Saudi Arabia has launched an initiative to reform its labor law to provide workers living abroad with additional rights in line with the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision and National Transformation Program (NTP).
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced in Riyadh the “Industrial Relations Initiative” to regulate the local labor market in a way that benefits both employers and foreign workers. It will come into force in March 2021.
The initiative enables the mobility of foreign workers as well as the modification of existing exit procedures in line with best practices of international immigration and in line with local labor laws. The reforms will increase competition in the local market by allowing workers to change employers and allowing them to attract the best talent, ultimately increasing public spending within the kingdom.
The initiative aims to alleviate disputes between local employers and workers living abroad in connection with worker mobility or the application for an exit visa.
The reforms also allow foreign workers in the UK to transfer their sponsorship from one employer to another, apply for an exit / re-entry visa and obtain a permanent exit visa. All are now automatically approved without the consent of the employer.
The three services are made available to the public via the “Absher” smartphone application and the ministry’s electronic web portal.
The reforms will complement several similar initiatives to improve the efficiency of the local labor market, including the wage protection system (WPS), electronic documentation of all employment contracts and the introduction of a ‘Widy’ mechanism for out-of-court settlement of industrial disputes.
The announcement came following local media reports last week that Saudi Arabia would announce major labor reforms that could effectively end the “kafala” system for foreign workers.
Read: Saudi Arabia plans to overhaul the labor system, the report said
Comments are closed.