Work Permits

Self-employment permits

Terms

  • Recruited worker: A non-Jordanian worker who entered the Kingdom under a contract of employment for the purpose of work.
  • Employed Worker: Non-Jordanian worker inside the Kingdom.
  • Change of sponsor: Transfer of the recruited or employed worker from one employer (sponsor) to another.
  • Unrestricted nationalities: They are nationalities that do not need prior approval for residency, such as Egyptian and Syrian nationals, in addition to Palestinian nationality holders from the Gaza Strip and children of Jordanian women of all nationalities (holders of temporary residence cards).
  • Restricted nationalities: They are nationalities that need prior approval for residency, and include all other Arab nationalities such as holders of Iraqi, Yemeni, Sudanese, Lebanese, Palestinian … etc., in addition to Arab and non-Arab African nationalities and other foreign nationalities.

Procedures for issuing or renewing a work permit

  1. Required Documents
  2. Apply for a self-employment permit according to the form approved by the Ministry of Labor.
  3. A copy of the non-Jordanian worker’s valid passport, and (the travel document issued by the Egyptian embassy shall be approved, provided that the expired passport is brought for the purposes of stamping the permit on it.
  4. Medical examination through interconnection with the Ministry of Health.
  5. A statement of the worker’s coverage when issuing or renewing the self-employment permit with the insurances covered by the provisions of the Social Security Law.
  6. Certificate of practicing the profession for some professions. (It was suspended for all employees by circular No. 284/2019).
  7. A personal photo of the worker.
  8. Mechanism for submitting an application (obtaining a free permit)
  9. Non-Jordanian workers inside the Kingdom are allowed to obtain a self-employment permit as a day laborer in the following economic sectors or activities (agriculture, construction, and loading and unloading activity).
  10. To proceed with the procedures for issuing or renewing a self-employment permit, it is done through the electronic expatriate labor system, or on paper by reviewing the worker to one of the following directorates (Sweileh Labor Directorate, Sahab Labor Directorate, Irbid Labor Directorate, Tafila Labor Directorate).
  11. The approved application (issuance or renewal of the freelance permit) is filled out, and all the required documents are attached.
  12. The application and documents are checked by the competent employee, and entered into the expatriate labor system.
  13. The prescribed fees are collected through electronic payment, printing the permit for the worker directly, and stamping the worker’s passport.
  14. Fees, Additional Charges and Penalties
  15. The Ministry of Labour shall collect the fee for issuing or renewing a freelance work permit for one year or part of the year and an additional fee of (870) dinars for each day laborer for a free permit in the agricultural sector, the construction sector, loading and unloading, or whoever the Minister of Labour decides to consider them to be of this category.
  16. A delay fine of (50%) of the value of the work permit fee shall be collected in the event that the work permit expires and is not renewed within 90 days from the date of expiry.
  17. The Ministry shall collect (10) ten dinars as a service allowance (issuing a replacement work permit card, issuing a no-objection document for the purposes of disbursing non-Jordanian social security dues).

Procedures for disbursement of social security benefits

  1. Required Documents
  2. The worker’s passport and a copy thereof.
  3. The worker’s work permit.
  4. An individual statement of the worker issued by the Social Security Institution stamped and signed, or a statement issued by the electronic system of the Social Security Institution.
  5. Mechanism for submitting an application for payment of social security benefits
  6. The worker shall visit the Labor Directorate/Office, and fill out the No Objection Application Form for the payment of social security benefits.
  7. If the work permit is valid, the work permit must be canceled.
  8. The application and attached documents are checked by the competent employee, and the worker’s social security contribution periods are compared with the work permits issued to the worker.
  9. The non-Jordanian worker is granted no objection to the payment of his entitlements from social security due to his desire to leave the country permanently, if he submits the application within a period not exceeding 3 months from the date of expiry of his work permit, otherwise a full fee is paid for the work permit for the purposes of granting him no objection, taking into account the application of retroactive effect and fine, and if the worker does not have previous work permits, the work permit fees are collected retroactively for the entire period of his contribution to social security.
  10. After collecting the fees for the worker’s contribution periods to the guarantee that were not matched by a work permit, if any, the employee enters the data on the expatriate labor system and cancels the valid work permit for the purposes of collecting the social security fee.
  11. The worker’s passport and social security statement shall be stamped with a stamp that does not impede the payment of social security entitlements, and the validity of the stamp shall be for a period of (30) days only, and they shall be delivered to the worker.
  12. After the worker receives his social security benefits, he must leave the country within a period of 3 months from the expiry of his work permit.
  13. Non-Jordanian workers are allowed to pay social security benefits according to the procedures in force for the following categories without requiring them to leave the country (holders of temporary Jordanian passports, workers of Syrian and Iraqi nationality, children of Jordanian women married to non-Jordanians, non-Jordanian workers from the husbands of Jordanian women and wives of Jordanians).
  14. Fees
  • A full permit fee and a fine are collected for the periods of the worker’s contribution to social security that are not matched by a work permit.
  • In the event that the worker has had social security contributions since 2003 and before, and did not meet with a work permit, a work permit fee of (100) dinars is collected only for each of these years.
  • (10) ten dinars shall be collected instead of issuing a no-objection policy for the purposes of disbursing social security entitlements to non-Jordanian workers.

Final leave and departure procedures

A non-Jordanian worker who holds a self-employment permit as a day laborer is exempt from the instructions and/or decisions related to final departure or exit and return leave.

Conditions of employment and transfer of a worker with a free permit

A non-Jordanian worker who holds a self-employment permit shall be considered as a day laborer authorized to work for any employer and in the same profession.

The self-employment permit sector is considered a closed sector, and it is not allowed for the worker to move from the free daily work permit (agricultural, construction, loading and unloading) to any other sector or activity, but the worker is allowed to move from the sectors or activities from which it is allowed to move to the free permit.