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Search Results for: Saudi Arabia
SAUDI ARABIA: Companies with High Saudization Rates Eligible for Reimbursement or Waiver of Expat Fees
February 15, 2019
The Ministry of Labour and Social Development (MLSD) has announced that companies with a sufficiently high Saudization (Nitaqat) rating will have expat fees reimbursed or exempted for 2018.
Read MoreSAUDI ARABIA: Recent Changes to Work Visas, Block Visas and Nitaqat
February 11, 2019
The Ministry of Labour and Social Development (MLSD) in Saudi Arabia has recently made several significant changes to its rules for issuing block visas and work visas, and to the “Nitaqat” Saudization system.
Read MoreSAUDI ARABIA: Labour Market Testing Requirement Suspended
November 21, 2018
Effective immediately, the Saudi Ministry of Labor has suspended the requirement for companies intending to hire foreign nationals to first advertise jobs on the Taqat jobs portal.
Read MoreSAUDI ARABIA: Foreign Nationals Require Registered Rental Agreement for Work Permit Renewal
August 13, 2018
From September 2018, foreign national residents looking to renew their work permits in Saudi Arabia must have a rental contract authenticated and registered with the new Ejar online rental platform, according to the Saudi Ministry of Labour and Social Development (MLSD) and the Ministry of Housing.
Read MoreSAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Companies with Five or Fewer Employees Are Exempt from Expanded Expat Fee
January 5, 2018
Effective 1st January 2017, as expected, the monthly levy on foreign national employees in companies where the number of foreign national employees exceeds the number of Saudi employees has doubled to SAR 400. Furthermore, for the first time, a levy of SAR 300 per month applies to companies where the number of foreign national employees does not exceed the […]
Read MoreSAUDI ARABIA: Riyadh Chamber of Commerce Offers Online Attestation Services
November 24, 2017
Effective immediately, the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce has launched online attestation (certification) services for some documents. The online service is available through the “My Business Portal”, and allows users to complete the attestation of certain documents, including the visa request letter to the Labour Office, without visiting the Chamber in person. However, some documents still […]
Read MoreSAUDI ARABIA: Validity of Block Visas Reduced to One Year
October 30, 2017
Effective immediately, companies in Saudi Arabia will have to utilise their block visas more quickly in order to hire foreign employees. The Saudi Ministry of Labor has announced that it is reducing the validity period of its block visas from two years to one year. Thus, companies now have just one year to recruit and […]
Read MoreSAUDI ARABIA: Employers Can Pay to Attain Required Saudization Category
September 29, 2017
Following the implementation on 3rd September 2017 of stricter Saudization requirements for businesses, the Ministry of Labour (MOL) and the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) have introduced the “Parallel Nitaqat” system, to allow employers to buy into the required saudization category instead of hiring Saudi nationals. “Parallel Nitaqat” aims to help employers who are struggling […]
Read MoreSAUDI ARABIA: Foreign Engineers Now Required to Have Five Years of Experience
August 30, 2017
The Saudi Ministry of Labor and Social Development (MLSD) and the Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) have announced an agreement to require foreign engineers to demonstrate at least five years of professional engineering experience to be eligible for work permits. The new agreement strengthens the previous requirement, implemented a few months ago, that foreign engineers […]
Read MoreSAUDI ARABIA: Stricter Saudization Targets
August 10, 2017
The Ministry of Labour and Social Development will implement a new version of its Nitaqat grading programme for companies, meaning stricter Saudization requirements for businesses, from 3rd September 2017. The Ministry has also announced that it only approved 37% of work visa applications in 2016 (316,212 out of 849,228). What is Changing? Under the new […]
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