Renewing and cancelling a foreign worker's permit in Iraq

In briefA non-Iraqi's work permit runs for a year and can be renewed, with the renewal request filed through the employer in the final month, under article 5 of Instructions No. 1 of 2026. Article 10 lists eight grounds for cancellation, among them the end of the employment contract, closure of the business, unexcused absence of ten consecutive or thirty scattered days, and working in a trade other than the one permitted. Losing the permit does not wipe out the worker's rights under the Labour Law and social security law.

Foreign worker permit rules explains how a permit is granted. This page deals with what comes after: keeping the permit alive, when it falls away, and what worker and employer should do when the job ends early. The Law Office of Ali Barakat, in Baghdad, al-Yarmouk, relies on the 2026 instructions (No. 1) that govern non-Iraqi workers, read alongside the Labour Law.

How long a permit lasts, and renewal

Article 5(1) has the permit signed off on behalf of the labour minister or a delegate, valid for twelve months and renewable, and issued on a form designed by the labour and vocational training department. It does not renew itself: article 5(2) makes it depend on the original requirements still being satisfied. The employer files the request, and the window for doing so is the final four weeks of the permit's life (article 5(3)).

Timing matters both ways. Filing before the final month does not fit the text, and leaving it until after expiry means the worker is now working without a permit, something both the Labour Law (article 30) and the instructions (article 4(1)) prohibit.

What is checked on renewal

Because renewal depends on the original conditions, what was checked the first time is checked again. Under article 2 that includes lawful residence; a clean record for both sides with social security and the residence affairs directorate, with no uncorrected violation; the employer's financial ability to pay; and the undertaking not to change trade. Overdue social security contributions can therefore hold up a renewal.

The eight grounds for cancellation

Article 10 of the instructions lists them:

The information or documents filed with the application prove untrue.
Death of the employer, if nobody asks before expiry for the worker to be moved to a new employer.
The worker dies.
The employment contract ends.
The business closes.
Unexcused absence lasting ten consecutive days, or thirty separate days within one working year.
Notice from the security services that keeping the worker here is a risk to security or the public interest.
The worker works in a trade other than the one named on the permit.

Losing the job: what actually happens

Contract expiry and business closure are both listed grounds for cancellation. The permit is tied to a contract, an employer and a trade, not to the worker alone. Someone who finds work with another employer cannot carry the old permit across, because moving to a new employer requires official approvals in advance, and the worker has already undertaken to stay in the same trade (article 2).

If the employer dies, the permit survives as long as a request to move the worker to another employer is made while it is still valid; this is the only case in which the text expressly offers a way out of cancellation.

If a worker simply disappears, article 8 puts the employer, and any recruitment agency involved, under a duty to report it to the department and to the closest police station.

What the worker keeps after cancellation

Cancellation ends the permission to work, but it does not erase what the worker has earned:

The end-of-service award under article 45 of the Labour Law, except in the cases it excludes.
Cash for unused leave when the contract ends, under article 76(4).
A ticket home, paid by the employer that brought the worker over at its own expense, under article 32, except where the worker walked out early with no valid reason.
Social security entitlements, which a departing foreigner receives under article 25 of Law No. 18 of 2023 on the more favourable of reciprocity or the international labour conventions, and the lump-sum award for someone leaving the country permanently under article 46.

The office follows these provisions from Baghdad, al-Yarmouk.

Legal basis and sources

Frequently asked questions

When should I apply to renew my work permit?

In the final month before it expires, through your employer, under article 5(3).

My contract ended and another company has offered me a job. Does my permit carry over?

No. Contract expiry is itself a cancellation ground, and working for a new employer depends on official approvals under article 2.

I missed a week of work for a family emergency. Will my permit be cancelled?

The sixth ground is about unexcused absence for ten days in a row or thirty scattered days in a year, so both the reason and the length matter.

My employer died. Do I lose my permit?

No, provided a request to move you to another employer is made before the permit expires, under article 10(2).

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

To ask about your matter

Call +964 770 848 7526 WhatsApp Email

Renewing and cancelling a non-Iraqi's work permit, and what happens when the job ends