Culture

Protesters outside immigration call for resignation of Controller following work permit rejections

14 Aug 2011, 4:37 PM
Ahmed Nazeer
A group of 50 protesters gathered outside the Immigration Department today demanding the resignation of Immigration Controller Abdulla Shahid, claiming that immigration staff were refusing to accept work permit documents issued by the Human Resources Ministry.
“They refused to accept documents that were issued last week, because last night the Immigration Department announced that the document’s name had changed from ‘Work Permit Document’ to “Employment Approval Document,” one protester said. “These documents they refused to accept were issued last week – when they make such an announcement all of a sudden, what can we do about it?’’ he asked.
The protesters claimed the arrival of expatriate workers would be delayed because of the name change.
“When they refused to accept these documents we cannot pay for the deposit fee, the payment receipt and the immigration approval stamp and the work permit card,” he said. “So now we will have to delay the arrival of expat workers expected to here earlier.”

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