Basra deports 56 foreigners for residency violations amid wider national crackdown

BASRA — Basra’s Residency Affairs Department said Saturday it deported 56 foreigners who violated residency rules through the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran, warning that remaining violators will face the same measures.

The department said in a statement that its teams removed “56 violators of Residency Law No. 76 of 2017 through the Shalamcheh border crossing, as part of ongoing efforts to enforce the law and strengthen procedures regulating the entry and stay of foreigners in the country.”

The directorate added that operations targeting violators “are ongoing in accordance with applicable legal procedures, and at a high pace, in line with instructions aimed at maintaining security and applying residency regulations across all governorates.”

Iraq has been intensifying enforcement against undocumented foreign workers in recent years. The Labour Ministry said it deported “more than 20,000 foreign workers in 2024, and more than 14,000 in 2025,” all without work permits, bringing the two-year total to over 34,000. According to ministry spokesperson Hassan Khawam, employers are required to hire “80 percent Iraqi labor and 20 percent foreign labor,” with inspectors visiting worksites to monitor compliance.

Khawam said illegal workers often enter as tourists or through the Kurdistan Region before slipping into worksites, with some employers concealing them. He said 44,000 foreign workers currently in Iraq entered legally and hold valid permits. Under Residency Law No. 76 of 2017, foreigners must meet strict entry, stay and work criteria, replacing a 1978 statute.

Authorities have also carried out security operations targeting unlicensed labor. On Aug. 26, 2025, Baghdad Operations Command said it arrested 85 foreign nationals in raids across the eastern neighborhoods of Kamaliya and Fadhiliya.