ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kirkuk police announced on Saturday that more than 650 foreign nationals have been arrested since the beginning of the year for attempting to enter the province illegally.
“Since the start of this year, more than 650 foreign nationals, most of them Pakistani, Afghan, and Bangladeshi citizens, have been arrested after entering Kirkuk illegally,” Kirkuk police spokesperson Amr Nuri told Rudaw.
Nuri said the individuals typically enter the Kurdistan Region through irregular routes before attempting to travel onward to Baghdad and other central and southern Iraqi provinces.
In one recent incident, security forces on Wednesday detained 25 Afghan nationals who were found hiding inside a cement truck in Kirkuk.
Kurdistan Region Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs spokesperson Aryan Ahmad told Rudaw that the issue is not one-sided, noting that a significant number of foreign workers also attempt to enter the Kurdistan Region illegally from other parts of Iraq.
“This phenomenon is mutual and not limited to those leaving the region; there are also people entering it illegally from Iraq,” Ahmad said.
Ahmad added the Kurdistan Region’s labor and interior ministries are coordinating closely on the issue, and that joint efforts have contributed to a noticeable decline in illegal crossings.
Hassan Khawam, spokesperson for Iraq’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, said in February the Iraqi government had expelled 55,000 foreign workers over the previous two years for working illegally in the country, barring them from re-entering for two years.
Iraq also deported more than 35,000 residency violators in 2025, according to Alaa Hussein, director of Residence Affairs, who spoke to state media in November.
Under Iraqi residency law, individuals who enter the country illegally or fail to comply with deportation orders can face up to one year in prison or fines ranging from 500,000 to 1 million Iraqi dinars (approximately $333 to $666).
