Saudi Gazette report RIYADH/MADINAH — The Passport Department has rejected recent media reports that suggested security loopholes allow expatriate workers who have financial commitments toward their employers to get an exit visa and leave the country without settling outstanding disputes. Col. Badr Al-Malik, spokesman for the Passport Department, said security regulations apply to all expatriates whether legal or not, according to press reports. Col. Al-Malik said the electronic fingerprinting system that is linked with the National Information Center places all workers who owe their employers financial rights in the wanted persons category. Furthermore, the Directorate General for Passports is electronically linked with regional labor offices and it monitors workers whose employers have filed complaints against them. In a statement on issued Wednesday, the Ministry of Labor announced a plan in which employers will be entitled to compensation if any domestic worker goes missing. Ahmad Al-Humaidan, Deputy Minister of Labor for Workers' Policy Affairs, said the new recruitment law ensures protection of the interests of all parties concerned. Referring to the recently issued status correction guideline with regard to transfer of sponsorship of domestic workers without the approval of the previous employer, Al-Humaidan said new employers have been barred from issuing exit/re-entry or final exit visas for the first three months of employment. “Three months is ample time for the previous employer to take legal action against the worker if he or she has any outstanding financial obligations. Another objective of this is to ensure fulfillment of the terms and conditions stated in the recruitment contract between the worker and the recruitment office,” he said while emphasizing the ministry's keenness to give illegal workers time to take advantage of the grace period and either correct their work and residency status or leave the Kingdom. According to the amnesty announced by the ministries of interior and labor, domestic workers who have less than three huroob (fugitive) reports or expired residency permits can correct their legal status by either going back to work for the same employer or transferring sponsorship to another employer provided they are qualified to carry out the tasks of their new job. Meanwhile, Waleed Al-Suwaidan, an investor in the recruitment sector, said the Ministry of Labor's new plan that seeks to guarantee the rights of both former and current employers will not affect recruitment offices. “It is a new arrangement that was required for some time to protect the rights of both parties. The new regulation is not related to recruitment offices but it is a rectification of the status of workers now available in the market. The conditions stipulated by the new contract makes it incumbent upon the new employer to fulfill any liabilities owed to the old employer,” he said. Abdullah Al-Ateeq, owner of a recruitment office, said although the conditions placed by the Ministry of Labor concern the contract between the worker and sponsor, recruitment offices are affected, as they are not informed that a transfer of sponsorship has taken place. He called on the Ministry of Labor to insert a condition that will force sponsors to notify recruitment offices of the updated personal contact information and other particulars of workers upon transfer of sponsorship. “Recruitment offices that bring foreign workers into the Kingdom should not be left in the dark. We should be notified if the sponsorship of worker we recruited is being transferred so we can update our records accordingly,” he said, while adding that sponsors should sign an undertaking promising to cooperate with recruitment offices when required.
