By Adnan Al-Shabrawi
JEDDAH — The authorities have officially approved the advance payment of expat dependents’ fee at the time of iqama (residence permit) issuance or renewal to the tune of SR100 for each individual starting July 1.
Informed sources said the fees will be paid annually in advance by expat workers when their dependents’ iqamas are sent for renewal or when new iqamas are issued.
The fees will be doubled to SR200 for every dependent from July 2018, tripled to SR300 in 2019 and quadrupled to S400 from July 2020.
The sources said the amount collected from the expat dependents’ fees will go to the state’s treasury. They said the current SR200 a month levy paid by private sector companies and establishments for every foreign worker (SR2,400 per year) will continue to be paid up to the end of the current year.
From January 2018, the levy will be doubled to SR400 a month per expat worker.
At the start of 2019, the workers’ fees, to be paid by the private sector, will be increased to SR600 and then to SR800 in 2020.
The sources said the workers’ fees of SR200 monthly will be paid to the Human Resources Development Fund (Hadaf). But from January 2018 when it is raised to SR400 the collected revenues will be divided equally between the fund and the state’s treasury.
