MUSCAT: As part of crack down on free-visa’ scammers, an Omani woman was arrested by authorities as they found that she had registered more than 30 companies to trade ‘free visas’ for expat workers.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Manpower, out of the 37 registered companies, the citizen brought in 231 expat workers. “She worked around the law in order to bring these expat workers. When they arrived here, these expats workers had no work, which left them vulnerable to exploitation as well as human trafficking,” the statement said. “The condition she had had with these workers was to pay her a monthly fee and she also did not hire a single Omani,” MoM explained. 

The woman’s method involved starting and then dissolving these firms, which allowed her to bring in more expat workers into the country. 

“Inspections showed that the citizen had then released the expat workforce to work for others, which counts as illegal labour, and leaving them without any actual employment. This made the workers more vulnerable to human trafficking crimes and exploitation,” the statement said.  

“The ministry has stopped all interactions with the commercial registers under the woman’s name, and has moved the woman’s case to Public Prosecution for legal procedure,” the Ministry added.

Earlier last month, several nationals were arrested, for allowing more than 5,000 expats to work without permits for other companies. 

As per Article 18 of the Labour Law, an employer shall not allow any expatriate worker, under his sponsorship, to work for another person. “The employer is also not allowed to employ an expatriate worker in any profession other than what is mentioned in the permit,” the law states.