Friday 20 / June / 2025
Muscat: More than 27,000 expat workers were arrested for violating the labour law in 2017, according to figures released by the Ministry of Manpower (MoM).
Muscat topped other governorates in the number of illegal expat workers arrested at 8,923, followed by North Batinah, which recorded 6,918. Dhofar was third with 3,017, while South Batinah recorded 1,798 of the 27,837 expat workers arrested last year.
Bangladeshi nationals topped other nationalities in the number of expats violating the labour law, standing at 20,557, which constituted 76.6 per cent of all workers arrested. Bangladeshis were followed by Pakistani nationals, who stood at 3,285 violators (12.2 per cent), while the number of Indians stood at 1,955.
The rest of the 1,040 were made up of other nationalities, the figures showed.
Of these, 15,674 workers absconded from their employers (58.4 per cent), 9,567 were laid-off, while 1,596 entered the country on visit or tourist visas and worked illegally once their visas had expired.
Moreover, 24,146 were employed in the commercial sector, while 2,691 were employed in the household sector.
The number of expat workers in the private sector declined by 17,169 in 2017 in comparison with 2016, with the figure dropping from 1,942,008 to 1,924,839. Some 1,700,512 expat workers were from the commercial sector, while 224,327 were from households. Of these, 1,663,531 were male and 36,981 were female.
Of these expatriate worker's jobs, men's were mostly in construction, retail, manufacturing and food services, while females were mainly employed in education, health, social services and retail. Some 365,971 new expat workers were hired in 2017, while 368,253 left the country, the figures showed. An official at the Ministry of Manpower told the Times of Oman that illegal expats often hand over themselves to the ministry in order to leave the country.
“They come to the ministry and hand themselves over,” he explained. “First, legal action is taken against them. We also contact the employer if there are any demands. If the illegal expat worker is wanted by the judicial authorities for committing crimes, he or she will be handed over to them. The door is open for them when they want to hand over themselves to the ministry. The amnesty period is exceptional, as the government pays lots of money to deport them.”
Social workers’ appeal
“There are plans of cooperation between the ministry and other government agencies including the Royal Oman Police (ROP), the Public Prosecution and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries when the ministry conducts raids on illegal expat workers,” the official said.
Social workers appealed to all expats to adhere to the laws of the land. “We advise everybody to follow the labour law in Oman. During our public gatherings, we distribute pamphlets and leaflets to strictly follow the labour laws, a social worker at Bangladesh Social Club said. A member of the Indian Social Club said: “We should not follow the illegal path to get into the country. If you are coming here for a job, you should have a proper visa, and not come in on a tourist visa. If you have the proper visa, then you can get it cleared and get all the permits from the labour and manpower ministries, and complete the legal formalities. “
In addition, Karunakar Rao, convener of the Karnataka Wing of the Indian Social Club, said expats in Oman were lucky to live in such a friendly place, and needed to make sure they followed the laws. “We are all well aware that the ROP and ministries are insisting that we should always follow the law, because the law is there to protect all of us,” he said. “I have unfortunately seen many cases of people breaking the law, so my advice to them is to follow them. I have been here for the last 20 years and I can safely say that we are very lucky to live in a country such as this one, where there is very little crime and people are friendly.”
