Diplomats in Doha welcome new sponsorship law

The embassies of some major manpower-exporting countries have welcomed the new sponsorship law, especially the provision which bars sponsors from keeping the passports of employees, saying it would help in quick repatriation of stranded workers.

“We are very happy with the new law,” said Vivo Vidal, a senior official from the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) here. With the Filipino workers keeping their passports with them, they could leave as and when they wished to.

But Filipinos generally do not lose their passports, said Vidal. “It’s just that they were upset about someone else keeping their passports.” The ambiguity about who should keep the workers’ passports is gone with the new legislation.

It is a welcome development, hinted Sanjeev Kohli, a Minister at the Indian Embassy here. With a large population, many of whom are in low-income, some four passport loss complaints are lodged with the mission on average each working day.

Getting a new passport is an expensive proposition for a lowly-paid Indian since the fee is QR535. Additionally, there are the hassles of lodging police complaints and publishing notices in local dailies

read more at http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&mon...