The new labour law, which came into effect last December, has started showing results.

The law, which aims to make it easier for people to change jobs without repercussions, came to the aid of 5,196 workers last year, according to Gulf Times.

The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (MADLSA), which released the statistics yesterday, said these workers had completed their employment contract or worked five years of an open-ended contract.

This is a huge increase from the 2,288 job transfer cases that came up in the entire year of 2016.

MADLSA said improved statistics proved that ‘Qatar is successfully implementing the provisions of the law that came into effect in December 2016.’

The ministry data also showed that 184,338 exit permits were issued for expatriates in the first two months since implementation of the new law, reported The Peninsula.

And the Exit Permit Grievances Committee — the body established to settle exit disputes — received a total of 761 complaints during the two-month period.

Taking action on the grievances, exit permits were granted within 72 hours in 485 cases, 63 are currently under consideration and in 213 cases workers received an SMS indicating the reason their application was rejected.

Qatar Tribune reported that a total of 109,804 expatriates left Qatar for annual leave during the first two months since the new law came into effect.

74,049 expatriates left Qatar for good after notifying their employers through the proper channels.

MADLSA Minister HE Dr Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi said things were progressing in the right direction.

“Statistics from the first two months demonstrates that the law is being effectively enforced. Over 184,000 expats benefited in this period, which shows we’re delivering on our promises. We’ve repeatedly expressed our unwavering commitment to labour reform and will continue to develop new policies that generate positive, tangible outcomes for expatriates,” he said.