Palestinians banned from 19 jobs in Jordan

The Jordanian Ministry of Labour has issued a decree to ban the expatriate workforce from 19 professions including teaching in both public and private sectors.

The new decision deprives hundreds of Palestinians who hold temporary Jordanian passports from their livelihood.

Jordan issued a decision in January that Palestinians with temporary passports wishing to work in its territory had to obtain work permits.

Shereen Odeh, a private school teacher, had to resign after working for ten years. She said the school had refused to grant her a work permit because education in private schools is unavailable to expats.

“Over the past ten years I have worked as a school teacher after obtaining security approval. Today, the situation has changed and they want me to obtain a work permit because I am not a Jordanian. But I did not get the permit. Therefore I lost my only source of income.”