Foreign workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have declined significantly in recent years, the World Bank said.
The Bank said the issuance of worker visas in Saudi Arabia decreased from 8.5 million workers to 6.5 million workers.
The number of expatriates reached 8.5 million non-Saudi workers in 2017, but that number has fallen to less than 6.5 million foreign workers now, the bank added in a report.
Last November, Saudi Arabia issued two decisions regarding the control of the recruitment of workers to make it possible to issue and renew the residence permit on a quarterly basis only.
Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia
The approval of the Saudi government was also issued for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development to manage the contractual relationship between the facility and the worker (Saudi/expatriate), starting from the registration and documentation of the contract to the termination of the contractual relationship.
Also, last month, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs implemented the procedure for issuing an entry visa for the purpose of work for holders of work visas for those who have documented work contracts only.
Since 2017, the Kingdom has launched a campaign in which, until this year, more than 5.6 million violators of the residency, work and border security regulations have been arrested.
It is noteworthy that the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has issued, since the beginning of this year, several decisions to localize jobs.
Saudi Arabia says that these decisions contribute to increasing the participation of national cadres in the Saudi labor market, and opening more qualitative and stable job opportunities for male and female citizens.
Yemeni labor
In a related context, the Saudi authorities continue to implement their policy aimed at forcibly reducing the presence of Yemeni workers to a minimum.
The Saudi authorities recently dismissed hundreds of Yemeni workers in the field of teaching and medical care in the south of the kingdom.
In this context, ImpACT International for Human Rights Policies expressed its concern over Saudi Arabia’s adoption of this step, which has increased in pace during the recent period.
The think tank said the Saudi authorities have been implementing a new and wide campaign for months, the pace of which has increased during the past month, to end the contracts of hundreds of Yemeni academics, teachers and doctors in Saudi universities, schools and hospitals, and force them to return to their country, which is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
