Saudi Arabia Tightens Visa Rules for Foreign Workers


Saudi Arabia Tightens Visa Rules for Foreign Workers

Starting January 14, verification of education and professional qualification is made mandatory for Indian workers going to work in Saudi Arabia; seen as bad news for Indians owing to lack of enough verification centres in the country

 
SA

January 14, 2025 - Saudi Arabia has tightened visa regulations for overseas workers and made the verification of educational and professional qualifications mandatory. This rule will come into effect from today, January 14, and may have a direct impact on Indians going to work in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi mission has also issued a circular in India stating that from January 14, “The professional verification will become one of the mandatory requirements for issuing work visas".

The new regulations require all applicants to have their educational qualifications verified. Employers and HR departments are being asked to verify the credentials and other information of migrant workers.

According to reports, under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia is working on its Vision 2030 and the proposal of pre-verification of documents was given six months ago as part of the country’s labour sector reforms. The intent is to focus on providing more employment opportunities to Saudi nationals. Saudi officials say this initiative may streamline the recruitment process and improve quality of the workforce. The larger revisions are intended to give foreign workers "more flexible employment contracts," according to officials.

However, this rule may be bad news for Indian worker and could reduce the influx of Indian workers to Saudi Arabia. This is because of the limited number of qualified training centres in India to ensure quality control of Indian workers. There aren't enough verification centres in India where applicants can get their qualifications verified.

Haris Beeran, Kerala Rajya Sabha MP, who has been taking up this issue with the authorities, has expressed concerns that the new regulations could cause problems. “Test centres for car drivers are located in Ajmer and Sikar in Rajasthan. Applicants, especially those from the South, are compelled to travel long distances to these locations, facing both linguistic and logistical issues,” he said.

Indians form the second-largest expatriate community in Saudi Arabia, after Bangladesh, and bring back significant remittances to India. There are more than 2.4 million residents, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.  Of these 1.64 million in the private sector and 785,000 working in domestic services.

Iqama Renewal

Meanwhile, in another news, Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate of Passports has said that dependents of expatriates (expats) as well as domestic workers located outside the country can now renew their residency permits (Iqama). This means that overseas workers and their dependents, as well as domestic workers currently outside the Kingdom, now have more flexibility. Previously, you would have to be present in the country to renew your Iqama. This is significant for families and workers who might have traveled abroad and need to maintain their residency status in Saudi Arabia while outside the country.

Another rule upgrade is that expats outside Saudi can also extend the period of single or multiple exit and re-entry visas. This provides more flexibility for expats who might need to stay outside the country for a longer period or have multiple trips planned. Previously, the process for visa extensions might have required them to return to Saudi Arabia to handle such paperwork.

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