Simplified Visa Procedures

egorized | Industry & Trade, Oil & Gas








Simplified Visa Procedures for Foreign Oil Workers


Posted on 27 May 2013. Tags: visas



Pages: 1 2 3







By Omar al-Shaher for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

An Iraqi government spokesman said that the Baghdad government has
decided to grant foreign oil company workers in Iraq assistance in
obtaining entry visas and residency permits, following many complaints
of difficulties faced by employees and engineers in entering Iraq to
work for oil companies.

Faisal Abdullah, the spokesman for energy affairs for Iraq’s Deputy
Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, told Al-Monitor that Shahristani
held a meeting with the general director of the Department of
Nationality in the Ministry of Interior and the general director of the
Contracts Department in the Oil Ministry. During the meeting, the
parties discussed facilitating the process of obtaining visas and
residency permits for workers employed by foreign oil and power
companies in Iraq.

Abdullah added that Shahristani’s office received many complaints
regarding the delay in granting visas, thus obstructing the work of the
companies.

Shahristani’s office oversees the ministries of oil and power, and is
considered the main engineer of petroleum policies. Abdullah continued,
“It takes foreign workers at least two months, sometimes three, to
obtain a visa. We have received many complaints from foreign companies
in this regard.”

“The meeting led to an agreement of cooperation between the
departments of nationality, contracts and intelligence to guarantee that
foreign workers employed by power and oil companies would receive a
visa within two weeks at most,” he added.



Pages: 1 2 3