Qatar centres to report absconding workers

Qatar employers will be able to file reports about absconding workers at various interior ministry service centres and in different parts of the country starting next week. Complaints until now are received only at the ministry’s Search and Follow Up Department (SFD), Qatari daily The Peninsula reported on Thursday. “With the expansion of this service, sponsors will be relieved of the responsibility of absconding workers instantly,” Nasser Al Sayed, Director of the Search and Follow Up Department, said. “It will also speed up the steps needed for the deportation of absconding workers,” he said, quoted by the daily. Tasked with investigating each case, the SFD calls both parties if required and tries to resolve the issue amicably. However, the case is referred to court is the reconciliation efforts fail. Under local regulations, a foreigner staying illegally in the country is quizzed by the public prosecutor and his case is reviewed by a court that decides to either deport him or release him with the permission to change the sponsor. Workers who are found to be victims of abuse by their employers are allowed to have a new sponsor. According to interior ministry officials, absconding workers who voluntarily surrender to the police are not detained and the procedures for their deportation are completed quickly, provided there are no court cases against them and the travel documents are in order. From / Gulf News