Employers pick over 2,000 Bangladesh workers at fair

More than 2,000 Bangladeshi workers found jobs with Saudi sponsors at the two-day job fair at Istiraha Al-Fakhr in Riyadh yesterday. 
The companies that took part on the first day included contracting and construction companies, private establishments, fast food outlets, maintenance companies, restaurants and offices. 
Emdadul Haque, labor counselor at the Bangladesh Embassy, told Arab News that representatives from some 50 Riyadh-based companies were present to select their prospective employees.
“We played a mediation role between the employer and the employees and we provided the platform for job negotiations,” he said, describing the event as “highly successful.” 
The job categories that were negotiated at the fair included office assistants, plumbers, drivers, electricians and cleaners.
“The two parties discussed the salaries for the respective jobs, the mode of iqama transfer and regularization of residency status,” Haque said.
He said that the embassy expects more companies to participate in the job fair today since it is weekend.
Under the ongoing amnesty, a total of 166,480 Bangladesh expatriates have obtained their documents processed at their country’s missions in Riyadh and Jeddah. 
The documents processed included issue of new passport, renewal of passports, outpasses and 20,000 travel permits. A large contingent of officers from Dhaka have been deployed to assist the missions’ officials to complete their task in time.
In addition to the consular services offered in Riyadh, the Bangladesh Embassy has also organized consular services in Jubail, Al-Ahsa, Dammam, Al-Jouf, Skaka and Al-Qassim.
The Jeddah consulate, which has processed 83,000 applicants, has also offered consular services in Khamis Mushayt, Jazan, Najran, Tabuk and Yanbu. Similar services have been arranged in Tabuk, Al-Baha and Madinah.
The amnesty allows irregular foreign workers to have their status legalized or return home without facing any penalty. The amnesty is to end on July 3.
The government has warned that residents staying illegally in the Kingdom after the amnesty period will be subject to a penalty of SR 100,000 and a two-year jail term.