The Compass – Lebanese Minister of Labor, Mustafa Bayram, issued a decision on Wednesday allowing Palestinian refugees to practice professions restricted to Lebanese only.

Lebanese law prevents foreigners, including Palestinian refugees, from working in more than 70 professions, such as medicine, pharmacy, engineering, law, and editor-in-chief of newspapers, among others, but they are now available to them under the new decision.

According to a statement issued by the Lebanese Ministry of Labor, “the decision was taken based on the requirements of the public interest and taking into account the economic conditions that necessitated a review of the list of professions whose practice must be restricted to Lebanese.”

The decision states, “The Lebanese, who were born on Lebanese soil and who are officially registered in the records of the Lebanese Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, are excluded from the list of free professions.”

The decision also excluded a foreigner born to a Lebanese mother or married to a Lebanese woman, and those born in Lebanon who hold a Maktoumi card, with adherence to the conditions for professions regulated by law.

And the “maktomo of registration” are those who were born on Lebanese soil, but they did not obtain an identity card for various reasons, and they have priority in obtaining citizenship in the first presidential decree issued for naturalization.

The number of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is estimated at 200,000, according to United Nations estimates, most of them are distributed among 12 camps and other residential areas.

The Palestinian factions in Lebanon welcomed the decision, and said in a statement that they appreciated the step of the Lebanese Minister of Labor, which expanded the margin of employment opportunity for the Palestinian worker.

The statement of the Palestinian factions added: “We in the leadership of the coalition and our Palestinian people, with us, appreciate this important step, and consider it a step in the right direction and at the right time, in light of the stifling economic and living crisis that our people in Lebanon are experiencing.”​

Anatolia