Saudi Ministry of Labor and Social Development: Saudi Arabia to cancel "worker" visa once and for all and occupation adjustment is necessary and vocational examination is carried out in December.
Nayef Al-Omair, director of the Saudi Ministry of Labor and Social Development, saidthat the ministry is working on a program to classify the professions andstructure some of them and their names in residences and visas, noting that "worker"visa or profession will be cancelled once and for all in the near future,requiring professions be amended by companies.
Al-Omair explained,on the sidelines of a workshop yesterday in Asharqia Chamber to review thedetails and developments of the "vocational screening program", which will beapplied only to foreign workers that the application of the program will beoptional for a year starting next December, before it is mandatory; however, extendingthe optional application may be considered.
Al-Omair said thatthe fees of the "vocational examination program" will be between SAR450 and 600internally, while externally will be between SAR100 and 150, within selectedcenters abroad. The fees will be first applied on workers from India from sevencountries, due to the high number of workers from it.
Al-Omair noted thatthe seven countries are: India in the first stage, then the Philippines for thesecond stage, and the third and fourth stage to include Sri Lanka, Indonesia,Egypt, Bangladesh and Pakistan, where the employment of these countries presents95% of the professional workers recruited.
Al-Omair pointed outthat the first stage will be from the plumbing and electricity professions,next December, which numbered more than 200,000 workers in the market, thesecond stage in April 2020 for professions of refrigeration, air conditioning,auto electricity, and mechanics, the third stage in July 2020 for professionsof carpentry, blacksmithing and welding, and the fourth stage in October 2020for professions of painting, tiling, and finally in January 2021 for constructionprofessions and technicians.
The program aims to raise the quality of services inthe labor market, to ensure that unskilled labor does not flow into the Saudimarket, strengthen partnership with the private sector, follow up thecontributions of vocational examination in improving the skills of the laborforce, and verify that the professional worker possess the necessary skills forthe profession.
