Iraq says 34,000 undocumented foreign workers deported in two years

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Labour Ministry said Wednesday it has deported more than 34,000 undocumented foreign workers over the past two years, warning that employers who shelter illegal laborers will face legal action.

Ministry spokesperson Hassan Khawam said the Labour and Vocational Training Department is enforcing Cabinet decisions requiring employers and investors to hire “80 percent Iraqi labor and 20 percent foreign labor.” He said ministry inspectors, though limited in number, regularly visit worksites to monitor compliance.

Khawam said employers seeking approval to hire foreign workers must first allow the ministry to consult its “Mihan” database to match available Iraqi workers with required skills. “If an agreement is reached, there is no need to bring foreign workers,” he said. If not, the ministry approves the request and notifies the Residency Directorate to permit foreign hiring under defined conditions.

He said these conditions require foreign workers to be specialists and to present verifiable experience certificates. Inspectors also monitor implementation of Labour Law No. 37 of 2015, which obligates employers to provide safe working environments, minimum wage compliance, regulated hours and adherence to Social Security Law No. 18 of 2023.

Khawam said a national strategy to support Iraqi workers is awaiting final approval, noting cooperation with international organizations and a partnership with a Chinese company to establish a vocational training academy “to equip Iraqi workers with the skills needed by foreign investment companies,” reducing reliance on foreign labor.

He said 44,000 foreign workers currently in Iraq entered legally, including domestic workers, all with valid work permits. But he added that “the larger number of foreign workers in the labor market entered illegally, either as tourists or through the Kurdistan Region, and then slipped into worksites while some investors and employers conceal them.”

Khawam cited Interior Ministry figures showing the deportation of “more than 20,000 foreign workers in 2024, and more than 14,000 in 2025,” all without work permits.

“These measures serve Iraqi workers by reducing foreign labor entering Iraq and providing more opportunities for Iraqi labor,” he said.

Iraq has expanded its campaign against unlicensed foreign labor with frequent security operations across the country. On Aug. 26, 2025, Baghdad Operations Command said it arrested 85 foreign nationals during large-scale raids in the eastern neighborhoods of Kamaliya and Fadhiliya.

Residency Law No. 76 of 2017, titled the Law on the Residence of Foreigners, governs the entry, stay and exit of non-Iraqis. It replaced a 1978 statute.