Exit permit: scrapped but some gaps remain

Qatar scrapped the exit permit requirement for migrant workers in September 2018, allowing most migrant workers covered by the Labour Law to leave the country without the permission of their employer.12 In January 2019, domestic workers and other groups of workers were eventually included in the exit permit exemption after being excluded from the initial announcement.13 However, domestic workers still needed to “inform” their employer in person 72 hours before their departure.14

According to the ministerial decision, employers could still request that up to 5% of their workforce requires an exit permit following Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs’ (MADLSA) approval.15 As of August 2020, MADLSA had approved 42,171 requests to retain exit permit permission for migrant workers.16 Figures for 2021 were not available at the time of writing.

Almost two years after the removal of the exit permit, workers’ rights organizations and representatives of embassies in Qatar acknowledged that leaving the country had generally become easier.17 However, they told Amnesty International that some migrant workers, especially domestic workers, continue to face hurdles. These include employers refusing to provide the air ticket fare to return home or filing spurious ‘absconding’ (running away from a job, which is deemed a criminal offence in Qatar) or theft cases against employees, and failing to renew workers’ residence permits, undermining their ability to leave the country.18 Further, passport confiscation remains a rampant practice amongst employers of domestic workers.19

Migrant workers play football on an area of wasteland in Doha, Qatar. © Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images

12 Amnesty International, Qatar: Partial abolition of ‘exit permit’ lifts travel restrictions for most migrant workers, 5 September 2018, https://www. amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/09/qatar-exit-system-reform-first-step/ 13 See Ministry of Interior Decision No. 95 of 2019 on the regulations and procedures regarding the exit of some categories of workers who are not subject to the Labour Law, 1 December 2019, https://www.almeezan.qa/LawArticles.aspx?LawArticleID=79754&LawI d=8221&language=ar 14 Article 2 of the Ministry of Interior Decision No. 95 of 2019. 15 On 19 October 2021 the Emir issued the Emiri Order No 4 of 2021 reshuffling the Cabinet. As a result, MADLSA was demerged and a new minister was appointed to head the Ministry of Labour. See The Peninsula, Amir issues Amiri order reshuffling Qatar cabinet, 19 October 2021, https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/19/10/2021/Amir-issues-Amiri-order-reshuffling-Qatar-cabinet 16 See ILO, Progress report on the technical cooperation programme agreed between the Government of Qatar and the ILO (ILO Progress Report), 9 October 2020, p. 6, https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_757599.pdf 17 Interviews with representatives of migrant workers’ rights organizations and embassies in Doha, conducted remotely and in person between September and October 2021. 18 Ibid. For further information on domestic workers, see: Amnesty International, “Why do you want to rest?”: Ongoing abuses of domestic workers in Qatar, 20 October 2020, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE22/3175/2020/en/ 19 Interviews with representatives of migrant workers’ organizations on 25 October 2021.