More than 500 expat workers break Oman’s labour laws every week, with more than 27,000 arrested for violations in 2017, according to local media reports.
Citing figures from the sultanate’s Ministry of Manpower (MoM), the Times of Oman noted that a total of 27,837 expat workers were arrested throughout the course of the year.
Of the total, 8,923 were detained in Muscat, compared to 6,918 in North Batinah, 3,017 in Dhofar and 1,798 in South Batinah.
The majority of those arrested – 76.6 percent or 20,557 – were Bangladeshi nationals, followed by Pakistanis (3,285) and Indians (1,955).
More than half (58.4 percent) of those violators were detained for absconding from their employers, accounting for 15,674 of the arrested. Another 9,567 were laid-off, and 1,596 entered the country on tourist and visit visas and worked illegally, according to the figures.
Overall, the statistics show that the number of expats in the private sector fell by 17,169 in 2017 in comparison to the prior year, dropping to 1,924,839.
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