Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development outlined on Thursday the conditions for the eligibility of an expatriate worker to benefit from the job mobility service as per the labor reforms announced by the ministry on Wednesday.

According to the ministry, the worker must be an expatriate professional who is subject to the Kingdom’s laws and must have completed one year with the current employer after his first arrival in the Kingdom, and that he should have a documented work contract. The ministry also stated that the transfer service does not incur any additional fees other than what is in force at present and that it will not affect the status of issued visas, which will be in accordance with the mechanism that is currently in force.

According to the ministry, there must be a job offer submitted by the new employer through the ministry’s Qiwa online platform, and a notification should be sent to the current employer for the transfer of service request, stating a notice period.

The ministry also set the conditions for the new employer's eligibility to make a request for the transfer of the service of an expatriate worker. This stipulates that the employer’s firm must be eligible to obtain visas according to the rules and regulations in compliance with the wage protection program, as well as the regulations of the contract documentation, digitization program, and self-evaluation.

The ministry also cited that there are certain situations under which a foreign worker is allowed to move to another employer without any conditions. These include the absence of a documented work contract with the current employer after taking into account the deadline for documenting the contract, which is 3 months after the worker’s entry into the Kingdom, or the failure of the employer to pay the worker’s wages for three consecutive months, or in the event of the absence of the employer because of travel, imprisonment, death or any other reasons, or in the event of the expiry of an expatriate worker’s job permit or residency permit (iqama).

The situations also included the worker’s lodging of complaint about the involvement of the employer in the commercial cover-up (tasattur) provided that the worker is not involved in tasattur.

Similar is the case if the worker has proof that the employer is involved in trafficking in persons. Another situation where the worker can transfer his service without any condition is the labor dispute between the worker and the current employer, and the employer or his representative failed to attend two sessions of litigation despite being notified of the hearing dates or not attending two sessions for amicable settlement of disputes. The transfer is also possible if the current employer gives a nod to the worker’s transfer.