The employer's duties toward a foreign worker's residence
The Law Office of Ali Barakat, from Baghdad, al-Yarmouk, sets out the employer's duties toward the residence of a worker who is not Iraqi. The first source is Foreigners' Residence Law No. 76 of 2017, published in the Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4466, of 23/10/2017, together with articles 32 and 34 of Labour Law No. 37 of 2015. The path for issuing a work permit belongs on the page Work permits.
Residence is a path distinct from a work permit
Foreigners' Residence Law No. 76 of 2017 organises the entry of a foreigner into the Republic of Iraq, exit from it, and residence in it. In this Law the Ministry is the Ministry of Interior, the General Directorate is the General Directorate of Residence, and the residence officer is the person to whom the Director General delegates the authority of a residence officer in order to apply the Law. The Law applies to a natural person who is a foreigner. A person who wishes to remain longer than the period allowed by an ordinary visa must, before that period ends, obtain a residence card from the residence officers for a period not exceeding one year, and may apply to extend it for a further year at least thirty days before it expires, and that may be repeated so long as the reason for the grant remains, under article 19. The Director General of the General Directorate of Residence may refuse to grant or to extend residence if the public interest so requires, and the foreigner may object to a refusal before the Minister of Interior within fifteen days of being notified, with a reply to be given within a period not exceeding thirty days. The Minister may cancel the residence of foreigners before it expires for reasons connected with the public interest. If the foreigner leaves the Republic of Iraq for more than six months, the remaining period is cancelled, and on return a new document must be obtained, under article 19, Fifth.
The holder of a visit visa or a tourist visa is not entitled to work in any place in the Republic of Iraq, with or without pay, under what the Residence Law provides in this regard. A visit visa therefore does not take the place of a residence card, and a work permit does not take the place of a residence document. Instructions No. 1 of 2026 require lawful entry and stay under the Residence Law, and a confirmation from the Directorate of Residence Affairs and from the Department of Pension and Social Security for Workers that no outstanding breach remains. The conditions for a permit, and the detail of the application, are on the page Rules on employing non-Iraqis and on the work-permit page. This page stays with the employer's duty on the residence path.
Notice to the residence officer, and duties on recruitment and death
Anyone who employs a foreigner must notify the residence officer within forty-eight hours of the date of employment, or if that foreigner leaves the Republic of Iraq, and must attach the passport or the work card if there is one, and the sponsor must attend the Directorate of Residence to complete the steps for cancelling the residence of a sponsored person or for changing the sponsorship, under article 18, Third, of the Residence Law. That notice is a duty under the Residence Law. It is not the notice to the Department of Labour and Vocational Training and to the nearest police station if the worker runs away, under the work-permit instructions, and it is not enrolment of the worker in social security. The file brings these duties together, and none of them takes the place of the others. The text also requires a guarantee of the return of a person brought in for the purpose of labour, in the form the article draws.
Under article 32 of the Labour Law, an employer who brought a foreign worker to Iraq at the employer's own cost must give the worker a travel ticket to the country from which the worker was brought, unless the worker left the job before the contract ended without a lawful reason. On the death of the foreign worker, the employer meets the cost of preparing the body and of carrying it to the home country or the place of stay, if the family so requests. Those two duties are connected with the fate of residence when the relationship is interrupted or on death, and they are read together with notice to the residence officer and with the steps for cancellation or a change of sponsorship before the Directorate of Residence.
A foreign worker who is lawfully resident in Iraq for the purpose of work is not considered to be in an unlawful or irregular situation merely because the worker has lost the job, and loss of the job does not of itself entail withdrawal of the residence authorisation or of the work authorisation, unless the worker has breached Iraqi laws, under article 34 of the Labour Law. Cancellation of a work permit for reasons listed in the Instructions is an employment decision. It is read together with the residence file. Whether residence remains or ends is reviewed before the General Directorate of Residence and the residence officer under the Residence Law.
If the work is in the Kurdistan Region, the federal framework of the Residence Law is still read first, together with the procedures the Region organises for a residence card, as on the page A residence card in the Kurdistan Region. The office follows these questions from Baghdad, al-Yarmouk, with no branch in the Region.
Legal basis and sources
- Foreigners' Residence Law No. 76 of 2017 (Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4466 of 23/10/2017)
- Labour Law No. 37 of 2015 (Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4386 of 9/11/2015) — Articles 32 and 34
- Instructions No. 1 of 2026 on the recruitment, employment and work permits of foreign workers (Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4863 of 30/3/2026)
- Foreigners' Residence Law No. 76 of 2017, Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4466 of 23/10/2017
Frequently asked questions
What is the employer's first duty under the Residence Law when employing a worker who is not Iraqi?
To notify the residence officer within forty-eight hours of the date of employment, or if the foreigner leaves the Republic of Iraq, and to attach the passport or the work card if there is one, under article 18, Third.
Does a work permit take the place of a residence card?
No. A work permit is a path before the Department of Labour and Vocational Training under the Labour Law and the instructions in force. A residence card is a path before the residence officers and the General Directorate of Residence under Foreigners' Residence Law No. 76 of 2017.
Does loss of the job automatically withdraw residence or the work authorisation?
No, not merely by reason of losing the job, under article 34 of the Labour Law, unless the worker has breached Iraqi laws. A decision cancelling a permit or residence is read from its basis in the Instructions or in the Residence Law.
Who may object to a refusal to grant or to extend residence?
The foreigner may object to a refusal before the Minister of Interior within fifteen days of notification, under article 19. The text identifies that path for a refusal issued by the Director General of the General Directorate of Residence.
Related topics and articles
- 01Before you apply to hire a non-Iraqi: a fitness test and the duties that follow a permitA practical test for an employer before applying to hire a non-Iraqi: the prohibition in the Labour Law, the conditions in Instructions No. 1 of 2026 including the fifty-per-cent ceiling, and the duties that remain after a permit is issued.
- 02A residence card for a person who is not Iraqi in the Kurdistan RegionKurdistan residence card under Law No. 76 of 2017, distinct from a work permit, with no regional law number cited without a published official instrument.
- 03Instructions No. 1 of 2026 on the recruitment, employment and work permits of foreign workersA reading of Instructions No. 1 of 2026: applications, committees for three or more workers, cancellation and training.
- 04End-of-service entitlements under Labour Law No. 37 of 2015The end-of-service gratuity under Labour Law 37/2015: the two-week formula, the statutory exceptions, and how it differs from benefits under Law 18/2023.
- 05Which labour and social-security rules apply in the governorates and in the Kurdistan Region?The reach of Labour Law 37/2015 and Law 18/2023 in the governorates not organised in a region, and how work is organised in the Kurdistan Region.