An important change has been made regarding work visa in Saudi Arabia. The ‘Qiwa’ platform of the country’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development said that Saudi Arabia has made a major change in the work permit and has reduced the maximum number of work visas available immediately for newly started companies to 5. This step has been taken to streamline the recruitment process and ensure compliance with labor market rules.
‘Qiwa’ said that companies which have been running for less than 2 years will be eligible for a maximum of 5 instant visas only. Whereas for companies more than 2 years old, this limit can be up to 50 visas, whether they apply in one go or multiple times in the same week.
He further said that the companies included in the ‘Establishment Programme’ and fulfilling the necessary conditions will initially get only 2 visas. In case of increasing the rates of ‘Saudisation’, they will be able to get more visas.
It is mandatory for every employee to register
‘Qiwa’ has also prepared 10 types of conditions for recruiting non-Saudi employees from abroad. These 10 conditions include – along with the status of the business being ‘active’, the employees must also have a valid work permit and valid commercial registration. Apart from this, the conditions of Saudization will have to be fulfilled by being in ‘Medium Green’ category or above. It will also be mandatory to follow the ‘Wage Protection System’, and maintain adequate balance on government platforms like ‘Absher’ or ‘Muqeem’.
Apart from this, some other conditions have also been laid down, companies with 10 or more employees will have to follow the rules of doing ‘self-assessment’ annually. If the workplace of the employees has to be registered on the ‘Qiwa’ platform, then the age of the employees should be at least 18 years. Similarly, adequate balance of recruitment quota will have to be maintained based on the type of visa.
What will be the impact of the new changes?
It is being said that the introduction of this new system may affect Indian companies and Indian employees. A large number of foreign employees in Saudi Arabia are Indians. Now, by limiting the number of VGs that can be issued immediately to new companies, the process of recruitment of professionals willing to join new companies or startups will slow down.
Not only this, professionals can now give preference to established companies i.e. more than 2 years old instead of working with these new companies. Older companies have higher visa quota and can apply up to 50 visas.
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