the complaints are at the individual level.
He also said that most of the grievances had been resolved through reconciliation between employers and employees to the satisfaction of both parties.
The Committee was set up by the Ministry of Interior to look into the grievances of expatriates on exit permits, and after it was set up no employer can withhold exit permit to its employee.
According to the article No. (7) of the law No .(1/ 2017), an expatriate has the right to exit from the country on leave or for an emergency or any other reason after informing the recruiter as per the labour contract.
To study the cases from all sides, the committee is coordinating with other authorities like the Ministry of Labour, the National Human Rights Committee, Search and Follow Up Departments at the Ministry of Interior, among others.
“The committee has to take its decision on the appeal within three working days, and in some cases the complainant got exit permit on the same day,” he said, adding that in some cases they could leave the same day, for example, drivers who are not responsible for financial issues and have documents proving their emergency cases.

No legal action
Replying to a question whether the committee could take legal action against companies which prevent its workers from issuing exit permit, he said: “Until now there are no collective grievances against any particular company. Most of the cases are individual cases and against different companies. There exist some grievances from companies against workers because sometimes workers want to travel during the time which can badly affect the company’s operations.”
About the committee’s work since the beginning of this year, he said that it has rejected only two cases for exit permit while all other cases got approval.

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