Before you apply to hire a non-Iraqi: a fitness test and the duties that follow a permit

When a company in Baghdad decides to bring in a technician or a manager from abroad, the first thing the office of lawyer Ali Barakat, in al-Yarmouk, asks for is not the application form. It is a short meeting to walk through the fitness conditions. If the file does not meet them, filing at that moment does not help. This page sets out those conditions as they appear in Labour Law No. 37 of 2015 and in Instructions No. 1 of 2026, published in the Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4863, of 30/3/2026, and then what remains on the employer after the grant. The steps for filing and renewing the application itself are on how a work permit for a non-Iraqi is obtained.

The starting rule: no work until a permit is issued

No administration and no employer may engage a person who is not Iraqi, in whatever capacity, until a permit has been issued by the Ministry, for a charge that instructions issued by the Minister are to fix (art. 30). That person may not start the work until the permit has been issued (art. 31). The Law treats as a foreign worker a natural person who does not hold Iraqi nationality and who works, or wants to work, in Iraq in the capacity of a worker — not independently on that person’s own account (art. 1). A contract labelled “consultant” or “visiting technician” does not take the case outside the prohibition if the person in fact works under the employer’s direction.

Article 33 allows the Minister to issue special instructions on bringing foreign workers into Iraq and placing them in work. The instrument now in force is Instructions No. 1 of 2026, which set aside the earlier instrument numbered 18 of 1987. Applications under those Instructions go to دائرة العمل والتدريب المهني, the labour-and-training department of the Ministry. That department is not the Department of Employment and Loans, which article 1 of the Labour Law names for lodging a copy of the contract and for considering a dispute under article 157. Confusing the two names often delays a file.

Eight points to check before the application goes in

1. Entry and stay. Has the worker entered, or will the worker enter, and is the stay lawful under Foreigners' Residence Law No. 76 of 2017?
2. A clean record. Can the employer obtain confirmation from the Department of Pension and Social Security for Workers, and from the Directorate of Residence Affairs at the Ministry of Interior, that no outstanding breach remains against the employer or the worker in connection with recruitment or placement?
3. Priority for an Iraqi candidate. Does the jobseeker database contain no candidate who matches the profile sought, or have the employment sections issued an apology within fifteen days of the filing arriving and being recorded?
4. The half-staff ceiling. After this hiring, will foreign staff still form no more than fifty per cent of the workers on the project?
5. Medical fitness. Are there reports issued by an official body showing fitness for the type of work?
6. Skill. If the work is skilled, is there a record of experience or an authenticated graduation paper?
7. Ability to pay the wage. Can the employer show the means to pay the wage?
8. The occupation stays the same. Will the employer and the worker give a written undertaking not to change the occupation for which the person was brought in, knowing that a change of employer waits until the approvals have been obtained?

Special cases. In domestic work the number may not rise above two in one household, unless the Department agrees that necessity so requires. When an application covers three foreign workers or more, committees sit at the Department’s main office and at the labour sections in the governorates, and a field visit is made to assess actual need, in the manner the Instructions draw.

An example. A contracting company has twenty workers, nine of them foreign, and wants to bring in two more. After the hiring, the foreign staff would be eleven out of twenty-two, which is exactly half, so the fourth point is met. Because the application is for two workers only, it does not fall into the committee procedure that applies to three or more.

After the permit is granted: what remains on the employer

• The contract. It is drawn up in Arabic and English, or in the worker’s first language, as the Instructions require.
• Social security. The employer remains bound by the wage and by social-security enrolment if the worker is covered, as set out in the employer’s social-security duties.
• Passing on the skill. On a project of a technical or specialised character, the foreign employee signs a written promise to train at least one Iraqi colleague on the project in the same tasks, for the life of the permit.
• Reporting a departure without leave. If the worker absconds, the employer, and any licensed placement office, must notify the Department and the closest police post.
• Return travel and death. If the employer paid to bring the worker into Iraq, the employer also provides a return ticket to the country of origin, except where the worker left early without a lawful reason. On death, the employer meets the cost of preparing the body and of carrying it if the family so requests (art. 32).

Losing the job, by itself, does not place a lawfully resident foreign worker in an irregular position, and does not by itself cancel residence or the work authorisation, unless Iraqi law has been broken (art. 34). The residence duties are set out in the employer’s duties toward a foreign worker’s residence.

The office follows this framework from Baghdad, al-Yarmouk, and can be reached on +964 770 848 7526.

Legal basis and sources

1. Labour Law No. 37 of 2015 (Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4386 of 9/11/2015) — Articles 30–34
2. Instructions No. 1 of 2026 on the recruitment, employment and work permits of foreign workers (Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4863 of 30/3/2026)
3. Foreigners' Residence Law No. 76 of 2017 (Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4466 of 23/10/2017)
4. Foreigners' Residence Law No. 76 of 2017, Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4466 of 23/10/2017

Frequently asked questions

Related topics and articles

• 01The employer's duties toward a foreign worker's residenceThe employer's duties as to a non-Iraqi's residence under Residence Law No. 76 of 2017, including notice within 48 hours; not the work-permit path.
• 02Instructions 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.
• 03The employer's duties in workers' social securityEmployer duties under Law No. 18 of 2023: yearly particulars, payment time limits, clearance, contractors and work injury.
• 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.

Always check the text in force and its amendments in the official source.

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