Saudi to replace sponsorship with recruitment firms

SPONSORSHIP GOES: Saudi is in the process of scrapping its sponsorship scheme.(Getty Images)

Saudi plans to replace its expatriate sponsorship system with a set of private recruitment firms that will hire workers and manage their affairs, it was announced on Wednesday.

The move is the key recommendation from a five year study into the current sponsorship scheme which sees employers hire and sponsor individual workers.  

Instead the recruitment firm will employ individual expatriate workers and manage all the details to do with their emplyment under legal regulations.

But the system will only cover minimum qualification workers such as labourers, drivers, housemaids and private female nurses, according to the Ministry of Labour.

The recruitment agencies will also provide employment opportunities to workers and facilitate job changes as long as they are inline with current regulations, according to a report in Saudi daily Arab News.

The announcement comes just a week after the Bahrain government announced it was scrapping its sponsorship scheme.

Sponsoring expats has been the system of employment in the Gulf for the past 50 years and was designed to make the employer responsible for the employee.

However, the system has been criticised for failing to adapt to current changes to international labour regulations and the concepts of human rights.

The sponsor usually keeps a foreign worker's passport, can restrict his or her travel and prevents him or her from changing sponsors without the original sponsor's permission.

A point highlighted last month by the Egyptian minister for overseas workers, Aishah Abdul Hadi, on a visit to Saudi where millions of Egyptians live and work.

The new scheme would also guarantee that workers got their regular payments in full and on time, and assured other employment rights.

The proposed recruitment companies should also have a representative of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) as one of its board members to guarantee that no workers’ rights were violated, said Hussein Al Shareef, supervisor of the NSHR in the Makkah.

"The negative aspects of the present Saudi sponsorship system malign the image of the country internationally and in addition, cause many problems for the six million foreign workers coming from 120 countries," he told the newspaper.

However, Al Shareef Al Hobaili, executive director of the Center for Law and Arbitration at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the problems with sponsorship had more to do with the fragmented implementation of its policies.

"If both employers and foreign workers were made to stick strictly to the provisions of the system, the situation would be far better," he said.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Modern Slavery - changes mask!
Posted by Khaled Al-Kuwaikbi, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday 14 May 2009 at 18:27 UAE time


This is not a real move, its what tech ppl call " Work-around" solution.
the bottom line is that the situation will remain as were.
employers here perefer xpats because they can control their movement and their job change. This is the main reason while many provide employers refuse to employ locals.

I dont see any significant change in this so called "new system".

I am a saudi and I dont agree to this sponser-style work permit.
and as a muslim, I dont accept this to others as I dont accept it to myslef.

What will change?
Posted by Dude, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Thursday 14 May 2009 at 03:37 UAE time


Nothing, it is the same system currently followed in Saudi, the only difference they will push the sponsorship from the private sector employers to these companies which will be big companies not like the telephone and desk local companies currently selling sponsorships to these working class in Saudi.

good move
Posted by Abdulaziz Gestiniah, jeddah, saudi arabia on Wednesday 13 May 2009 at 16:09 UAE time


this is very good move it will help saudiztion and it will help the companies performance it also it could lead to bigger problems if not managed will

Saudi sponsporship
Posted by mohammed, dubai on Wednesday 13 May 2009 at 14:02 UAE time


It is good move, i hope it happens .

if this happens Saudi image will imorove a lot

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