Iraq has registered around 47,000 legally employed foreign workers, even as more than one million Iraqis remain officially unemployed, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said on Sunday.

Ministry spokesperson Hassan Khawam told Shafaq News that new regulations now require employers seeking to hire foreign workers to first offer vacancies to Iraqi job seekers registered with the Ministry’s Department of Labor and Vocational Training. Only if no Iraqi applicant accepts the position may an employer request approval to recruit a foreign worker.

Khawam explained that even in such cases, foreign workers must possess specialized and rare expertise unavailable in the local labor market. They are also required to submit certified experience documents authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “If an Iraqi worker agrees to fill the position, the need to recruit a foreign worker is eliminated,” he said.

The policy, according to the ministry, aims to expand job opportunities for Iraqi citizens and reduce unemployment rates nationwide.

While the ministry lacks precise figures on the number of foreign workers who have entered Iraq illegally, Khawam noted that inspection teams are continuing to monitor workplaces across multiple sectors. Employers found hiring undocumented foreign labor are referred to labor courts and may face fines, legal penalties, or even business closures.

Foreign workers found in violation of residency or employment regulations are reported to the Interior Ministry’s Residency Affairs Directorate and face deportation along with a two-year ban on re-entering the country, in accordance with Iraq’s residency law.

The enforcement campaign has intensified in recent weeks. On Sunday, Baghdad’s Al-Rusafa Police Command announced the arrest of 126 foreign nationals of Arab and non-Arab nationalities for residency violations during a large-scale operation conducted across several districts of the capital.