Only 16% of Afghan Workers in Tehran Municipality Have Work Permits

Simultaneously with reports about the arrest of several Afghan nationals without work permits in Tehran, the Deputy of the Foreign Nationals Affairs Department of the Ministry of Interior announced that 24,000 Afghan migrants work for contractors of Tehran Municipality, but only 16% of them have work permits. According to the Young Journalists Club website, affiliated with the state broadcaster, Gholizadeh, the Deputy of the Foreign Nationals Affairs Department, stated on Wednesday, August 2, at a conference that contractors of Tehran Municipality hire Afghan nationals without work permits due to 'low costs.' He emphasized that 24,000 Afghan migrants work for contractors of Tehran Municipality, of which only 16% have 'work cards.' According to Mr. Gholizadeh, of this number, 16,000 work in urban services and waste recycling. He announced that these workers live in temporary accommodations provided by Tehran Municipality, with an average of 50 people per accommodation. Previously, reports had also emerged regarding the use of Afghan nationals without work permits by contractors for waste collection. However, Hossein Jafari, the CEO of Tehran Municipality's Waste Management Organization, denied reports about the use of 'illegal migrants' and children by contractors. The Iranian government has enacted regulations in recent years for the return of Afghan nationals to their country, including a 'regulation to expedite the return process of Afghan nationals,' which imposes restrictions on Afghan nationals without residency permits in Iran. The Iranian government also prohibited the employment of foreign nationals in public and non-governmental organizations in Iran in a directive issued on July 13, 2014. Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Iran's Minister of Interior, had previously reported the monthly arrest of '100 to 150 thousand' illegal Afghan nationals and their transfer to Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Asr Iran website reported that law enforcement officers arrested several Afghan nationals who were working 'illegally' in various areas of Tehran on Wednesday morning. In recent years, the residency of Afghans has also been prohibited in several provinces of Iran, including Fars, Isfahan, Bushehr, South Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, Khuzestan, Semnan, Fars, Qazvin, Kerman, Golestan, Markazi, and Yazd. The enactment of these directives and laws has been a subject of extensive discussions in Iranian civil society and has led to significant protests. According to the 2016 census, about 1,584,000 Afghan nationals live in Iran. However, some officials of the Islamic Republic claim that the number of Afghan nationals in Iran is around three million.