Iran Rules Out Official Skills Certificates for Foreign Nationals
The director general of technical and vocational training in Iran’s Razavi Khorasan province has said issuing official skills certificates for non-Iranian nationals is effectively not possible, arguing such documents could oblige the government to guarantee employment for their holders.
According to IRAF, citing ISNA news agency, the official said that if foreign nationals were given an official certificate, the government would be “obliged to guarantee employment” for them — something he claimed cannot be implemented, given the lack of ability to create job opportunities in the future.
The Razavi Khorasan technical and vocational training chief also warned that the process could have legal and international consequences, saying that if a complaint were raised at the International Labour Organization (ILO), the government would be forced to provide jobs for certificate holders. He described this as incompatible with the country’s “overall employment policies”.
The remarks come as Iranian officials continue to stress restrictions on employment for foreigners without legal documents. Under Article 120 of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s labour law, the employment of foreign nationals is conditional on having an entry visa with specific work permission and a “work permit”, and employing people without authorisation in various jobs is prohibited.
In recent months, Iranian executive bodies have also spoken of new policies to “regularise foreign nationals” and restrict certain official economic, vocational and banking services for people without legal documents — measures described as aimed at closing the space for unlawful residence and managing the domestic labour market.
