JEDDAH — Several companies and establishments have been found including the names of Saudi students who have enrolled in their summer training programs in payrolls in order to circumvent Nitaqat quotas, Al-Madinah daily reported on Thursday. The newspaper said these companies changed the profession of these student trainees into “employees” so that they can be included in the Nitaqat count to determine the Saudization level. With the change of status, the trainee will be counted as a full Saudi employee instead of half an employee. The report said this has helped many of these establishments to upgrade themselves from the red and yellow zones to the green zone of the Nitaqat system. A source in the Ministry of Labor said a worker is not registered in the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), unless the number of student employees in a firm does not exceed 10 percent of the total employees. The restaurant sector is exempted from this requirement. To change the student's profession, the Civil Affairs requires a printout from GOSI testifying that the student is a company employee. The Ministry of Labor has recently set up a mechanism to include many nationals in the Nitaqat system. These include owners, Saudis who served prison sentences, the handicapped, part-time employees, employees working from home and students. The list also includes workers who are children of Saudi citizens, Gulf citizens, holders of five-year residency cards, and holders of Saudi passports.
