MPs to vote on criminalising recruitment under ‘free visa’

Manama : MPs will vote this week on a bill criminalising the recruitment of irregular employment, commonly known as “free visa” workers.

Presented by MP Adel Al Assoomy and a group of legislators, the bill aims at amending Paragraph A in Article 36 of the existing Law 19 of the year 2006 with regards to labour market regulation.

It introduces jail terms, fines and revoking commercial registrations of establishments and individuals who hire illegal workers. According to the presenters, the proposal comes to “eliminate the problem of the illegal foreign and runaway workers, and the security and economic implications of this problem”.

They also said that it would “preserve organising economic and professional activities that require authorisation to practice them”.The bill was referred to the Services Committee in the House of Representatives for studying. The committee approved the bill after reviewing it with the council’s Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee, Labour Market Regulatory Authority and the legal consultants in the council.

It’s noteworthy that the workers’ categories targeted in the bill include domestic employment, such as part-time housemaids.  The council will review and vote on the committee’s report in the weekly meeting on Tuesday.