More than 4m foreign nationals in Saudi Arabia have so far rectified their labour and
residency status during an amnesty period before the laws
change, it was reported.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has forwarded appeals made by
some embassies and consulates for extension of the amnesty period to the
ministries of interior and labour, according to a senior official quoted in the
Saudi Gazette.
Around 1m unregulated overseas workers have left the kingdom during the grace period,
which ends on November 3.
The seven-month grace period has benefited nearly half of
all overseas residents living in the Gulf country, claimed a report in Al-Madinah Arabic daily.
“The process has had a tremendous response from the expatriate community and this
shows their keenness in adhering to the rules and regulations,” said Faisal Al
Otaibi, director-general of inspections at the Ministry of Labour.
He said stringent punitive measures would be taken against violating employers
and expatriate workers.
“The penal actions include a fine of up to SR100,000 ($26,664) or two-year
imprisonment or both for Saudi employers and deportation and a re-entry ban for
foreigners,” he said.
Osama Al-Sanusi, Deputy Minister of Foreign for Consulate Affairs, told the
Gazette that his ministry received several appeals for extension of the grace
period from diplomatic missions.
“We have conveyed the desire of these missions to the two ministries. We are
still receiving such requests from embassies and consulates, and transferring them
to the ministries on a routine basis,” he said.
According to Al
Sanusi, the countries that made the requests included Indonesia, the
Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, from Wednesday until November 3 the Jeddah deportation centre will fingerprint and process papers for all nationalities.
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