Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) announced making an update on the system for the job transfer of workers between individual establishments.

The ministry stated that it has carried out the update through the Qiwa platform, noting that the update eases the switch over of a worker to a new employer.

The update is part of developing the policies and services of the ministry in light of the targets of the labor market strategy and increasing its efficiency and the level of labor rights.

This enables the new employer not to bear the outstanding government fees of workers who are transferring their services to these facilities, and that these arrears have to be borne by the previous employer.

Under the updated system, the new employer needs to pay the government fee effective from the date of the transfer of service of the worker to his establishment.

The ministry stressed that the updating would also contribute to stopping the accumulation of unpaid amounts on the current employer, and not to burden the new employer with the arrears from the previous period in which he did not benefit from the worker’s services.

According to the ministry, the update will also be instrumental in improving the worker’s career journey and raising the level of flexibility of job transfer procedures between establishments to create an attractive labor market.

The Qiwa platform enables the labor sector to access all its services with a unified access, with the aim of creating an integrated and competitive labor market that achieves the objectives of the employment market strategy.

It is noteworthy that the ministry recently decided to exempt private sector companies and establishments from bearing the outstanding government fees of workers who are transferring their services to these facilities effective from June 9.

According to the ministry decision, the company or establishment from where the worker is seeking transfer of service has to bear the outstanding government dues, including work permit fee, expatriate fee (financial compensation), and fines for the delay in the renewal of residency permit (iqama).

The ministry’s Qiwa platform has begun activating the decision of charging these fees from the workers’ previous employers.

The decision aims to enable new enterprises to carry out their businesses without unexpected financial obligations.

Under the previous mechanism, the establishments, which are seeking the transfer of service of workers, had to bear the outstanding fees for work permits, expatriate levy and fines for the delay in the renewal of iqama.