Legal basis

Articles 120 – 129 of the Labour Law (1990) constitute the general attitude of the Iranian legal system towards the work of foreign nationals in Iran. The said articles that form the main basis of the regulatory corpus of employment of foreign employees, are completed by number of Bylaws, Decrees, Directives and Circulars issued by the Board of Ministers and the authorities in charge to determine and prescribe the administrative details of the requirements to be met and the formalities to be taken for employment of foreign nationals.

 

Who is subject to

According to Article 976 of the Civil Code of Iran, the following individuals are basically regarded as Iranian national: all residents of Iran excepting those whose foreign nationality is definite; persons whose father is Iranian; women whose husband is Iranian; persons born in Iran from foreign parents when one of whom was born in Iran; persons born in Iran from foreign parents and continue to their residing in Iran for at least one more year upon attaining eighteen years old. To these should of course add those persons who have obtained Iranian nationality in compliance with the relevant laws and regulations.

In the light of the above, any individual who does not fall into the description of Iranian national, is deemed foreign national and would be subject to the regulations applicable to the employment of foreign nationals. However, if the ground of work to which the relevant foreign national is engaged is one of the following, they will not be subject to the provisions applicable to foreign employees from the Labour Law point of view: (i) foreign nationals who are exclusively in the service of diplomatic and consular missions, (ii) personnel and experts of the United Nations and its affiliated organizations and (iii) correspondents of foreign press and broadcastings (conditional upon reciprocity).

 

Who is in charge of

The main authority in charge of the matters related to the foreign employees is the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare who, for the purposes of foreign employees matters, acts through the Directorate General for Employment of Expatriates and the Technical Board of Employment. The Directorate General is the body who issues the work visas and the work permits, while the Technical Board reviews and confirms should the foreign national in question meets the conditions determined for employment of a foreigner in such job. 

 

Requirements and Formalities

In order to be allowed to work in Iran, foreign nationals should obtain a work visa and then a work permit. 

The relevant application should be submitted by the employer to the Directorate General for Employment of Expatriates together with, more importantly, the relevant employment contract, the relevant employee’s documents and a brief explanation of the reasons that justify employment of the said employee for the said job.  

Issuance of the work visa and the work permit by the Directorate General, itself, is subject to the confirmation of the Technical Board of Employment of meeting the following conditions in the case under review:

• according to their records, there is no an Iranian national with similar education and expertise available and prepared to take the job,
•  the relevant foreign national has sufficient knowledge and expertise to take the job, and
• it has been arranged for the expertise of the foreign national to be trained with an effect that Iranian nationals can substitute the said foreign employee, accordingly.

Notwithstanding to the above, when the case under review is related to foreigners who have resided in Iran for at least ten continues years; or foreigners who have Iranian spouse; or foreign immigrants and political refugees, the aforementioned conditions are not required to be checked and met. 

The validity term of the work permit issued by the Directorate General is, basically, one year and its renewal would be subject to the same procedure taken for its issuance. 

 

Exceptions

If there is an expedient for employment of a foreign national in a specific field of industry as per stated to the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare by the Minister who deals with the said field of industry, a temporary work permit will be issued without taking the aforementioned formalities. 

In addition to this, employment of foreign experts needed by the government is not subject to the regulations provided in the Labour Law but specific approvals issued by the Parliament for each specific case. 

 

For more information and advice, please contact us in Tavakoli & Colleagues law firm.