Employers are prohibited from confiscating employees’ official documents and workers should not be forced to leave the country following the end of their work term. Employers shall bear the fees and expenses of recruitment and employment and shall not recover them directly or indirectly from the employee.
56 provisions to regulate the registration, renewal, and cancelation of work permits in Kuwait. Inlcudes ban on employers in the private sector and oil sector from withholding the passports of foreign workers. (Art. 38.)
The first component of these reforms is that employees are now, subject to conditions, able to transfer their employment in-country. Secondly, employees are now able to apply for and obtain exit/re-entry permits and the final exit permit by themselves without permission from their employers.
Employees are no longer required to provide a no objection certificate in order to change jobs but in tandem with law 18 of 2020.
The Minister of Labor issued a decision related to the new work contract for domestic workers in order to regulate the work relationship between them and their employers. The contract allows workers to resign and keep hold of their own passport, limits working hours to 8, details right to paid holidays, and other improvements on working and living conditions
The Law governing the entry and exit of expatriate workers in Qatar was amended in to allow them to exit the country on temporary or permanent basis without obtaining prior approval from their employer in the form of an exit permit, but did not cover expatriates working in government and public entities, in the oil and gas sector, at sea, in agriculture, in private offices and as domestic workers. Decision No. 95 of 2019 was then issued by the Minister of Interior and removed exit permit requirements for most of the workers excluded from the September 2018 amendment, except for military personnel.
The Cabinet issued “Federal Law by Decree No. (19) of 2018 Regarding Foreign Direct Investment“, a new foreign investment law that allows more than 49 per cent ownership to foreigners in some businesses that could go up to 100 per cent in commercial companies in 13 economic sectors covering 122 economic activities (renewable energy, space, agriculture and manufacturing, transportation and storage, accommodation and food services, information and communication, and more.)