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Absence in Work Status for 3 years

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Hamoodi05

I am seeking for legal advice regarding my wife's situation. She was working at the Ministry of Health before 2017, but her employment was terminated in 2018 due to her absence for more than 15 consecutive days. This absence was due to the critical pregnancy of our twins who had complications.


We tried to explain her situation to the Ministry of Health, but they continued to terminate her employment. When they processed her papers for an exit visa, they discovered that she had an outstanding bank loan, which meant she couldn't leave the country until it was paid off. I tried to negotiate with the bank to allow me to continue paying, but they refused. As a result, we couldn't move forward and didn't know what to do.


Her termination paper stated that she could not transfer the sponsorship from 2018 to 2020. But by 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a halt. In 2021, we tried to make a sponsorship transfer to the hospital where I work (a private organization), but again, we were rejected. My wife has now been unemployed for more than five years, and I stayed at home to take care of our children.


This year, an opportunity arose. My hospital agreed to give her another chance to apply, and she was sent a contract through Qiwa, which she accepted. The Ministry of Health also approved the transfer. However, when they tried to accept the transfer through Masar, an error occurred. I went to the Ministry of Labour office to inquire about the error.

At that point, we found out that the Ministry of Health had registered an ‘absence from work’ case for her. Two days ago, we visited the Ministry of Health, where I explained our situation. Fortunately, they agreed to cancel the ‘absent from work’ case, but asked for a cancellation fee. Since then, I have been trying to pay this fee online, but I keep getting an error message. I also visited the Ministry of Interior to understand the correct process, but they told me that it is not possible to proceed.

My question is: What is the correct process to resolve this issue? Both the Ministry of Health and my new employer are willing to co-operate to help my wife. I would be very grateful for your advice in this matter.

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