My residence expired in Dec, 2012 and in spite of repeated requests the management has not been able to renew it.

I have been told that the company’s licenses have expired and their files have been closed. As such my residence can’t be renewed or transferred to any other company until the renewal of the company’s licenses and subsequently the reopening of the files.

The company’s owner has another firm and I have been told that he will try to transfer my residence to that firm. Therefore, can you let me know whether the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor will allow such a transfer.

The owner says he won’t have any problem because he owns both the firms and while the files of the first firm have closed, the ones for the second one are open.

Is such a transfer possible without renewal of the first firm’s licenses and reopening of the files?.If not what is the solution to the problem?.

Is this case will the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor help in the transfer of the residence or do I have to go to court?.I have been working with this company since 1994 and this is the first time the employees of the firm are facing such a problem.

Name withheld
Answer: First of please remember that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor will not accept any transaction of any firm whose file is closed.

In this case, your owner can’t transfer you to his other firm — regardless of what he says — because even such a transaction won’t be accepted.

The only way out of such a situation, if the file remains closed — is to take the company to court which can order the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor to allow a transfer of residence.

But as you have mentioned, you have been working for this firm for the last two decades and have never faced any such problem. So you would not want to take the firm to court.

The best way, currently, would be for your firm to get you a temporary residence of three months under Article 14 while the company sorts out its problems. This will not only make your residence legal but it will also help you avoid any fine which is KD 2 per day.
So just sit down with your management and see what they can do to expedite a solution to the problem. If things don’t work out, you can always take the legal route.