Yesterday was a momentous day for workers who come to work in Qatar as the country took a big step to ease the recruitment process by setting up centres in the home country of the expatriate workers. Thursday saw the opening of Qatar Visa Centre in Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka, first of the 12 which Doha will open in eight countries as part of the first stage of the project.
These centres will facilitate the whole recruitment process by bringing various requirements like medical, fingerprint services, biometric data process and contract signing under one roof in the home country of the worker itself.
This will benefit both employer and the employee in many ways. First and foremost, this step will reduce the time taken for recruiting workers and they will be able start work immediately after reaching Qatar as all processes for work visa is already concluded.
Secondly, and most importantly, this removes the uncertainty and monetary loss if the worker has to go back due to some problem with the paperwork or medical condition. This has been a major concern for some businesses as they bring workers after spending money and time, for travel and other requirements, to find out that there are some issues with their medical or biometric data collection.
This also causes much emotional distress to the worker as they have to go back after coming here with lot of expectations. With the new centres, this will not happen as all requirements are taken care of in the home countries itself.
This new step would ensure that the rights of expatriates are protected while facilitating all necessary procedures for his entry into Qatar. Such a move would also help verifying and documenting the process of expatriate recruitment, and speeding up their work commencement under simplified, smooth and effective procedures.
The Secretary-General of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Sharan Burrow, praised the step taken by Qatar to open offices in labour-exporting countries, describing it as an important initiative that would limit the illegal practices of some employment offices.
In the recent past, Qatar has taken some path-breaking steps in labour welfare and is leading the region with in advancing workers’ rights. Qatar has removed the exit permit requirement for leaving the country for most workers. It has also fixed a minimum wage for all workers and is constantly reviewing the same at regular intervals.
These reforms impressed the ITUC official who urged other Gulf states to follow Qatar’s lead and promote workers’ interests.
