"Qatar to implement changes to Khafala law by December 2016", 27 December 2015

Qatar announced that it has officially ratified changes to the Khafala system, allowing expat workers to change jobs without their sponsors’ consent, local media reported. The changes to the law have been entered into the official gazette and will be effective by December 14, 2016, local daily Al Sharq reported. Currently all expat workers require a no-objection certificate from their employers if they want to change jobs in Qatar. Under the law, if an employee leaves a company and his sponsor does not grant him permission to change jobs, he will have to leave the country for two years. But as per the new law, employees will not need their sponsors’ permission to take up new jobs. The new law has also increased the penalty for employers who confiscate workers’ passports. Such firms will now be fined QAR 25,000 for each passport, instead of QAR 10,000 prior to the law...