Grace period extended for illegal workers to rectify status

AMMAN — The government’s recent decision to extend the grace period granted to guest workers to rectify their status seeks to give the Labour Ministry more time to complete administrative procedures, an official said on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, the Cabinet announced the extension of the grace period granted to guest workers to rectify their legal status from the initial date of April 15 to May 15, without fee exemptions. 

Farouq Hadidi, spokesperson of the Labour Ministry, told The Jordan Times that the initial grace period, that started on February 15 and lasted for two months, offered violators fee exemptions to document their legal status. 

The ministry described the extension of the grace period as a chance to continue working on official procedures, such as allowing the movement of guest workers from one sector to another.

Hadidi cited the movement of a “large” number of guest workers from the agricultural sector to other sectors as a proof that large numbers of violations existed in the past. 

Labour Minister Ali Ghezawi said around 146,000 work permits had been issued to guest workers during the first quarter of this year, registering a 60.4-per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

He noted that 11,488 guest workers came to work in the Kingdom this year, compared to 22,505 workers during the same period in 2016, citing a 50-per cent drop in the number of new guest workers, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The ministry has recently started an intensified inspection campaign to check on the validity of foreign workers’ permits, with illegal workers facing “immediate deportation”, a Labour Ministry spokesperson said on Saturday .

The campaign will target all facilities and institutions employing foreign workers, in addition to shops and places where workers usually gather to seek daily work.