Saudi Arabia is ensuring the skills and experience of expat workers in hundreds of professions as it looks to ensure high-quality participation in the labour market.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development is continuing the efforts to improve the quality of labour market outputs through the Professional Accreditation Program.
Since its launch the scheme has accredited more than 209,500 workers in various professions covering over 1,000 occupations worldwide.
Saudi labour market
The Professional Accreditation Program aims to ensure that expatriate workers possess the necessary skills and qualifications according to the requirements of each profession, aligning with the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations to guarantee a more efficient and high-quality work environment.
The program includes the “Professional Verification” and “Professional Inspection” services, both of which operate according to specific mechanisms and methodologies:
- The “Professional Verification” service aims to verify the skills, experiences, and certifications of expatriate workers in high-skill jobs. This process is fully automated and conducted through a unified electronic platform with a maximum processing time of 15 working days
- The “Professional Inspection” service targets workers with medium and low skill levels in professions that do not require academic degrees. It also assesses the skill levels of expatriate workers through practical and theoretical tests conducted before and after the workers enter the Kingdom
The program aims to enable employers to assess their workforce via more than 127 professional examination centres inside and outside the Kingdom.
Since its launch, the service has included five countries that are among the highest exporters of expatriate workers to the Saudi labour market, including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Egypt.
The program continues to grow and expand to cover additional countries and a larger number of professions and workforce-exporting countries.
This will contribute to raising awareness among employers and government and private institutions about the importance of employing qualified expatriate workers, ensuring job performance quality, and improving the professional qualifications of workers across various sectors.
The program aims to regulate the entry of workers with the necessary knowledge and skills into the Kingdom and contribute to creating a labour market with trusted competencies.
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