BACKGROUND
The federal government’s visa application process for foreign aid workers has been suspended since February 2020. Since then, NGOs have been unable to predictably or fully obtain new federal visas or renew expired visas for their foreign staff. Previously, the NGO Directorate (DNGO) was responsible for processing visa applications for NGO foreign staff. It is not yet clear when the government will fully resume issuing visas for NGO foreign staff, nor the process and application requirements for foreign NGO aid workers to receive or renew their annual and/or multiple entry visas. This administrative impediment has had a significant impact on their ability to provide humanitarian aid or conduct activities in the federal Iraqi governorates of Al-Anbar, Baghdad, Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salah Al-Din.
FOREIGN NGO AID WORKERS ARE UNABLE TO OBTAIN VISAS FOR FEDERAL IRAQ
From 1-12 October, OCHA conducted a survey to determine the number of NGO visas pending as of the end of September 2020. A total of 80 humanitarian organizations (64 per cent UN implementing partners) responded to the survey, including 56 international NGOs, 21 national NGOs, and three UN agencies. In total, 752 foreign staff are employed by NGOs that responded to the survey, 60 per cent (454 staff) of whom have been unable to obtain new visas or renew expired visas since the suspension of the mechanism in February 2020.