Iraq tightens labor rules as unemployment tops 1M

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq has registered 47,000 legally employed , even as more than one million Iraqis remain listed as unemployed, the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry said on Sunday.

Ministry spokesperson Hassan Khawam told Shafaq News that employers seeking to hire foreign workers are now required to offer vacancies first to Iraqi candidates registered with the ministry’s Department of Labor and Vocational Training. “Only if no Iraqi applicant accepts the job may the employer request permission to bring in a foreign worker.”

Even then, the foreign worker must possess specific, rare expertise not readily available locally and present a certified experience certificate authenticated by the Foreign Ministry, he said. “If an Iraqi worker agrees to fill the position, the need to recruit a foreign worker is eliminated,” Khawam noted, adding that the policy is designed to expand employment opportunities for Iraqis and curb unemployment.

While the ministry does not have precise data on the number of foreign workers who entered Iraq illegally, Khawam said inspection teams continue monitoring workplaces across sectors. Employers found using illegal foreign labor are referred to labor courts and may face fines or penalties, including the closure of the business. Foreign workers in violation of residency or employment laws are reported to the Interior Ministry’s Residency Affairs Directorate and face deportation and a two-year entry ban, under the residency law.

The enforcement drive has become increasingly visible. Today alone, Baghdad’s Al-Rusafa police command announced the arrest of 126 foreign nationals of Arab and non-Arab nationalities for residency violations during a large-scale campaign across several districts of the capital.

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