By SOMAN BABY

FEARS that increased labour fees would force smaller establishments out of business have been proved wrong, says an official. More than 30 per cent of the applications submitted for new work visas at the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) are from establishments employing one to five workers, said LMRA e-services and public relations manager Waheed Al Balushi.

“Out of 2,863 applications submitted for new work visas during the last week of August, 804 were from smaller establishments, employing one to five workers,” he told the GDN.

“This has been the trend ever since we took over the responsibility of issuing work visas from the Labour Ministry, with increased labour fees, starting on July 1.

“When the government decided to charge BD200 for new work visas for two years and impose a monthly levy of BD10 for each expatriate worker, the business community had expressed fears that it would badly affect smaller organisations.

“Some of them said it may even wipe out smaller establishments from the market.”

Mr Al Balushi said such fears have now been proven wrong.

The invoices for August for the BD10 monthly levy were sent to commercial establishments by LMRA on Sunday.

“The establishments have one month to pay as per the invoices,” said Mr Al Balushi.

“Only about 30 per cent of the establishments had paid the July bills until the end of last week.

“According to the law, the establishments which fail to pay within a month have to pay a fine of BD2 per worker for each month. If they fail to pay for three months, the LMRA will stop all transactions with such companies.”

Meanwhile, the LMRA has stopped its enrolment centre for families at the Marina Mall because of Ramadan.

“As the mall has changed its opening hours, we have shifted our enrolment centre for families to the second floor of the LMRA headquarters in Sanabis for the Ramadan period,” said Mr Al Balushi.

soman@gdn.com.bh