Iran to fine employers of illegal foreign workers

KABUL (Pajhwok): The government of Iran has decided to impose fines on employers of illegal foreigners, including a large number of Afghans.

Under the new regulation, an employer wound be fined 1.2 million tomans for hiring illegal foreigners, IRNA reported.

Iran’s Directorate General for Employment of Expatriates and the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare said each of the employers would be fined 1.2 million tomans daily for hiring a single illegal worker.

If the regulation was ignored and the illegal hiring of foreigners persisted, the Directorate General warned, the fine on employers would double.

The employers of foreigners without work permits will be fined 11.9 million riyals a day, an amount which will double in case of repeated violations.”

Previously, Iranian authorities had imposed restrictions on Afghan migrants without residency documents, including a ban on their entry to 16 cities and purchase of some medicine and food items.

Iran has expelled hundreds of thousands of Afghan immigrants, there are still about three million Afghans living in the neighbouring country.

aw/mud