Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Minister of Finance Muhammad Al-Jadaan said that government has no intention to making any changes in the expatriates fee or dependent’s fee at present.

“If any changes are to be made, than those changes will be announced then,” he said.

Responding to queries from Al Arabiya.net about the possibility of reviewing the fees for expats in Saudi Arabia, Al-Jadaan said: “Not now.” Al-Jadaan’s statement came on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The government is constantly reviewing its initiatives, he added.

On Sept. 24, 2019, the Council of Ministers decided that the state would bear financial cost prescribed for expatriate workers in industrial facilities licensed under an industrial license for a period of five years from Oct. 1.

Saudi Arabia started implementing dependent’s fee effective from the second half of 2017 at SR100 for each dependent per month, and that rose to SR300 per month since July 2019. In 2018, fees were applied to expatriate workers also.

Expatriate labor fees are being gradually increased with the aim of creating jobs for Saudis, especially in sectors where the number of expatriate workers are higher than that of Saudis.