New labour regulations come into force

AMMAN  — The Ministry of Labour has announced new regulations aimed at addressing the issue of illegal workers in the Kingdom.

Minister of Labour Nidal Bataineh recently said that the 2019 Work Permits for Non-Jordanians Regulations would come into effect on Sunday to rectify the status of illegal labourers in the Kingdom.

The minister stated that, according to the new regulations, no work permits shall be issued for guest workers in professions that only accept Jordanians.

Bataineh continued that the violating labourers will "only be given two months to rectify their situation", stressing that "no grace period will be given beyond that deadline".

The minister warned that if illegal labourers do not rectify their situation, they will be deported immediately and incur fines.

The minister added that any violating labourers who do not wish to rectify their situation "are welcome to leave the Kingdom during the two-month period without paying any fines or additional fees".

The minister said that Egyptian workers who possess an expired passport and wish to renew their work permit in Jordan are allowed to do so as long as they can provide official documents proving that they are in the process of passport renewal.

Bataineh added that the 2019 regulations also aim to regulate the fees that non-Jordanians pay, adding that the fee has been unified to JD500 for a number of sectors. 

The minister noted that the permit fee for domestic workers has been reduced from JD600 to JD500.

Officials have estimated that approximately 600,000 of the 900,000 labourers in the Kingdom do not have valid working permits.

On the agriculture sector, Bataineh noted that "due to the sector’s importance to the Jordanian economy, the ministry decided to waive all previous fines imposed on foreign workers".

Meanwhile, construction workers will only have to pay 80 per cent of the work permit fees, stated the minister.

As for the Aqaba Economic Zone, the minister said that the violating visiting labourers will be obliged to pay only 50 per cent of the work permit fees.