As many as 444 offices and centers will be opened in various parts of the Kingdom to register eligible Saudis for Citizen's Fund starting Feb. 1, local daily Al-Madina reported on Sunday quoting a senior official of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development. "This will be in addition to the registration on a special electronic gate," he said, adding that the offices will register citizens who may not be able to use the e-gate or those who are not registered with social security. The official warned that financial assistance can not be distributed with retrospective effect if citizens join the fund late. He said as many as 850,000 Saudi families consisting of about 2.5 million individuals are receiving social security assistance and will be automatically registered with the fund. They constitute about 15 percent of the entire population. The fund has been established by the government to provide financial assistance to Saudi nationals with low or medium income. According to the fund's rules and regulations, every Saudi whose monthly salary is less than SR21,000 will be entitled to the fund's assistance. The official warned against fake data and said that anyone found with incorrect data will be penalized. "We have linked the fund with a number of government departments. So it will be easy for us to detect any wrong data," he said. The fund is open for Saudi families, Saudi individuals, Saudi women married to foreigners and displaced tribes with cards enabling them to move between cities. The fund, however, will not extend any assistance to citizens who stay outside the country for 90 days or more.
