Sun 14 March 2021:
Saudi Arabia’s promised reforms to improve on its “kafala” sponsorship system announced last November officially comes into effect on Sunday.
The new conditions include stipulations that will allow, foreign workers in the private sector will have improved job mobility, and be able to change jobs and leave the country without employers’ consent.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development last November announced it would implement starting March 2021 new conditions under which expatriate workers in the Kingdom can benefit from with the aim of improving the kafala sponsorship system in the Kingdom.
As many as 10 million migrant workers are expected to benefit from changes under the Kingdom’s Labor Reform Initiative (LRI), intended to foster “a competitive and fair working environment.”
The initiative will help foreign workers acquire residency status that is not tied to a specific employer, and will allow job mobility as well as exit and re-entry visas while protecting the rights of both employee and employer.
The newly reformed laws pertaining to foreign labor workers also include transition mechanisms during the validity of the contract, provided that the notice period and the specified controls are adhered to. It also provides an exit and return service, which allows a migrant worker to travel outside Saudi Arabia, upon submitting the application, with an online notification to the employer without the need to seek prior permission.
A ‘final exit’ stipulation will also enable a migrant worker to leave immediately after the end of their contract, with an online notification sent to an employer without requiring his or her consent.
The reformed system will also address exceptional cases where workers were not provided with a work contract or who did not receive their salaries.
The kafala system in Saudi Arabia previously tied workers to their employers, or sponsors, who are responsible for the employees’ visa and legal status. The new law would limit the relationship between employers and expatriate workers under the system, who primarily work in construction and domestic work.
Reports of Saudi Arabia abolishing its sponsorship system were first raised earlier last year in February Saudi Gazette reported through unnamed sources.
Last October, Saudi Arabian Maaal newspaper reported using unnamed sources that Saudi Arabia was set to announce the replacement of the foreign worker sponsorship system, known as kafala, and that it would be replaced with a form of reformed system of contracts between employers and employees.
Gloria Calinao, a domestic worker who has lived Saudi Arabia for 10 years, said: “I remember how complicated the kafala process was. I wish the new rule applies to domestic workers too so that they can also enjoy job mobility.”
Two government portals, Absher and Qiwa, have been designated for the reform procedures.
Almost one third of Saudi Arabia’s 34 million people are migrant workers whose legal status in the country was controlled by their employer, leaving them exposed to abuse and exploitation. The kingdom’s “kafala,” or sponsorship system, was the most restrictive in the Gulf, a trafficking in labor that amounts to modern slavery, according to labor and rights organizations.
-with Al Arabiya and Arab News
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